How Sickness Came into the World

Name: How Sickness Came into the World
Author: Jeremiah Curtin

"How Sickness Came into the World" is a myth recorded by Jeremiah Curtin that explains the origin of disease and poison among humanity through the conflict between several primordial beings living near Little Shasta mountain. The story centers on two brothers, Kéis the Rattlesnake and his younger brother Snoútiss the Blowsnake, who live on the southwest side of Little Shasta. Nearby, on the northwest side, live the three Gletcówas brothers, renowned hunters who set grass-rope snares between trees to catch deer, which they always carry home whole before cutting up, as doing otherwise would ruin their luck. Snoútiss, who digs roots and listens to the Gletcówas brothers at work, recognizes their skill and warns Kéis to approach them properly at their house if he wants meat, and above all to stay away from their snares. Kéis ignores this counsel and goes directly to the snares, where he finds a large deer caught in the rope. Unable to untie the knot, he pulls at it so violently that he breaks out nearly all of his teeth. When the Gletcówas brothers arrive and find him there, they offer him meat if he comes back to their house, but Kéis angrily snatches at the deer, claiming it as his own. The brothers refuse, and Kéis leaves in a rage, bleeding from the mouth. Returning home, Kéis begins manufacturing poison-fever, black vomit, sores, and all manner of terrible sicknesses, working furiously in his bitterness. Snoútiss pleads with him to stop, warning that these evil things will escape the house and afflict all future generations of humanity. Kéis does not listen. When Snoútiss looks in through the smoke hole, the house is dripping with sores and reeking with disease. Horrified, Snoútiss declares he cannot stay and goes to find his uncle, Wéwenkee the Whipsnake, who is described as a great chief and a being of considerable power. Wéwenkee, grasping the seriousness of what has happened, goes alone to Kéis' house, entering through a crack in the wall. The smell is so overpowering he can barely endure it. He is only able to look in by painting protective red stripes on his forehead and wrists. He then rolls a large ball of soft bark around the interior, collecting the sores and sickness from the walls, ceiling, and floor, and draws them onto the ball. He rolls the ball over Kéis' body to cleanse him, then squeezes the gathered sickness over his own head, claiming it as belonging properly to Nébăks, the spirit of Sickness, to whom it is owed and from whom it had been merely loaned. Wéwenkee laments that much of the sickness has already soaked into the earth and scattered through the world, where it will emerge in hot weather and winter to afflict future human beings. He urges Kéis to bundle up all his remaining sicknesses and store them in his quiver, only releasing them if genuinely abused, and never to open the bundle without cause. Kéis reluctantly agrees, ties the sicknesses into a bundle, and puts it away. Wéwenkee counsels both brothers at length, telling them that their era as persons is ending and that they will soon live under rocks and in holes in the ground. He warns Kéis that he will be universally hated, but reflects that future people will still know that Wéwenkee himself was once a great chief who meant no harm. Despite these words and repeated warnings, Kéis cannot restrain himself. When Snoútiss is sent away on a pretext to fetch water, Kéis begins secretly untying the bundle by the fire. Snoútiss catches him, runs to Wéwenkee, and reports what is happening. Enraged, Wéwenkee stretches himself around the whole world and tries to press everything together to destroy Kéis, but Kéis retreats among rocks and cannot be crushed. Wéwenkee, accepting that his nephew is beyond redemption and is acting purely on his own destructive will, formally withdraws all the power and protection he had offered him, returning it to the earth. He then transforms Snoútiss into a small, common snake who blows with his mouth, and turns himself into a whipsnake. Meanwhile, the three Gletcówas brothers, who have learned that Kéis once killed their father and mother, resolve to kill him. They find him among the rocks, grown so tall he nearly touches the sky, singing in a powerful voice. They shoot him with arrows tipped with crossed sticks, beat him on the head with a tree stump until he is dead, cut his body into small pieces, and scatter the pieces over the rocks, declaring that henceforth even old women will be able to kill him. The pieces become rattlesnakes. The three Gletcówas brothers, their minds ruined by their long conflict with Kéis, travel north, cross the Shasta River, and are transformed into birds. The myth thus accounts for the permanent presence of sickness in the world as the consequence of Kéis' wounded pride and uncontrollable anger, compounded by his refusal to heed wiser counsel, and explains why rattlesnakes carry venom, why blowsnakes puff, and why whipsnakes are associated with doctors and healing.

By Jeremiah Curtin · First published 1912 · Genre: Mythology, Folklore, Native American Literature · 3,548 words

First lines

CHARACTERS / Gletcówas / Kéis Rattlesnake / Nébăks Sickness / Snoútiss Blowsnake / Wéwenkee Whipsnake

Kéis and his brother, Snoútiss, lived on the southwest side of Little Shasta. The three Gletcówas brothers lived on the northwest side.

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How Sickness Came into the World is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jeremiah Curtin, dated 1912 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jeremiah Curtin
Date: 1912 CE
Language: English
Genres: Mythology, Folklore, Native American Literature, Fantasy, Moral Fiction
Length: 3,548 words
Structure: 1 section, 75 paragraphs
Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)

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Genres

Mythology — The narrative presents origin mythology explaining how sickness came into the world, featuring supernatural beings and transformations characteristic of creation myths.
Folklore — The story is structured as a traditional folk narrative with moral lessons, archetypal characters, and cultural transmission typical of oral storytelling traditions.
Native American Literature — Collected by Jeremiah Curtin, this work represents Native American indigenous storytelling traditions, featuring characters and settings reflective of Native American cultures.
Fantasy — The narrative includes magical transformations, supernatural abilities, shapeshifting, and fantastical elements such as characters becoming animals and mythical beings.