Kumush and his Daughter by Jeremiah Curtin

Name: Kumush and his Daughter
Author: Jeremiah Curtin

"Kumush and His Daughter," retold by Jeremiah Curtin from Modoc Indian oral tradition, follows Kumush, the Creator, and his daughter as they journey through the spirit world and ultimately return to populate the earth with human beings. The story begins when Kumush returns to Nihlaksi after years of wandering, accompanied by a daughter whose origins are unknown. He finds that all the people he once made are dead, leaving the two of them alone. Because his daughter is approaching maturity, Kumush must observe the traditional customs he himself once established: a girl of maturing age must dance for five days and five nights while an elder sings for her, then spend time in the sweat-house, followed by five days of carrying wood. The danger in this ritual is severe — if the girl falls asleep during the dancing or in the sweat-house and dreams of someone's death, she will die herself. With no one else to assist, Kumush sings alone for his daughter as she dances. When she enters the sweat-house, she falls asleep and dreams of death. She emerges knowing her fate. She asks her father for her burial dress, which Kumush is reluctant to give, understanding that the moment she puts it on, her spirit will leave her body. He offers her all nine other dresses one by one, weeping, clinging to the tenth. When she insists, reminding him that he himself made the world's rules and set death in motion, he relents. She dresses, and her spirit departs. Kumush chooses to leave his body behind and accompany his daughter's spirit westward along the road to the land of the dead. She instructs him to keep his eyes shut throughout the journey, warning that opening them will force him to turn back. Along the road, a Skoks spirit offers them goose eggs, wild cherries, and crawfish — each of which would curse a spirit to wander the earth in a state of restless, futile labor. The daughter resists all three. As they near the spirit world, she passes through a field of roses; those who lived good lives can see and take the roses, while those who lived badly cannot. She takes one rose and two leaves, doing so without looking back, having sensed her father's silent wish. They arrive at the entrance to the underground spirit world, sliding down a steep passage into an enormous enclosed plain. The spirit world is a vast, beautiful house containing an incalculable multitude of spirits. Because Kumush is not dead, the spirits react to him with discomfort, calling him raw and unripe. During the day the spirits lie as dry, disjointed bones, but each night when darkness falls above the world, light fills the underground house and the spirits rise to dance and sing in a great circle. Kumush hides in a crack in the wall, made small by his own power, watching through a mist his daughter creates to shield him. After five nights, Kumush grows weary of the spirit world and decides to take some of the spirits back to the upper world to repopulate the earth. He selects bones carefully, filling a basket according to the qualities he wants for different tribes. The spirits, angered that he is alive among them, try to crush him with their elbows, and the bones in his basket fight him as he attempts to climb the steep, slippery eastern road out of the underground world. Twice the strap gives way or he falls, and the bones erupt into whooping spirits and tumble back into the house. On the third attempt, furious and determined, Kumush uses a cane summoned by thought, wrestles his way up the slope, and heaves the basket onto level ground. He opens the basket and throws the bones in different directions, naming a tribe for each handful. To the Shastas he gives fighting spirit, to the Pit River and Warm Spring Indians he assigns bravery, to the Klamath he gives a more timid nature, and to the Modoc he grants the highest honor: they are told they will eat what he eats, keep his place after he is gone, and be the bravest of all, capable of defeating far larger enemies. He then names over two hundred kinds of food, and as he names each one it appears in the rivers, forests, and flatlands. He assigns roles to men and women and establishes the rules by which people should live. When his work is finished, Kumush takes his daughter and travels to the place where the sun rises. He follows the sun's road to the midpoint of the sky, builds his house there, and dwells in it still.

By Jeremiah Curtin · First published 1912 · Genre: Mythology, Folklore, Fantasy · 3,136 words

First lines

CHARACTERS / Kumush The Creator, according to Indian myths / Skoks Spirit

Kumush (our Father) left Tula Lake and wandered over the earth. He went to the edge of the world and was gone a great many years; then he came back to Nihlaksi, where his sweat-house had been; where Látkakáwas brought the disk; where the body of the beautiful blue man was burned, and where Isis was saved.

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Kumush and his Daughter 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, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Cultural Fiction
Length: 3,136 words
Structure: 1 section, 48 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Genres

Mythology — The narrative is explicitly framed as Indian mythology, featuring Kumush as 'The Creator, according to Indian myths' and detailing cosmological creation events, the spirit world, and the origin of tribal peoples.
Folklore — The story functions as a traditional folk narrative collected by Jeremiah Curtin, containing oral storytelling conventions, ritual practices, and cultural teachings passed through generations.
Fantasy — The work contains fantastical elements including supernatural beings, spirits, magical transformations, the underworld realm, and characters with godlike powers defying natural laws.
Speculative Fiction — The narrative explores alternative cosmological systems, parallel spirit worlds, and speculative accounts of how the natural world and human societies came to be organized.