Wus Kumush and Tsmuk

Wus Kumush and Tsmuk by Jeremiah Curtin

"Wus Kumush and Tsmuk" is a Native American myth recorded by Jeremiah Curtin that follows the trickster figure Wus, a fox-spirit of great power, as he courts a woman from the darkness-dwelling Tsmuk family, battles enemies, and ultimately becomes the progenitor of the western tribes. The story begins with the daughter of old man Tsmuk, a being of darkness, who sings constantly of Wus. Hearing her, Wus uses his power to create a field of edible roots near her home, then disguises himself as an old woman to approach her without causing fear. He tricks her into sleeping, builds a glittering, rainbow-colored house over her through the night, and reveals himself in the morning as a handsome young man adorned with beads. Their child is born the next day with fox ears, which Wus corrects by the power of thought and wishing. When the daughter returns to her family with the baby, old man Tsmuk refuses to accept Wus as a son-in-law and abuses him repeatedly. To test his father-in-law's disposition, Wus causes the baby to transform into a fox cub, which Tsmuk throws out of the house in disgust. This act immediately ages Wus's wife into an old woman. Only the youngest brother of the family shows compassion, retrieving the child and tending to his sister, and Wus responds by granting this brother his own feelings of goodwill. When the baby is back inside, the wife grows young again. After three formal warnings to Tsmuk to abandon his anger, Wus transforms the old man into a black cloud using a great wind from the west, declaring that henceforth Tsmuk will be darkness itself, causing people to sleep and to commit evil deeds by night. Wus then takes his wife, her brothers, and their mother to his own brilliant home, gives them the water of life to purify their minds, and visits his grandmother, the old woman Wuswelékgăs, to warn her of any remaining danger from Tsmuk. Conflict arises within the household when Wus has a prophetic dream that his brother-in-law will leave and be a person no longer. Angered by the dream, the brother-in-law eventually drives away Wus himself, who wanders off as a fox and loses his mind. His children, turned to little foxes, are thrown out of the house by their uncle and find refuge with the grandmother Wuswelékgăs. One of the boys dies choking on a mouse bone. The grandmother mourns and calls upon the earth to restore Wus's mind. Wus, reduced to bare bones at the edge of the world, hears her voice and slowly recovers his strength by lying five days and nights atop the sacred mountain Wewékeni, where all living things gain their minds. He returns, partially restored, to his grandmother and surviving son. Wus then sets out on a series of encounters with dangerous beings. He defeats Wekómpmas, a monstrous man-eater who carries great stones and kills travelers by crushing them into pits, by tricking him into lying down in his own trap and striking him dead, then transforming him into a stone pestle. Wus next finds Nátcaktcókaskĭt, a one-legged medicine woman who is the sole survivor in a ravaged village. He settles with her, and she bears children at an extraordinary rate, always two at a time, until the house overflows. Wus makes the children toy arrows, which his wife warns will bring trouble, and soon the children fall into constant quarreling and fighting. Unable to bear the chaos, Wus divides his children into tribes, assigning each group of twelve a territory and a distinct language, naming the Modocs as the greatest warriors among them and identifying most of the western tribes as descendants of this division. He keeps five of the youngest children for himself. Wus and Nátcaktcókaskĭt travel north with their remaining children. Wus commands salmon into a river to feed his family and hunts a stag that calls out to him like a person. His wife, angered by the killing and by the bad omen it represents, refuses to eat the deer meat. A quarrel erupts between them. The wife curses Wus, declaring he will become a black crow, fit only to find dead things. Wus retaliates by cursing her to become a bird that sings ceaselessly from daylight until dark, watching always for dawn, her children the same. And so both transformations come to pass, ending the story.

By Jeremiah Curtin · First published 1912 · Genre: Mythology, Folklore, Fantasy · 7,128 words

First lines

CHARACTERS / Kaiutois Wolf / Nátcaktcókaskĭt / Tsmuk Darkness / Wus Kumush / Wuswelékgăs Wus' Old Woman

Old man Tsmuk and his wife had three sons and one daughter. The daughter was always thinking about Wus and singing about him.

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Wus Kumush and Tsmuk is listed on Textopian as a short story by Jeremiah Curtin, dated 1912 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

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Native American mythology · Maidu tribe · folklore · traditional stories · indigenous culture · creation myths · animal characters · oral traditions · anthropomorphic beings · cultural preservation · ethnographic documentation · Californian indigenous peoples

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