Wus Wants to Marry a Butterfly

Name: Wus Wants to Marry a Butterfly
Author: Jeremiah Curtin

"Wus Wants to Marry a Butterfly" is a myth collected by Jeremiah Curtin featuring three central characters: Wus the Fox, Wálwilégas the Butterfly, and Djáudjau the Flying Squirrel. Wus is a middle-aged man living with his mother near a spring at the foot of a high mountain. He has secretly fallen in love with a Wálwilégas girl he spotted near the spring, though he conceals this from his mother. To improve his appearance and standing, he tells his mother he wishes to visit the sacred mountain swimming ponds — places where young men traditionally go to gain power, become great gamblers, or become doctors. His mother protests that he is too old for such practices, and that the mountains will not listen to him. Despite her objections, Wus persists, and the old man Djáudjau is called in to pierce Wus's ears and nose and prepare him for the journey. Djáudjau, though skeptical and fully aware that Wus is most likely motivated by romantic desire rather than spiritual ambition, nevertheless prepares him and instructs him carefully. He teaches Wus a song to sing while traveling, counsels him not to stop during the day or touch anything along the road, and urges him to pile stones and speak reverently to the mountains, the earth, the sky, the clouds, and the rocks when he arrives at the summit. He warns Wus that he must forget himself entirely and not let the woman in his heart distract him from the sacred work. Wus sets out and travels for ten nights, nearly turning back when he sees the mountain covered with snow. He is weakened by age and nearly fails, falling and rolling back down the slope at one point. He reaches the summit, builds a stone pile, speaks to all the natural elements as instructed, and falls asleep. In a dream, the mountain appears to him as a great white-headed elder who acknowledges Wus's devotion and grants him life, but tells him he must move westward, toward where the sun goes down, because other people are coming to take his current place. Wus returns home changed — visibly stronger and more impressive. His mother had feared him lost, but Djáudjau reassured her throughout. Upon his return, Djáudjau greets him ceremonially and instructs him to fast from meat for ten days. After the fast, the old man paints Wus's face and body red, clothes him finely, and sends him out to hunt birds, giving him specific ritual instructions about how to handle the first bird he kills. Now properly prepared and transformed, Wus goes out and encounters a crowd of Wálwilégas girls washing roots by a creek. They are beautiful but small, and Wus watches them admiringly. Some of the girls recognize him; others deny it is him; the most beautiful of all refuses to acknowledge that this improved, striking man could be the same old Wus they once knew. When Wus approaches and sits among them at the bank of the creek, all the youngest and prettiest girls immediately rise and scatter, leaving him humiliated. Wus is deeply angry. He visits a nearby house belonging to a man named Gíuwas and his wife, who welcome him warmly and feed him. The wife criticizes the Wálwilégas girls as proud and inhospitable. Wus declares that because of their behavior the girls have lost their minds and will no longer be people — henceforth they will travel as common butterflies. This curse immediately takes effect: the old Wálwilégas women begin weeping because their daughters have been transformed. The wife of Gíuwas, fearing Wus may punish them as well, secretly sends her husband to warn their son who is fishing at the river to flee. Wus, now possessed of heightened perception, hears their thoughts as clearly as spoken words, but reassures them he intends no harm. He passes the young man on the road without incident. Wus returns home and tells his mother what happened. He and his mother then move away from the mountain to Klamath Lake, where it is said they continue to live. Djáudjau refuses to leave the mountains, declaring that he was named for them and will never abandon them. To this day, travelers in the high mountains are said to hear him calling his own name.

By Jeremiah Curtin · First published 1912 · Genre: Folklore, Fantasy, Myth · 2,215 words

First lines

CHARACTERS / Djáudjau Flying Squirrel / Wálwilégas Butterfly / Wus Fox

Wus and his mother lived at Wusnésee. Wus was a middle-aged man. There was a spring of water right by their house, at the foot of a high mountain. It was a nice place to live, and Wus and his mother had been there a long time.

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Wus Wants to Marry a Butterfly is listed on Textopian as a short story by Jeremiah Curtin, dated 1912 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Jeremiah Curtin
Date: 1912 CE
Language: English
Genres: Folklore, Fantasy, Myth, Adventure, Romance
Length: 2,215 words
Structure: 1 section, 43 paragraphs
Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)

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Genres

Folklore — The narrative is structured as a traditional folk tale with mythological elements, cultural rituals, and moral lessons typical of Indigenous storytelling traditions collected by Jeremiah Curtin.
Fantasy — The story contains magical and supernatural elements including shape-shifting, transformation of humans into animals, divine communication with mountains, and characters with supernatural powers.
Myth — The work functions as a creation myth explaining the origin of butterflies and contains archetypal hero's journey elements common to mythological narratives, with divine intervention and transformation.
Adventure — The protagonist undertakes a perilous physical journey to climb mountains, face challenges, and seek spiritual power through ritual ordeal and perseverance.