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‘Ustas:
A Carrier Story
‘Ustas: A Carrier Story
The following story was told by Timothy Sill of ‘Ulkatcho and has been translated and adapted by Laura Boyd.
It happened to a man called ‘Ustas. It was said that one winter he got snowed in, inside his lodge. He must have had his lodge in a pretty shady place for the snow hardly melted away from his lodge. It was nearly the middle of summer when all the berries were out and everything was all green and full grown. Here lay ‘Ustas nearly dying of starvation inside his lodge when one day Gwuzeh (the whiskey-jack) came flying through a hole and dropped a branch full of berries beside the half-starved man.
“Hey, ‘Ustas, What’s the matter with you anyway? Don’t you know the snow has melted and here you are starving yourself to death?" asked the Gwuzeh with a big grin on its face. ‘Ustas sat up quickly and stuffed the berries and branches into his mouth. He jumped up and started to dig his way out of the lodge. He dug and dug. Finally he could see light so he kept on digging until he was blinded by the brightness of the day. He just stood there for long time with his eyes closed so that he could get use to the bright lights. He slowly opened his eyes and focused on things outside. He couldn’t believe his eyes; everything was green and beautiful. He rushed out from the lodge and started running in the forest. He ran and ran for he was so happy to be free. He ran until he came upon two beautiful girls picking berries. The two girls were wearing beautiful bone necklaces and when ‘Ustas saw the necklaces he fell in love with them. He thought that he had to have those necklaces so he thought of a way to get them from the girls.
“Your necklaces are so beautiful” said ‘Ustas. The girls just giggled. They were very proud of their necklaces.
“Did you know that you are not supposed to wear your necklaces on a hot day like this?” asked ‘Ustas.
"No, why shouldn’t we wear our necklaces outside on a hot day?” asked one girl getting curious.
“Well….” said ‘Ustas trying to think of something
to say. “Well…”
He said again. “If you wear it on a hot day like this all the bones
on your necklaces will crack and break and then they’ll look very
ugly”.
“What shall we do then?” asked another girl getting concerned with her beautiful necklace.
