The Boy Who Grew Up at Ta'k'imilding This legend explains why the Hupa know when and where to perform traditional World Renewel or ''ch'idilye'' dances, also performed by the Yurok and Karuk tribes. These dances maintain the balance of the physical and social world through songs and dances to please the Kīxûnai. The two dancing ceremonies take place in 10 day cycles in August through September; the White Deerskin Dance going downstream through Hoopa Valley until reaching Bald Hill and the Jump Dance at the Bald Hill 10 days later. These dances are said to come from an inspiration to the boy who grew up at in the
xontah nikya:w [Big House] in the Ta'k'imlding [acorn-cooking place] village. Because was a good boy blessed with singing, he disappears into a cloud to join the Kīxûnai in the sky. Years later, he returns to his father to tell the people where and when to perform the two dances, promising to be there watching the Jump Dance behind the fence.
Grandfather's Ordeal Minnie Reeves, a Chilula woman married into the Hupa lineage, recounts a legend told about her grandfather was shot by white settlers. Likely taking place in the late 1850s or early 1860s, hostility between white settlers and the Hupas, especially the Chilulas, was immensely high. Minnie's grandmother had become deathly ill, so the Chilula shaman sent her grandfather to retrieve a Hoopa shaman with a good reputation. On the journey back from Hoopa, her grandfather and the shaman were shot at by a group of white settlers on horseback. The shaman died immediately, but her grandfather played dead then dragged himself to a nearby cedar-bark hunting shelter. Concerned, the people at home went out to search for him and found her grandfather assumed to be dead. When they tried to move the body, her grandfather jumped up, awakened from his coma and shared his vision of a white
Grizzly bear tearing up his infected wound. He was carried home and recovered.
The Stolen Woman This legend is one of many raid legends on the peaceful Hupa people by southern "wild" tribes. The raiders were typically called mining'wiltach' [‘their faces-tattooed’] and were likely to be the
Yuki people of Round Valley or the Hayfork
Wintu. Long ago, a woman was kidnapped during a Brush Dance at the Me'dilding village by an extremely handsome man. He took her far away to his bark house, and she soon gave birth to a son. He would take the woman with him when hunting with a magic Jump Dance basket (''na'wehch)'' which instantly killed the deer. Years later, the man set the basket down to pick up a dead deer, so the woman took it and used it on him. By dawn, the man died; the woman retrieved her son and all of his stolen valuables. They traveled home after two days, explaining why there are rich people at Me'dilding.
It Was Scratching This legend comes from a popular genre of devil stories that stem from the belief in witchcraft (''k'ido: ngxwe).'' Generally, devils frequent graveyards, peer into houses, and catching people outside alone. They are known to cause "pain" that leads to illness, bad luck or death. Suspicions and accusations of "deviling" were common during this time. Long ago in harvest season, a group of women camped at a bark hut to gather acorns. Once enough were gathered, the women headed home to get help from the men and left one woman behind with the acorns. On the first night, she heard a noise similar to animal scratching on the hut. In the morning, she saw scratches next to where she was sleeping, indicating that someone was deviling her. That night, she laid a log with a blanket on top of where she slept the previous night and sat beside it. Again, she heard scratches in the middle of the night, and a hand reached in to take the log. The woman sliced his hand off and traveled home in the morning. On her way, she found people mourning the death of the man who was deviling her, so she threw his hand on the body and ousted him. == Tales ==