A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Olelbis gives the two Hus brothers a place in his sweat-house and, after a council lasting five days and nights, assigns them to build a stone route from earth to Olelpanti. A people is expected to emerge from the earth near the first tree. As its members age, they would use this stepped road to reach water that restores youth. A halfway resting place and spring would support the ascent, and two springs at the upper end would provide bathing and drinking.

The elder brother supplies stones and the younger arranges them. Their structure rises from house height to the clouds in six days. They initially ignore Sedit’s demands for conversation, but descend when he threatens destruction. The elder explains Olelbis’s plan, including continual renewal and abundant food without the labour of husking acorns. Sedit instead argues for marriage, children, work and the succession of generations through death.

The brothers do not answer identically. The elder accepts the argument; the younger challenges Sedit to imagine his own permanent death. They then remove great stones, collapse the road, and fly upward to Olelpanti. Olelbis assigns them rocks south of the sweat-house as their place. Sedit’s attempt to follow with leaf wings ends in his fatal fall.

The personage list associates Hus with turkey buzzard. The closing statement identifies Sonomyai as the ruined road’s place and reports local concern that settlers were carrying its stones away for chimneys. That reported landscape memory belongs to the published Wintu telling; no modern archaeological identification is claimed. Both builders remain in one profile, preserving their different responses without inventing separate personal names.

Paired monumental buildersRoad to renewing waterBrothers disagree in discussionUnfinished road dismantledFlight to sky dwelling
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Origins & earliest records

Jeremiah Curtin, Creation Myths of Primitive America in Relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind (Boston: Little, Brown,1898). Collection notes486–487 distinguish the first nine narratives as Wintu and the later thirteen as Yana. Curtin describes California collecting in1895 and prior publication of these narratives in The Sun. The selected story does not name an individual teller.

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Records & interpretation

Complete Sedit and the Two Brothers Hus, pp.163–174, including the closing Sonomyai stone-removal statement; personage list and relevant notes505–506 read. Collection provenance486–487 inspected.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Creation Myths of Primitive America

    Jeremiah Curtin, collector and English presenter; Wintu teller not named in this chapter · 1898

    Sedit and the Two Brothers Hus,163–174; notes505–506; collection provenance486–487.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textCurtin1898 digitised primary collectionResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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