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Overview

Juiwaiyu dreams of Damhauja’s two daughters and insists on seeking them despite his parents’ warnings. His uncle Jupka reluctantly accompanies him, shrinking himself to hide in the young man’s hair. When Juiwaiyu ignores directions and takes an attractive middle road, a wind carries flesh-eating lice against him. Jupka disperses the attack with smoke and restores his nephew’s flesh with a rose-twig; they then take the narrow safe route.

The daughters have dreamed of Juiwaiyu too. Their father tries to kill him with a pipe containing crushed human bones. The women secretly substitute ordinary tobacco the first time; when their father watches too closely for another substitution, the concealed Jupka smokes unharmed. Jupka supplies replenishing venison for the household, but also retaliates by flooding the house and drowning the parents while sheltering the daughters. Juiwaiyu requests their revival, and Jupka restores them with the rose-twig.

Other sons-in-law challenge the newcomer through games and ambushes. Jupka warns him about a venomous spider and hidden blades; Juiwaiyu kills the spider and passes the blades unharmed. He also defeats the snake and bear placed along his return route. When the rivals attack openly, his uncle’s staff kills at his spoken command and pointed gesture.

The surviving attackers murder their wives and children, rejecting their ties to Damhauja; only the boy Darijua escapes to report it. Jupka drowns the remaining men, then restores the women and children alone. Damhauja enlarges his house to receive them, and communal feasting resumes before Juiwaiyu departs with his two wives and uncle. The deliberate exclusion of the violent men from restoration distinguishes this ending from Titindi Maupa’s revival of both fighting sides.

Uncle concealed in the hairFlesh restored with a rose-twigDeadly courtship tests overcomeWomen and children restored separately
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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 Yana section begins at281; these selected chapters do not name individual tellers.

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Records & interpretation

Complete The Dream of Juiwaiyu and His Journey to Damhauja’s Country, pp. 425–442, read. Curtin’s personage list associates Juiwaiyu with an eastern black-oak acorn, Jupka with a wild-silkworm butterfly, and Damhauja with the moon before renewal. The individual teller is unnamed.

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; individual Yana teller unnamed here · 1898

    The Dream of Juiwaiyu and His Journey to Damhauja’s Country, pp. 425–442; Yana section p. 281 and provenance pp. 486–487.

Family & connections

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References

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

Image credits

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