K‘yäk´lu

Family: the people (Áshiwe) · Role: eldest son of Kâ´wimosa; the hearer who keeps the speech of creation · First appears: Section 19 · The Choosing of Seekers for Signs of the Middle

In Section 19, Kâ´wimosa sent his eldest son K‘yäk´lu north to seek the distance to the great waters. When he did not return, the people declared him lost. In Section 27, still wandering alone in the cold north, he died of heart and became transformed lastingly as are the gods. In Section 28, the Duck offered to guide him by sound: K‘yäk´lu gave her his talking and singing shells, and followed her despite his weariness and lameness.

In Section 29, Rainbow-worm carried him to the plain north of Kâ´‘hluëlane, where K‘yäk´lu had to stop and rest. There he learned from the Kâ´yemäshi of the suffering caused to his people by his siblings Síweluhsiwa and Síwiluhsitsa. In Sections 31–33, the Duck reported that he sat blind, maimed, and unable to hear her calls; the gods sent word for him to come to them, and the Kâ´yemäshi and Síweluhsiwa coaxed him into their litter.

In Sections 35–36, the gods taught K‘yäk´lu what each knew, instructed him in the places of worship, and charged him with comfort, commandments, and teachings. He in turn appointed the Kâ´yemäshi guardians of the Kâ´kâ and tellers of its meanings, and they carried him toward his people. In Section 38, led and prompted by the Twain, the people recognized him. K‘yäk´lu comforted the mourners and spoke the words of creation and his wanderings to the six councils, with the Duck and her shells keeping the cadence. In Section 39, he and the ancient ones made four listeners the K‘yäk´lu Ámosi, to preserve his words; the ancient ones then carried him back to the mountain and city of the Kâ´kâ. In Sections 40–41, his younger brothers Ánahohoátchi searched for him, but never found him.