Told by Philip, Moses, Chief Mountain, and Moody — recorded and translated by Franz Boas

Franz Boas published this collection in 1902 as Bulletin 27 of the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology. He gathered the texts at Kinkolith, at the mouth of the Nass River in British Columbia, in the closing months of 1894, while his main assignment for the British Association for the Advancement of Science was a study of the neighboring Athapascan people of Portland Canal; the Tsimshian material came to him, as his introduction says, "incidentally only." Four named narrators gave him the texts printed here — Philip, Moses, Chief Mountain, and Moody — though the book does not always say which of the four told which story.

This edition reproduces the complete text as digitized from the sacred-texts.com archive's copy of the 1902 Government Printing Office edition: Boas's introduction and phonetic alphabet, all of the main myths and stories, the further Supplementary Stories, and Boas's own English abstracts of every tale — a second, condensed telling of the whole collection that closes the book, included here in full as Boas printed it. Nass River Tsimshian (Nisga'a) words are printed here in Boas's own Americanist phonetic notation; a note on this edition's handling of a few of its rarer marks appears in the colophon.

Introduction

The following texts were collected in Kinkolith, at the mouth of the Nass river, during the months of November and December, 1894, while I was engaged in researches under the auspices of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The principal object of these investigations was a study of the Athapascan tribe of Portland canal, and the following texts were collected incidentally only. The ethnologic results of these investigations were published in the reports of the Committee on the Northwestern Tribes of Canada of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. [1]

The texts are in the Nass River dialect of the Tsimshian language. The dialect is called by the natives Nîsqa'E. The texts were obtained from four individuals--Philip, Moses, Chief Mountain, and Moody. By far the greater number of them are myths of the tribe. Judging from similar myths which I collected in previous years among the Tsimshian proper, [2] they are only moderately well told.

Possibly the method of transcribing sounds is not quite satisfactory. I have not been able to determine definitely if there are, one or two palatized l's. I consider it probable that there may be two; but in the present texts all the palatized l's are rendered by one character. There is also a certain inconsistency in my perception of the surds and sonants, the fortis, or the surd followed by a hiatus, very often sounding similar to the sonant. I have not endeavored to make the spelling throughout consistent, but have rather followed the transcription which seemed to me most appropriate at the time when I wrote the texts down.

FRANZ BOAS.

NEW YORK, June, 1899.

Alphabet

a, e, i, o, u

have their continental sounds (short).

ā, ē, ī, ō, ū

long vowels.

E

obscure e in flower.

ᵃ ᵉ ⁱ ᵒ ᵘ vowels not articulated, but indicated by position of the mouth.

ä

in German Bär.

â

aw in law.

ô

German voll.

ê

e in bell.

ai

i in island.

au

ow in how.

L

posterior palatal l; the tip of tongue touches the alveoli of the lower jaw, the back of the tongue is pressed against the hard palate; generally surd. The occurrence of the corresponding sonant is doubtful. Possibly there is still another l, produced a little nearer the front part of the hard palate.

q

velar k.

g

velar g.

k

English k.

g*

palatalized g, almost gy.

k*

palatized k, almost ky.

x

ch in German Bach.

X

x pronounced at the posterior border of the hard palate.

x*

palatal x as in German ich.

s

pronounced with open teeth, therefore somewhat similar to English sh.

d, t, b, p, g, k

as in English, but surd and sonant more difficult to distinguish.

h

as in English.

y

as in year.

w

as in English, probably always aspirated.

l, m, n

as in English; as terminal sounds articulated but inaudible, unless followed by a word beginning with a vowel.

?

pause; when following an initial or terminal mute, it tends to increase the stress of the latter.

[1] Report of the 65th meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Ipswich, 1895, pp. 569-586.
[2] Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der nord-pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Berlin, 1895, pp. 272-305.

Myths

Txä'msEm and Lôg̲ôbolā'

[1-5 told by Moses; 6-8, 2a, and 5a told by Philip]

1. There was a town in which a chief and chieftainess were living. The chieftainess had done something bad. She had a lover, but the chief did not know it. The young man loved the chieftainess very much. He often went to the place where she lived with the chief. Then the chieftainess resolved, "I will pretend to die." She pretended to be very sick, because she wanted to marry that man. After a short time she pretended to die. Then all the people cried.

Before she died the chieftainess said, "Make a large box in which to bury me when I am dead." The people made a box and put her into it. They put it on the branches of a tree in the woods. The chieftainess had a spoon and a fish knife in her box. She pretended to be dead. For two nights the chief went into the woods, and sat right under the box in which the chieftainess was lying. Then he ceased to cry. Behold, there were maggots falling down from the bottom of the box. Then the chief thought, "She is full of maggots." But actually the chieftainess was scraping the spoon with her fish knife, and the scrapings looked just like maggots. In the evening her lover went into the woods. He climbed the tree and knocked on the box, saying, "Let me in, ghost!" He said so twice. Then the chieftainess replied, "Ha-ha! I pretend to make maggots out of myself in your behalf." Then she opened the cover of the box, and the man lay down with her. He did so every night. Then she came to be pregnant. The man always went up to her. The chief did not know it, but one man found it out. He told the chief. Then the chief's nephews kept watch and killed the man, and also killed the woman. Now she was really dead, and her body was putrefying. Then her child came out alive. it sucked the intestines of its mother, and therefore its name was Sucking-intestines. The child grew up in the box.

One day all the children went into the woods, shooting with bows and arrows at a target. They were not far from this tree when they were shooting. Then Sucking-intestines saw them. He went down and took their arrows. Thus the children lost them again and again.

Now, the children saw that the boy came from out of the grave, and they told the chief. He said, "Keep watch and try to catch him." The chief's nephews went, and, behold, he came down again. While he was walking about, they caught him and took him home. They took him to the chief's house. Now he grew up, and his name was Sucking-intestines.

2. Now he heard that there was a chief's daughter on the other side of the hole where the heavens meet. Sucking-intestines caught a bird and skinned it. He put its skin on and flew. Then he said, "Gît gît gît gînsăăăăă!" He came to a town, and there he met a person. Then he shot a wood-pecker. He skinned it, and the other person put it on. They flew on. The one, bird cried, "Gît gît gît gînsăăăăă!" The wood-pecker accompanied him, crying, "How-how!" They flew upward. Now they came to a town. There a person said, "Son of the ghosts, you must go on farther if you want to find the place where the heavens meet." Then Sucking-intestines, who had the bird skin on, said "Gît gît gît gînsăăăăă!" and the woodpecker said, "How-how!" after Sucking-intestines had spoken. They came to many towns, and the people all said the same to them. They went on for a long time, and finally came to the hole in the sky. At that time it was always dark. There was no daylight. 'They found the hole, and the bird and the woodpecker flew through it. When they reached the inside of the sky, Sucking-intestines took off the skin of the bird, and the woodpecker also took off his skin. He sat down near the hole of the sky, while

Sucking-intestines went on. He came to a spring near the chief's house. Then the chief's daughter went out, carrying a small basket in which she was about to fetch water. She walked down to the spring in front of her father's house. [1] Then Sucking-intestines transformed himself into the leaf of a cedar, and floated on the water. The chief's daughter dipped it up into her basket and drank it. Then she returned. She entered her father's house. After a short time she was with child. Then she gave birth to a boy. Then the chief and chieftainess were very glad. They washed him regularly, and he began to grow up. Now he was beginning to creep about, and the chief smoothed and cleaned the floor of his house. Now the child was strong. He began to cry all the time, "Hamaxä, hamaxä!" Then the chief called the people. He did not know what the boy wanted, nor why he cried; but he wanted the box that was hanging in the chief's house. This was a box in which daylight was kept hanging in one corner of his house. Its name was max. The child cried for it. Then the chief was annoyed. He called the people, and they entered. Then they heard the child crying aloud. They did not know what the child was saying. He cried all the time, "Hamaxä! hamaxä! hamax!" Now one wise man who understood him said to the chief, "He is crying for the max." The chief ordered it to be taken down, and a man took it down. They laid it down, and the boy sat down near it. He was now quite large. He stopped crying, for he was glad. Then he rolled it about inside the house. He did so for four days. Sometimes be carried it to the door. Now the chief did not think of it. He quite forgot it. Then the boy really took the max. He put it on his shoulders and ran out with it. While he was running one man said, "The giant is running away with the max, ha!" Thus he received the name Giant. Then he ran away with it. He came to the hole of the sky, and, behold, his companion was sitting there. Then he took the skin of the bird. He put it on. His companion took the skin of the woodpecker, and they flew through the hole in the sky, the Giant carrying the max. At that time the world was always dark.

3. The Giant went on. It remained daylight. The darkness did not return. He wore something tied over his head. He arrived farther up the river. Then he put what he was wearing on his head under a stone in a steep cliff. It is there yet.

4. The Giant did not know where his companion had gone. It was at the mouth of the Nass river where the Giant had come down, while Lôg̲ôbolā' had come down in the darkness at the mouth of Skeena river. The Giant went to the mouth of Nass river. It was always dark, and he carried the max about with him. He went up the river, and ghosts whistled right before him. Then be was afraid. He returned, and therefore the waters of the river also turned back.

5. He continued to go up the river in the dark. A little farther up he heard the noise of people who were catching leaves in nets from their canoes. There was a loud noise out on the river, because they were working hard. The Giant, who was sitting on the shore, said. "Throw ashore one of the things that you are catching." And those on the water answered: "Where did you come from, you great liar?" They knew that it was the Giant, therefore they made fun of him. The Giant said again: "Throw ashore one of the things that you are catching." Then they scolded him. Then the Giant said, "I shall break the max;" and a person replied, "Ah, where do you come from, great liar, and where did you get what you are talking about?" The Giant repeated his request four times, but those on the water refused what he asked for. Therefore the Giant broke the max. It broke, and it was daylight. Behold, boxes floated on the water. The ghosts had been fishing in the dark. Then the Giant knew it. He did not see where they went.

6. Now Txä'msEm met his brother Lôg̲ôbolā'. They were going to Nass river. They crossed the mouth of the river, and when they reached the middle, a fog arose. Lôg̲ôbolā' had taken off his hat and put it upside down in his canoe. Then the fog lay on the surface of the water. Txä'msEm lost his way and paddled about; but Txä'msEm did not paddle, he just drifted. Then Txä'msEm afraid. He called his brother: "Dear Lôg̲ôbolā'!" But Lôg̲ôbolā' did not answer. He called to him again, and he was nearly crying. He called him: "Oh, my good brother!" Then Lôg̲ôbolā' pitied him. He gathered the fog, took it off from the water, and put it in his hat; then he put the hat on, and the fog cleared away. Then they paddled across.

7. They camped at Graveyard point, intending to eat there. Txä'msEm went to get fuel and to look for water. After they had eaten, Lôg̲ôbolā' said to his brother, What are you going to drink,

Giant? [Are you going to drink from the] roots of little alder trees?" After they had eaten, he gave Txä'msEm his basket-cup. Txä'msEm took it and went toward the water, but there was no water in the brook. It was lost. Then Txä'msEm worried. He knew at once that Lôg̲ôbolā' had caused the water to be lost. He returned. His voice was almost choked by tears when he spoke: "Oh, dear Lôg̲ôbolā', chief, please don't tease me. I am very thirsty." Then Lôg̲ôbolā' pretended to drink. He took the basket and he dipped water up himself. Then Txä'msEm drank. Then the flood tide set in.

8. Then they went up Nass river, each in his own canoe. When they had gone up to the point where the current runs downward, Txä'msEm said, "Let us gamble." Lôg̲ôbolā' agreed, though he did not care. He asked Txä'msEm, "What game shall we play?" Txä'msEm replied. "Let us have a shooting match." Lôg̲ôbolā' consented. Then Txä'msEm prepared a rock. He split it that they might shoot at it, and said: "Whoever hits this crack shall win the game, either I or you. agreed. Let us stake Skeena river against Nass river." Lôg̲ôbolā' agreed. It is said that Lôg̲ôbolā' had a nice box for his quiver, but Txä'msEm just made a bow and an arrow. Then he took two stones on which they sat down. They talked to each other, and Txä'msEm wished to sit nearest the water. He placed his grandchildren nearby. Lôg̲ôbolā' placed the Canada Jays, his grandchildren, nearby. Now Lôg̲ôbolā' said, "You shoot first, brother Giant." But the Giant replied, "No; let us shoot at the same time." Then Lôg̲ôbolā' agreed. Txä'msEm said to his grandchildren, the Crows, "Fly ahead! If my arrow should not quite reach the aim, take it up and stick it into the stone, but pull out Lôg̲ôbolā''s arrow and put it away." They did so. They shot at the same time. As soon as the brothers shot, the Crows flew ahead. Lôg̲ôbolā' saw clearly when his arrow struck the stone, but Txä'msEm said, "I hit it." But Lôg̲ôbolā' said, "No; I hit it." "No; I hit it," said Txä'msEm. He was very happy while he was saying this, therefore he used the Tsimshian language. Then Lôg̲ôbolā' said he knew that he had lost. He saw the Crows taking the arrow and putting it away, while they put Txä'msEm's arrow into the cleft. Lôg̲ôbolā' said, "You have won, brother Giant. Now the olachen will come to Nass river twice every summer." And Txä'msEm said, "The salmon of Skeena river shall always be fat." Thus they divided what Txä'msEm had won at Nass river. Txä'msEm was again hungry. What should he eat? Then Lôg̲ôbolā' went toward sunrise, while Txä'msEm went down to the ocean.

2a. He did still another thing. He heard that the daylight was hidden in a box called max. He went to get it. He transformed himself into a leaf of a cedar, and he wished that the chief's daughter should be thirsty. The chief's daughter went to fetch water, and drank the leaf. Then she was pregnant and had a boy. His grandfather was very glad. The child grew up very quickly. He crept about. Then he began to cry very much. His grandfather worried because the boy was crying all the time. He said, "Call an old man. Maybe he will understand what he says." The old man sat down.

Now the boy was crying, "Hamahā'" all the time. Then the old man said to the chief, "I thought it was, difficult to understand what the prince says. He cries for the max." The box in which the daylight was kept hanging in the corner of the chief's house. The child stopped crying when be heard what the old man said. The chief took the box off and put it down near the child, who was Txä'msEm. Then he stretched out his hand and clapped the box in which the daylight was. Then his grandfather was glad. Now Txä'msEm was playing with the box and moved it about in the house. He made it run about in his grandfather's house. On the following morning Txä'msEm rose from his mother's bed. He took the box and played with it all day. He went out of the house and made it roll about on the street. He only pretended to play with it. When he was outside, he took it and ran away with it. One man saw him and said, Txä'msEm is running away with the sun-box!" Then Txä'msEm ran away. He had assumed his full size which he had when going about murdering. Then he ran.

5a. He came down the river and arrived at its mouth. It was dark there, and he heard the ghosts catching olachen at night. He said, "Give me one of the things you have caught." One man replied, "Who is talking there? That is the great Txä'msEm; ha, ha, tssî!" After a while Txä'msEm said again, "Give me one of the things you caught, or I will tear the sun-box." Then all the ghosts said, "Ha, great slave; you great Scabby-shin! Where did you obtain what you are talking about, great slave, great thief?" And Txä'msEm was angry. He opened the sun-box a little and it became light. Behold, large boxes floated on the water and capsized. They were the canoes of the ghosts. Then he shut the box again, and the ghosts continued to catch olachen.

[1] From here on the relater seems to have confounded the stories of the birth of Txä'msEm and of the origin of daylight. See the correct version in Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der nord-pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Berlin, 1895, p. 272 et seq.

Txä'msEm

[1, 4, and 2a told by Philip; 2 and 3 by Moses]

1. He came to the house of a chief who was, asleep. He stood in the doorway. The water was in the house of this chief. Then Txä'msEm thought he would steal it. He tore off the bark of a rotten tree. He chewed it and made it look like excrements. Then he entered secretly after he had finished his work. The great chief was asleep. Txä'msEm lifted his blanket and laid the excrements next to his anus. Then he waked him and said, "Chief, you soiled your blanket." Then the chief awoke and said, "When did that happen?" Txä'msEm repeated, "You soiled your blanket while you were asleep. Shall I clean it?" Then the chief did not say a word. He was ashamed. "Do not stir; I will go and fetch some moss to wipe it off." Txä'msEm had already brought some moss for that purpose. He went immediately to the chief, lifted his blanket, and said, "Hm, what a smell that is!" He showed it to the chief after he had finished wiping the blanket. Then the chief saw it and believed that he had soiled his blanket while asleep. He was much ashamed. Then Txä'msEm carried it outside. He entered again and said: "Chief, I am very thirsty." The water was hanging in the corner of the chief's house. The chief spoke, "Go and get the water yourself." Then Txä'msEm arose, put his bear-skin blanket on, and opened the receptacle in which the water was kept. Then he poured it into his blanket.

Then he ran out and uttered the cry of the raven, "Qa, qa, qa, qa!" He carried the great water, and ran away with it. Then the great chief became angry and said, "Ahum! Great slave! Scabby-shin! He did it. He took all the water." Txä'msEm ran away. It was dark while he was running. He could not see ahead, but he heard the ghosts whistling near his face. He returned immediately because he was afraid. The water was all the time running down from his bearskin, and therefore the water now always runs back to sea. Now he arrived at the mouth of Nass river. He was very glad. Therefore Nass river is now a very large river.

2. He went on and made a house of stone. Then he saw a gull flying about. He said, "Whee!" The gulls continued to fly about, crying, "Qâq!" The Giant ran about and made small sticks, intending to gamble. Then the great Gull came. They began to gamble. Soon they began to quarrel, and the Giant said, "I guess this stick." The Gull did not reply. Therefore the Giant threw the Gull on his back and stepped on his stomach. Then the great Gull vomited two olachens. The Giant took them, and the Gull flew away.

In the evening the Giant made a little canoe of elderberry wood. Then he started to gamble. He went down the river and landed at the beach in front of the house of a great chief. He took his gambling sticks and went up. He entered, and many people were in the house. They began to gamble. Now, before the Giant landed he had rubbed the spawn of the olachen over the inside of his canoe and left the tails under the stern sheet. Now he sat down among the gamblers.

Then a person said, "Why don't you join us?" The Giant yawned, "I did not sleep all night. A certain person caught three canoe loads of olachen up the river." "La!" said one man, "how should olachen get there? It is not time yet. They will go up six months hence." They did not believe the Giant, and said, "You are a liar; you are a liar!" The Giant did not at first reply; then he said, "Well, look at the inside of my canoe. There are olachen tails under the stern sheets." The young men went down, and they saw that the whole inside of the canoe was full of olachen spawn; and when they lifted up the stern sheets they found two tails of olachen. Then the youths went up and said, "It is true." They showed the olachen tails. Then the great chief said, "Ask Little-captain-of-the-canoe, ask Dry-on-boxes-in-which-olachen-is-kept, and ask

Grease-that-is-sticking-to-the-stones-with-which-the-fish-are-boiled. See what they say." Then the person went to ask them. He was sent by the chief. They all agreed. Then the chief ordered the men who were standing in the four-corners of his house to break the corners. They did so. Then the olachen jumped into the water. The Giant ran down to the water. He stepped into the water and shouted, telling the olachen to go into the river. He said, "Go up on both sides of the river." Then he came to a house. Many people were catching olachen. Then they gave fish to the Giant. He put the olachen on spits to roast them.

When they were done, a gull appeared over the Giant. Then the Giant called him: "Little Gull!" Then many gulls came, which ate all the Giant's olachen. They said while they were eating it, Qanä', qanä', qanä', qanä'!" They cried so all the time while they were eating the Giant's olachen. Then he was sad. Therefore he took the gulls and threw them into the fireplace, and ever since that time the tips of their wings have been black.

3. He went on and met a deer. He killed it and skinned it. He put the skin on. Then he fastened pitch wood to the tail. Now he entered the house of a person, and when he saw the, fireplace he ran toward it. The pitch wood at the end of the deer's tail began to burn. The name of the person was Qannēnē'lEguLxLo. He was ice (?). Then the Giant sang as he entered, "Gīl-spagait-nê'êq (?) gīl-spagait-nē'êq (?)" Thus he spoke. When he had finished singing, he ran out. He ran about among the trees and struck the tail against the butts of the trees. Then the butts of the trees caught fire. He went on after he had obtained the fire.

4. Now he came to a chieftainess, and they ate together. He ate all the provisions of the chieftainess. He was angry and threw away the salmon, and then all the salmon which he was going to eat ran away. After that his bead became ugly, while it had been very nice when he first met the chieftainess. After that it was ugly. [1]

2a. Txä'msEm did another thing. He induced the olachen to come to Nass river. He entered the house called Supernatural place or Tabued place. There were many people inside gambling. Txä'msEm heard them. He was very hungry. He found a small herring. Then he squeezed out its roe and rubbed it all over the inside of his canoe. Now he arrived on the beach in front of Supernatural place, where the people were gambling. Then Txä'msEm said, shaking his large blanket, which was all wet, "Ēhi-hi-hi! Water dropped on me from Txä'msEm's bag net." Then the chief said, "Where does that come from that you are speaking of, Giant?" "Yes; the canoes are full. They caught olachen with their rakes last night." "Ah! Txä'msEm is lying." "Go and look at my canoe." The young men went and saw what he had spoken of. Then they believed him. They saw olachen spawn in Txä'msEm's canoe. Then the chief said, "What do these great fools, the olachen, come here for?" There were persons sitting in the corners of the house who held the strings of olachen. They took care of the olachen in the corners of Supernatural place. The chief said to them, "Let go what you are holding." Then these men did so. Four of them were sitting in the corners of the house. As soon as Txä'msEm heard him say "Let go," he ran out to his little canoe. He paddled, and took his olachen rake. He said, "They go up on both sides of the river." He was very glad. Then he went to eat olachen. His canoe was quite full. He had not used his rake, but the whole shoal of olachen had jumped into his canoe, so that it was full.

Then he camped at Crab-apple place. He clapped on the stone until it was quite smooth, that the olachen should not disappear. Then he was very glad. He stayed a little farther up Nass river. He made a spit for roasting olachen in order to prepare them for his meal. When the olachen were almost done, be said to the gull that was sitting opposite him, "Come, Little Gull." The gull came and ate one olachen. He cried, "Qanä', qanä', qanä', qanä'!, Then many gulls came and ate all the olachen. Now Txä'msEm was sad. He took the gulls and threw them into the fireplace. Thus it happens that their wings are black.

[1] This is an allusion to the legend about how the raven obtained the salmon. See Boas, Indianische Sagen von der nord-pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Berlin, 1895, pp. 160, 174, 209.

Txä'msEm

[1-17, told by Philip; 18 to 20 and 3a told by Moses]

1. There was a chief who had a daughter who swallowed a leaf of a cedar when drinking water. Then she had a pretty child, a boy. The child was able to walk, but he did not eat. Then his grandfather worried. He called two old men to chew some food for the child. The two old men did so. They chewed some salmon and grease, and one of them scratched a scab from his shin. He put it among the salmon that he had chewed. Then the child ate what the old man had chewed; he ate very much. In the evening he ate one salmon in the house of his grandfather. He was hungry all the night, after the two old men who had chewed for him left the house. Then he did not sleep, but he ate until the day broke. Now his grandfather was glad; but the boy ate all day, and after a short time all the food was gone. Then he ate all the provisions in another house, and he ate all the provisions of the whole village. Then his grandfather was troubled. He wanted to get rid of him because he knew that the boy had done wrong. He said, "My grandchild has eaten scabs of Wâ'sE, therefore I will get rid of him. Go, slave, and tell the tribe." The slave ran out and said, "Great tribe, you shall move to-morrow morning." On the following morning the people moved. They deserted the prince.

2. What was he to eat? He went toward the beach searching for some food, but he did not find anything. Behold, there was a fish in the water. It was not moving. Then he called it ashore to talk to it. The fish came toward the shore. Its name was Bullhead. The prince thought he would kill it. Now it was almost within reach, but it swam back into the water. Then the prince was much depressed because he was hungry, The fish knew his intentions. It swam back from the shore saying, "Do you think I do not know you, Giant?" Then he acted as though he were taking bold of the image of the fish, and, stretching out his band, said, "You shall have a thin tail. Only your head shall be thick." Then it became the Bullhead. The bullhead used to be remarkably stout. Txä'msEm cursed it, and therefore it is thin at one end.

3. Then the prince put on his grandfather's dancing blanket. He went on, not knowing where he went. He tore his dancing blanket and was very poor. Then be caught a number of ravens, and used any means be could invent to kill them. He took their skins and tied them together, and put on the raven blanket. Then he went about dressed up nicely. Now he saw a good dancing blanket like the one he had worn before. At once he tore his raven blanket and took the dancing blanket that hung before him. Behold it was no dancing blanket; there were only lichens on the trees. Now he saw that there were nothing but lichens. He sat down weeping. He took his raven blanket, tied it together again, and walked on, hungry and weeping.

4. Now he wanted to go to war. He mot a pretty slave whose name was K*?ixō'm. He took him along, and they came to the house of a chief. The chief called to him, "Come in, my dear, if it is you who ate the scabs of Wâ'sE." Then he was ashamed. He entered with his slave, and they sat down. The chief (a small bird) fed them. First they ate salmon, then the waiters served crab apples mixed with grease. When Txä'msEm saw this he became very desirous of eating it; therefore with a low voice be said to his slave, "Tell them that I like to eat what they have there." The slave said, "Oh, chief! he says he does not like to eat what you have there," and the slave ate it all alone, and Txä'msEm sat there looking on. He did not eat anything. After they had finished eating, they went out, Txä'msEm first.

5. Then they came to a deep canyon. He took the dried stein of a skunk-cabbage (?)and laid it across. He made a bridge. Then he himself went across, and after he had done so he called K*?ixō'm (that was the name of his slave) to come across; but the slave was afraid to follow Txä'msEm. After a while, however, he followed him, and when he reached the middle of the bridge it broke. He fell down into the canyon, and his belly burst. When Txä'msEm saw what had happened, and saw the food of which he had not been able to partake, then he flew to the bottom of the canyon and ate the contents of the slave's stomach. He simply took the food with his hands. When he had finished eating, the slave arose and said, "He eats excrements." Then Txä'msEm was ashamed. The slave recovered and parted company with Txä'msEm.

Thus the slave found out that it was Txä'msEm. When the latter went about murdering he heard himself called very bad names. First the Bullhead called him Giant, and then the chief called him Eating-scabs-of-Wâ'sE. He was again very hungry.

6. Then he arrived at another village, and saw little children playing at the end of the town. They were throwing pieces of seal blubber at one another. He stepped among them and ate the blubber. He ate all the blubber which the children were throwing at one another. Then they wondered what had become of it. Txä'msEm asked them, "Where do you get that blubber?" And they told him where they got it. They said, "We climb up a tree and throw ourselves down. When we strike the ground, we open our eyes and say, 'High piles of our blubber,' and immediately there are high piles of blubber." Therefore Txä'msEm also climbed the tree. He threw himself down, saving, "High." Then the children looked and saw that he was dead. They laughed at him and left him. After a while Txä'msEm opened his eyes. He did not find anything to eat.

7. Txä'msEm found another house which belonged to Chief Cormorant. The house was full of provisions, and he sat down and ate. 'Then he asked the Cormorant to join him in catching halibut. Txä'msEm did not catch anything, while Chief Cormorant caught a great many. Then Txä'msEm Went up to him in the canoe. He took a louse from the Cormorant's neck, held it up to him, and said, "Open your mouth and I will put your louse into it." The Cormorant replied, "No! Put it overboard into the water." "You will not catch anything if I put it into the water." Txä'msEm urged him, "Put out your tongue and let me put it on." Then the Cormorant did so.

He put out his tongue. Txä'msEm seized it and tore it out. Then the chief was dumb. They returned to the shore and quitted fishing. The Cormorant's wife went down to the beach, and Txä'msEm said to her, "The chief fainted, and lost his speech." But Chief Cormorant said, "Gogogo!" "Now you hear he says that he caught all this halibut, but I caught it." Yet he had not caught it. In this way the Cormorant lost his speech. Then they carried up the halibut, and Txä'msEm told how the chief had lost his speech.

8. Txä'msEm did another thing. He came to a chief, who called him into his house. His name was TEnō'kᵘLEnx. The house stood all alone. Txä'msEm was very glad because he saw much food there.

He ate there all the time. Then he saw TEnō'kᵘLEnx's club. It hung on the house post and was inlaid with abalone shell. Txä'msEm said, "He acts like a bad slave." He saw that the chief had large teeth. The chief arose and took the club, intending to kill Txä'msEm, but he ran out of the house. Then Txä'msEm spoke kindly, "I said you are acting nicely, Chief." TEnō'kᵘLEnx said, "No, you said, 'He acts like a bad slave.'" "I shall not say so again, Chief. Let me sit near you." Then TEnō'kᵘLEnx agreed. Txä'msEm reentered the house and stayed there a long time. Now Txä'msEm went into the woods near the house. He made a club of rotten wood. He pounded mussel shells and inlaid the rotten wood with it. Then he took TEnō'kᵘLEnx's club and hung in its place the club of rotten wood which looked like it. Then he hid TEnō'kᵘLEnx's club, and sat down, and said again, "How bad acts that slave to whom I came!" Then TEnō'kᵘLEnx rose. He took his club, and Txä'msEm ran out of the house. As soon as TEnō'kᵘLEnx came outside he struck Txä'msEm on the head, who said, "My brother is using a rotten wood club to kill me." Then he took TEnō'kᵘLEnx's own club and killed him. He threw the body on the beach. He stayed in the house and ate all of TEnō'kᵘLEnx's food.

9. Another time Txä'msEm came to the house of the Seal. The Seal invited him in. He was eating salmon. He took a dish and placed it near the fire; then he held up his hands near the fire so that they grew warm. Then grease dripped from his fingers and ran into the dish. He gave it to Txä'msEm to dip the salmon in the grease. Txä'msEm ate the salmon with the seal blubber. He ate very much, and was satiated. Then he left. Now Txä'msEm made a house. He finished it and invited the Seal to visit him. The Seal entered, and sat down in the rear of the house, and Txä'msEm took a dish. He placed it near the fire and held up his hands so that they grew warm, but his hands were scorched. Then Txä'msEm turned back secretly, crying, "Mmmmmm!" When the Seal saw that Txä'msEm was crying, he rose. There was no grease in the dish. Then he said, "He tries to imitate what I do." Txä'msEm was ashamed. He put pitch on his hand because it hurt. Then he said, "You ought not to try such things. You would better get food for me that I may eat." He was greatly troubled, therefore he said so. He spoke to his hand. For that reason the hands of man are bent (in old age) to this day.

Txä'msEm went on, and came to a nice house. There he found Chief Ts?Enk?oa'ts, who had stores of provisions. The chief invited in Txä'msEm, who sat down. Then he ate salmon, good salmon. After he had eaten he drank water. Ts?Enk?oa'ts took a nice dish, and stretched his foot out over the dish; then he took a stone, struck his ankle, and pulled out fish roe. He placed it before Txä'msEm, who ate it. He was very glad. He left the house of Ts?Enk?oa'ts when he had eaten enough. Then Txä'msEm thought he would invite his friend to visit him. He made a house and invited in Ts?Enk?oa'ts, who sat down. Then Txä'msEm took a dish and stretched his foot out over the dish. He took a stone and struck his ankle. He fell down backward, and said, "Oh! I am dead; I am almost dead." Ts?Enk?oa'ts said, "He tries to imitate me," and left the house. Then Txä'msEm was ashamed. His foot was swollen.

He went on, not knowing which way to turn. He came to the house of Salmon-berry-bird, who invited Txä'msEm in. Then he ate salmon. When he had finished eating, he drank. Now, Salmonberry-bird took a nice dish. He wiped it out. Then he rose and said, "Miyâ'! Miyâ'!" He said so very often. Then the dish was full of salmon-berries. Txä'msEm saw them and ate. Then he thought he would do the same. Secretly he took an unripe salmon-berry and put it into his hand. He left the house. Then he made a house and invited in Chief Salmon-berry-bird. He imitated him. He arose after having placed the unripe salmon-berry in his dish. Then he stood there and said, "Miyâ'! Miyâ'!" He said so very often, but there remained just as many unripe salmon-berries in the dish as he had put in. He placed the dish before Chief Salmon-berry-bird, who rose, saying, "He tries to imitate me." Then Txä'msEm was ashamed. He did not imitate any more.

10. He went on, not knowing which way to turn. Behold, he came out of the woods to a large town. There were people in front of the town fishing for halibut. Txä'msEm thought, "They have much bait, and I will eat it." He dived, and he saw the bait. He took it from the hook and ate it. He went from one hook to the other, eating all the bait. Then the bait of all the fishermen had disappeared, but they did not know how it had happened. Finally one of the men caught Txä'msEm's jaw. His jaw was caught on one of the hooks. Then the fisherman pulled. Txä'msEm was pulled up, although he was resisting. He could not take the hook out of his mouth. He held on to the rocks at the bottom of the sea. Then he was hauled up with the fish line. The fishermen came together and they all hauled the fish line. Txä'msEm said to the rocks at the bottom of the sea that they should help him, and finally he said to his jaw, "Break off, jaw! I am getting tired." Then his jaw broke off. When the fishermen saw the great jaw with a long beard, some of them laughed, but others were scared. They went ashore, and all the people assembled in the chief's house. There they looked at the great jaw. Txä'msEm went ashore, coming out of the water. He was greatly worried. Then he repented and said, "I am always doing this to myself." He arrived at the town while the people were looking at the great jaw in the chief's house. Txä'msEm entered and sat down near the door. He saw the people looking at the great jaw. He held his blanket over his mouth to cover his lost jaw. When he saw his own great jaw he stretched out his hand, saying, "Give it to me." He took it and looked at it, turning it over and over, examining it. Then he put it on and ran out, and the people said, "That is Txä'msEm, the cheater!" Then Txä'msEm was well again.

11. Txä'msEm went on. He was very hungry, and he saw a steelhead salmon jumping in the river. hen he devised a plan. He kicked a rock and made a deep hole. He said with a loud voice, "Steel-head salmon, hit my heart." After he had said so he sat down quietly. The steel-head salmon hit his heart, and Txä'msEm lay there dead. After a little while he opened his eyes and he saw that the salmon had jumped over the hole that he had made. Then he kicked the rock a second time, and he again told the salmon to hit his heart. He sat down again and the same was repeated. He told the salmon to hit his heart, and it did so. Again he was dead. After a while he opened his eves and saw the salmon lying in the hole near the water. He rushed down to catch it, but he could not reach it. He kicked the rock a third time, and sat down again. Then he told the salmon to bit his heart. It did so, and again he was dead. His heart was swollen. Then he opened his eyes again, and saw the salmon which lay right in the, middle of the rock. He went down slowly and caught it.

12. Now he did not know how to prepare his food. So he sat down and defecated. Then he asked his excrements, "What shall I do, my excrements?" They said, "Steam it in a hole." Then he cut wood, but while he was doing so he forgot what he was to do. Then he sat down again and defecated. Only a little came out. He asked, "What shall I do, my excrements?" They said, "Steam it in a hole." They spoke in a low voice. Now Txä'msEm gathered stones, and he said all the time, "Steam it in a hole." He said it as though he was singing.

He made a song of the words, "Steam it in a hole." When the hole was hot he went to gather leaves of the skunk-cabbage to cover it. Then he cut the salmon lengthwise and put it on top of the leaves in the, hole. A stump lay near the hole. Then he took part of the salmon out and said to the stump, shaking the salmon, "I am sure you envy me, Stump." Then he went to get some more leaves which were to serve as his dish. After he had left, the Stump moved and sat down on top of the hole. Now Txä'msEm returned to eat. Behold, the Stump was sitting on the hole. Then he opened his mouth and cried on account of his food. He took a long lever and turned the Stump over. Behold, it had eaten all the salmon. Then he hit the Stump with stones, and turned it all over with his lever until the Stump was broken. It was quite rotten. He found a few small pieces of fresh salmon. He put these into his mouth and he was very hungry while doing so.

13. He went on toward the sea and entered the house of the Grizzly Bear. He asked him to join him in catching halibut, but the Grizzly Bear said that he had no bait. Txä'msEm replied, "We will use our own bodies as bait; we will use our testicles." He carried the tail of the steel-head salmon. Txä'msEm went down to the water and took the canoe of the Grizzly Bear. While he was doing so, the Bear rose and went into the canoe, and they started for the fishing bank. Now they reached it, and Txä'msEm pretended to cut off his penis and to tie it on to his hook for bait. The Grizzly Bear saw the act, but was afraid to do the same. He was surprised at what he saw Txä'msEm doing. The latter urged him, saying, "Go on, do the same;" but the

Grizzly Bear was afraid to do so. Then Txä'msEm pushed his knife along the canoe, handing), it to the Bear. Now the Bear cut off his penis, and he fainted. When he felt that he was dying, he made a rush at Txä'msEm, trying to kill him, but Txä'msEm jumped into the water and dived. He clung to the bow of the canoe, and when he knew that the Bear was dead, he boarded the canoe again. He went ashore and stepped up to the Bear's wife.

He put stones into the fire and told the female Grizzly Bear to swallow the hot stones. He said that the wives of those who do not catch anything must do so, and she was to do so, because her husband had not caught any halibut. The chieftainess trusted him. Txä'msEm took up the stones with tongs. He told her to open her mouth and he put the hot stones into it. Then she tumbled about, and Txä'msEm hit her all over while she was doing so until she was dead. He walked down at once and took the Bear that he had killed first out of the canoe. He cut him first, and then his wife. Both the Bears were dead. He stayed there for many days eating. When he had eaten all the provisions of the Bear, he left again, not knowing where he went.

14. Then he went out of the woods and came to a house, the house of Little Pitch, who was rich, and lived there with his wife. Then Little Pitch invited him in and he ate. When he was satiated, he slept. Then he said that they would go to catch halibut. Little Pitch was willing, and said to him, "It is not good for me to be out after sunrise.

I must return while it is still chilly. I shall have enough by that time." Txä'msEm replied, "I shall do whatever you say, Chief." Little Pitch said, "Well!" Then they started for the fish bank. They fished all night. When the sun rose Little Pitch wanted to go ashore, but Txä'msEm said, "I enjoy the fishing. Lie down in the bow of the canoe and cover yourself with a mat." Little Pitch did so. Then Txä'msEm said, "Little Pitch!" "Heh!" he replied. After a while Txä'msEm called again, "Little Pitch!" He answered again in a loud voice. After some time Txä'msEm called again. Then Little Pitch's voice was weary. Now Txä'msEm hauled up his line and paddled home. He pretended to paddle strongly, but he put his paddles into the water edgewise. Again he called, "Little Pitch!" "Heh!" Little Pitch replied, but his voice was very weak. Then Txä'msEm knew that Little Pitch was dying. Behold, pitch came out and ran over the halibut where Little Pitch died. Therefore the halibut is black on one side.

That is the end of another adventure of Txä'msEm. He always ate all the food of the chiefs. He killed two chiefs, Grizzly Bear and Little Pitch.

15. He did another thing. He found the town of the air. He saw houses, and heard people saying, "The chief is coming," but he did not see anyone. A man said to him, "Enter the house of the chief." Then he entered. He walked proudly and erect. Behold, a mat was being spread for him on one side of the house. Txä'msEm sat down on it. Behold, a box opened of itself and salmon came out of it. A dish walked to the fire all by itself. Txä'msEm was much astonished. It lay down in front of him. He thought about it while he was eating. When he had finished, he drank. Then cranberries mixed with grease and water came from the corner of the house and placed themselves in front of him. Then a spoon came to him. He took the handle of the spoon, but nobody was holding it. Then he ate. The dish was very small, and he thought (?) (?) (?). Thus thought Txä'msEm. Then he heard many women laughing near the wall of the house. They said, "The Giant thinks (?) (?) (?)." He heard his own name, Giant, mentioned. He rose from the place where he was eating and went to where the women were speaking, but he did not find anyone, although they were speaking right in front of him. He did not see them. He went back to the fire and sat down. He was quite out of breath. Then he thought, "I will take these things and eat them outside." He rose and took a bundle of salmon. He ran out of the house, but when he came to the door they dragged him back, and he almost fell down. Then be heard someone saying, "Sit down, Chief Giant." Txä'msEm sat down again. He was quite out of breath. He rose again and dragged the box from which the berries had come toward the fire. Then he was attacked and beaten with sticks, although he did not see a person. The sticks moved of themselves, hitting his body, his head, his hands, and his feet. Then he felt very badly. He went on, not knowing which way to turn.

16. Txä'msEm did still another thing. He came to the house where the Deer was living with his wife. There were two persons in the house. Then Txä'msEm sat down and said, "Let us go and cut wood." He called the Deer his brother-in-law. The Deer trusted him, and they went to cut wood. While they were splitting the wood the wedges jumped out all the time. Txä'msEm said to the Deer, "Hold the wedges." He did so. Txä'msEm struck the wedges with his hammer, and said to the Deer, "Come a little nearer to the wedges, friend!" The Deer was afraid; but Txä'msEm again asked him to come nearer, because the wedges were always jumping out. Txä'msEm sang while splitting wood, because he was very glad. "Hôho, hôho, hîhî!" When he had said so, he hit the Deer's head. "O, my poor brother-in-law!" he said when the Deer died. Then he took the Deer into his canoe. He broke some mussel shells and stuck them into his body, saying that they were arrowheads. Then he paddled back to the village singing (?) (?) (?). Then the Deer's wife went down, and Txä'msEm showed her where the arrow points were sticking in the Deer's blanket. The woman believed him. They carried up the Deer which Txä'msEm had murdered. Then he killed the Deer's wife also. He stayed at the house and ate them. He had killed them for this purpose.

17. Then he came to the house of Smoke-hole. The house was at the foot of a mountain. He entered. The chief said to his grandchildren,

"Attack him, because he steals all the good things he sees." Txä'msEm took off the bark of an alder and chewed it. Then he entered the house of Smoke-hole, intending to steal his bow, which was ornamented with abalone shells. He transformed himself into a raven and took the bow. Smoke-hole said to his door, "Shut, Door!" Then Txä'msEm was unable to leave the house. They tried to catch him, intending to kill him. He cried, "Qa, qa, qa, qa!" Smoke-hole said to his smoke hole, "Shut!" and the smoke bole caught Txä'msEm's neck. He was dead, and his body was hanging in the smoke hole. Txä'msEm pretended to be dead. Then Smoke-hole made afire. Then Txä'msEm took his own voice and put it in the woods, in a bluff behind Smoke-hole's house. There it made an echo, crying, "Miserable chief, what are you doing? You are a chief and you eat the excrements of a raven!" Then Smoke-hole was ashamed. Therefore he said to his smoke hole, "Open!" It opened, and Txä'msEm flew away, crying, "Qa, qa, qa, qa!" He was almost dead. He let the chewed alder juice run out of his mouth, pretending that blood was coming out of it. When Smoke-hole saw the alder juice he really believed that it was blood, and then he told his smoke hole to open entirely. He said, "Be ashamed of yourself, Txä'msEm, great slave! You were trying to steal again." Txä'msEm could not steal this time.

18. He went on, and came to a house where a man lived near the beach. Then the Giant said: "I am your friend." The person replied, "That is good." The beach in front of the house was full of seals. The Giant ate them all during two nights. Then he killed his friend. He finished all the seals in front of the house, and he ate them all.

Now he was hungry again, and he used the canoe of the person whom he had killed. Only the man's canoe and harpoon remained. The Giant used them. Then he speared seals, and caught four. He returned and went ashore. He took the seals out of the canoe, and began cutting wood. Then he built a fire, and placed stones in it in order to heat them. Then he put the seals on a pile of hot stones. He cooked the four seals, and covered them with skunk-cabbage leaves. The Giant then raised the cover and took out a seal, which he ate when it was cooked. Then he stretched out his hand and took out another seal. There was a stump of a tree near by. The Giant held the seal in his hands and said to the stump, "Don't you envy me, Stump?" Then he went into the woods. Meanwhile the Stump rose and sat down on the hole in which the seals were steaming. The seals were right under him. Now the Giant returned, carrying leaves of the skunk-cabbage. When he saw the Stump sitting on his seals. he cried; He was very much troubled, because he was hungry. Then he took a stick and dug the ground. He cried while he was digging. He found a little bit of meat and ate it. He was crying all the time because he was hungry. He could not do anything.

19. He went on and came to the shore of the sea. There he built a house. Then he made up his mind what to do. After he had finished his house, he dressed himself, put up his hair, and fastened his blanket. He took coal and rubbed it all over his face. He made a dagger and tied it to his hand. Then he rose, and ran out, saying, "I am sad," Thus he spoke while he was walking down to the beach. There he saw a stump. He took it and said, "I caught you." Then he returned. He entered and put the little stump down in his house.

20. The Giant was sad all the time, because he was hungry and there was no food in the house. Therefore he resolved what to do. Early next morning be ran out of the house. Behold, there were ripples on the water. Salmon and halibut and bullheads and porpoises were swimming about in the water. There were all kinds of salmon. When the Giant saw this, he said, "Alâ! alâ! alâ! guts?ē'ekᵘ." Then the salmon said, "Hm!" There was one chief among the salmon who commanded all the others. He said, "I can not hear what the chief on shore there is saving;" thus he said to the Giant. Then he called Little Porpoise, saying, "You will be able to hear what the chief on shore is saving." Little Porpoise swam ashore. He was not very large. Then the Giant ran out again and cried, "Alâ! alâ! alâ! guts?ē'ekᵘ." Then the chief of the salmon understood it, because Little Porpoise had told him. He said, "The chief ashore tells us what to do. He says that we salmon shall all swim together." Then the chief of the salmon repeated it, and all the salmon went ashore together. Then all the halibut were left dry on the beach. The Giant ran out of his house carrying a stick. He clubbed them and carried them up to the house. Then he dried some of them and ate others. He was eating all the time. He was a great eater. He ate them all and then he went on.

3a. Now he was very poor. He had no blanket. He was quite naked. Then he was ashamed. He took a root and killed many ravens. After he had caught them he fastened their skins together and put them on. He went for a long time, and then he saw a dancing blanket hanging in front of him. He was very glad; he took off his raven blanket and tore it to shreds. He threw it down and went to take the dancing blanket, but behold, there was nothing but old, withered leaves. Then the Giant was troubled. It was no dancing blanket at all, and he cried with a loud voice. He returned and found the shreds of his raven blanket. He cried while he was gathering them up. Then he repaired the raven blanket, making a small blanket out of it, which he put on.

The Stone and the Elderberry Bush

[Told by Moses]

A little before the Stone gave birth to her child, the Elderberry Bush gave birth to her children. For that reason the Indians do not live many years. Because the Elderberry Bush gave birth to her children first, man dies quickly. If the Stone had first given birth to her children, this would not be so. Thus say the Indians. That is the story of the Elderberry Bush's children. The Indians are much troubled because the Stone did not give birth to her children first, for this is the reason that men die quickly.

The Porcupine and the Beaver

[Told by Moses]

The Porcupine and the Beaver were friends. They loved each other. The Beaver used to invite the Porcupine to his house all the year round. The Porcupine went and entered the Beaver's house. The house of the Beaver was in the middle of a great lake. The Beaver liked the water very much, but the Porcupine could not go into the water because he could not swim; he was afraid he might perish if his stomach should get full of water. Therefore the Beaver went to the shore and called the Porcupine. The Beaver came up twice when going to the place where the Porcupine was sitting on the shore. Now he came ashore. He said to the Porcupine, "I will carry you. Hold on to my neck." Then the Beaver turned round, but the Porcupine was afraid to be carried across the water. He said to the Beaver, "I might perish." But the Beaver said, "You are not going to die," and after a while the Porcupine climbed on the Beaver's back. The Beaver said, "Now, hold tight to my neck." The Porcupine did so, and the Beaver started across the lake. After a little while he dived; then the Porcupine was much troubled. He broke wind because he did not know how to swim. The water is the Beaver's home, while the Porcupine s home is between the mountains. The Beaver came up twice before he reached his house in the middle of the lake. The Porcupine was very much afraid that he would perish in the water.

Now he entered the Beaver's house, and ate the food the Beaver gave him. Sticks were the food at the Beaver's feast. Now the Porcupine was really troubled because he had to eat sticks, but he ate them.

Another day the Beaver said to the Porcupine, "My dear, let us play." Then he told him how they would play. He said, "I will carry you on my back, and four times I will come up." Then the Porcupine thought, "Now I surely must die," but he agreed. The Beaver carried the Porcupine on his back and said, "Hold on to my neck and put your nose close down to my nape." Now the Porcupine was really ready to die. The Beaver dived, but before he did so he struck the water with his tail. Then a little water splashed into the Porcupine's face, and he gasped. The Beaver stayed under water a long time. The Porcupine was almost dead and his stomach was full of water. Three times the Beaver came up. Once more he went down, and when he came up again the Porcupine was almost dead. Now he returned and put him ashore.

The Porcupine went back to his tribe. When he arrived, he invited the people to his house. When his guests entered, he told them what the Beaver had done on the large lake when he had invited him to come to see him. He said, "My friend almost killed me." Then his people said, "Invite him in and play with him in your turn."

Then the Porcupine did so. He invited the Beaver to his house. When the messenger who had invited the Beaver returned, the Beaver went up the valley in which the Porcupine lived. When the Beaver entered the Porcupine's house, the latter struck the fire with his tail, so that it burned. Then he was going to play with the Beaver. After he had struck the fire with his tail, his tail was burning. Then the Beaver made a song, as follows: "The little tail of the little Porcupine is burned in the middle, pā! The little tail of the little Porcupine is burned in the middle." The Porcupine ran about in front of the Beaver, with whom he intended to play. After he had done so, the Porcupine gave food to his friend the Beaver.

He gave him the bark of a tree and some needles of the spruce. Then the Beaver was afraid to eat them; but the Porcupine said to his friend the great Beaver, "Eat fast, friend," and the Beaver did so. Then he said to the Beaver, "Friend, let us play to-morrow morning. There is a tree on a grassy slope. That is my playing ground," and when they were going to lie down to sleep, the Porcupine sang, "When I walk along the edge (?) (?) (?) my shooting star drops out." Then the Porcupine spoke to the sky, and it cleared up, and in the morning the ground was covered with ice.

Now he gave another feast to the great Beaver; and when he had finished, the Porcupine said, "Now let us play, friend. My playing ground is yonder." It was very cold in the morning. There was a place where water was running down. It was slippery because the water was frozen. The Beaver followed the Porcupine across the place. Then the Beaver was troubled because his feet were slippery, but the Porcupine had long claws. Then he returned to see what the great Beaver was doing, and he said to him, "Come, do it, friend," but the Beaver could not cross the place, on account of the ice on the mountain. Then the Porcupine returned, and took the Beaver by the hand and led him across. Thus the Beaver got across. The Porcupine was going to play with him; just once he did so. Then they walked on, and came to the place where the tree was standing. The Porcupine said to the Beaver, "Now climb this tree." The Beaver was much troubled. He was afraid. The Porcupine continued, "Now you shall see how I do it."

The Porcupine climbed up, and reached the very top of the tree. Then he let go, and dropped down. While he was falling down through space he said (?) (?) and he struck on a rock. Then he rose. He was not dead. He said to the Beaver, "Did you see, friend? That is not difficult." And the Porcupine carried the Beaver up the tree. He said to him, "Now hold on to my neck;" and the Beaver did so. He clung to the neck of the Porcupine, who climbed the tree. When they came near the top, the Porcupine put the Beaver on a branch of the tree, The Beaver was much afraid because his hands were not able to hold on to the tree. Only the Porcupine knows how to do that, because his claws are long,

Now the Porcupine said, "Hold on to the tree, friend. I will go down first." The Beaver did so, clinging round the branch with his arms. Then the Porcupine let go of the tree and fell down. He said again (?) (?) and he struck the rock, but he was not dead.

Now the great Beaver was much troubled, holding on to the branch. He was afraid to let go; but the Porcupine ran about at the foot of the tree, and looked up to his friend. He said, "Oh, friend, that is not difficult. Look at me. I am not dead, although I fell down." Then the Beaver let go of the branch, and when he fell through space, he cried, "Rock, rock!" Then he struck the rocks. He lay on his back, and his belly burst. He was dead.

The Wolves and the Deer

[Told by Moody]

The Wolves had a feast on a prairie at the mouth of Skeena river. They invited the chiefs of the Deer to the feast. The Deer who had been called came. Then they sat down on the prairie face to face with the Wolves. The Wolves said to the Deer, "You on the opposite side begin to laugh." But the Deer did not agree. They said, "You shall laugh first." The Wolves replied, "Now we will laugh. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Now you must laugh, you on the other side." Then the Deer laughed: "M, m, m, m, m! Now you laugh again,

Wolves." Then the Wolves laughed again: "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Now the Deer were afraid when they saw the large teeth of the Wolves. The Wolves said, "Now, you on the other side, you shall laugh again. Don't keep your mouths closed when you are laughing. Nobody laughs like that. You must open your mouths as far as possible when you are laughing. Now do so. Try as hard as you can. Don't be afraid to open your mouths." Thus spoke the Wolves. "Now laugh." Then the Deer laughed again: "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" They opened their mouths wide. They had no teeth. When the Wolves saw that they had no teeth they attacked them, and they bit them all over. Then they devoured the Deer. Only a few of the Deer succeeded in escaping. For this reason the Deer are afraid of the Wolves.

The Stars

[Told by Moses]

There was a town. One evening a man went out of the house, and his son accompanied him. They sat down on the beach. After they had been sitting there for some time, the boy looked up to the sky and said to a star, "Poor fellow! You little twinkler, indeed, you must feel cold." Thus spoke the boy to the Star. The Star heard it, and one evening when the boy went out, the Star came down and took him up to the sky.

When day broke, the people found that the boy was lost. They looked for him everywhere. They asked all the tribes, but they could not find him. Then the people stopped, but his father and his mother longed for him. They were crying all the time. They did so many days.

One day the man was walking about crying. When he stopped crying, he looked up a mountain, and, behold, smoke came out of it. He went up, and when he came near, he saw a woman. She asked the man, "Do you know who took your child?" "No," said the man. "The Star took your child. He tied him onto the edge of his smoke-hole. The child is crying all the time. He is almost dead, because the sparks the fire are burning his body." Thus she spoke. Then she said,

"Go on. Make many arrows, that you may have a great many quickly." The man went down and came to his town. There he made four bundles of arrows. He saw a very long mountain, which he climbed. He stood on top of it, took his bow, and took an arrow and shot at the sky. The arrow hit the edge of the hole of the sky, and stuck there. He shot another arrow, which hit the nock of the first one. He shot again, and continued to do so for many days. Then the arrows came down, and reached to him. The man was carrying tobacco, red paint, and sling-stones. Then he went up, climbing the arrows. He reached the sky, and met a person who said, "Your child is about to die. He is crying all the time because his body is being burned. Carve a piece of wood so that it will look just like your child." He gave to this person tobacco, red paint, and sling-stones in return for his advice. Then the person was very glad. The man made a figure of spruce, one of hemlock, one of balsam fir, and one of red cedar, and one of yellow cedar, all as large as his boy. Then be made a great fire. He built a pyre of slender trees, which he placed crosswise, and placed fire underneath. He hung his wooden images to a tree over the fire. He poked the fire, so that the sparks burned the body of the wooden figure. Then the latter cried aloud, but after a short time it stopped. Then he took it off, and took another one. It did the same. The figure stopped crying after a short time. He took it down. Then he tied the red cedar to the tree and poked the fire. There were very many sparks. The figure cried for a long time, and then stopped. He took it down and hung up the yellow cedar. It did not stop. Then he took the image of yellow cedar.

He went on, and came to a place where he heard a man splitting firewood with his wedge and hammer. His name was Gixsats?ā'ntx*. When he came near, he asked him, "Where is the house?" At the same time he gave him tobacco. Then Gixsats?ā'ntx* began to swell when he tasted the tobacco. (The people of olden times called it "being troubled.") He also gave him red paint and sling-stones.

Then Gixsats?ā'ntx* told him where the child was. He said, "Wait in the woods until they are all asleep, then go up to the roof of the house." The man went, and when he came nearer, he heard the voice of his boy, who was crying; but as soon as the boy stopped, the chief ordered his men to poke the fire until many sparks flew up. When all the people were asleep, the man went to the roof of the house where the child was. The child recognized his father and cried; but his father rebuked him, saying, "Don't cry, don't cry! They might hear you in the house." The boy stopped and the man took him off. In his place he tied the wooden image to the smoke hole. Then he went down. Early in the morning the chief ordered his people to poke the fire. Then the wooden image cried while the man and his son were making their escape. But the wooden image did not cry long. Then it stopped. The chief became suspicious, and sent a man to the roof. He went up, and, behold, there was a stick. The boy was lost, and the wooden image was on the roof. The chief said, "Pursue them!" The people did so. The man heard them approaching. When they were close behind him, he threw tobacco, red paint, and sling-stones in their way. The paint was red; the sling-stones were blue.

The chief's people found these and picked them up. Some persons took the sling-stones, and others took the red paint and put it on their faces. [1] While they were doing so, the man and his son continued to run. Again the man heard the pursuers approaching. Now he came to Gixsats?ā'ntx*, who said, "Run quickly, my dear. They will not catch you." The Star had taken the boy, and therefore the Star's tribe were pursuing them. The main gave Gixsats?ā'ntx* tobacco, and then Gixsats?ā'ntx* swelled very much, so that he obstructed the trail, and therefore the Star tribe could not reach the man.

Now he came near the hole of the sky. He came to it, and went down the chain of arrows. As soon as he reached the ground, he pulled the arrows down, and they all dropped to the ground. He had saved his boy. Then he went down the mountain and ran home. He got the boy back, and therefore he and his wife were glad.

[1] This accounts for the colors of the stars.

Rotten-feathers

[Told by Moses]

There was a town, and a large prairie on which many children were playing. They were always making a noise. They did so every morning all the year round. Then the Heaven heard it. He was much annoyed, and therefore he sent down feathers. They came down, soaring over the children. One boy saw them. He was almost grown up and was very strong. He took the feathers and put them on his head. Then he ran about.

The children had a stick with which they struck a wooden ball. After a little while that boy began to rise, his feet leaving the ground. Then another one rushed up to him and took hold of his feet. His hands stuck to the feet of the first boy, and his feet also left the ground. Then another boy rushed up to him and took hold of his feet, but he also went up. Still another one rushed up to them, taking hold of the feet. He also was lifted upward. Still other ones ran up to them, until all the children were gone. Then a man saw it and rushed up to the children. He also hung onto them. Another one rushed up to them, and took hold of his feet. They all went up to heaven, the whole town, and nobody was left. The Heaven took them all up. He was annoyed on account of the noise of the children.

Therefore the Heaven took them all up. Not even one was left. The whole town disappeared. Only dogs were there, running about howling.

Now there was a young menstruating girl who had been in a small house behind the village. She was there with her little grandmother. When she left her little house and went back to the village, she saw that the whole great town was empty. Then the woman walked along the street crying. Now she found an old wedge made of crabapple wood, one made of sloe wood, one of spruce wood, and she found a little grindstone, a little knife, and some snot. She put them into her belly and went to the rear of the house. She did not put them aside. Then she lay down for four days and four nights. Then she came to be with child and gave birth to a boy, to another one, and to still another one, and to two more. They were very strong. There were three males and one stone and one knife and one snot. The one was named Little-crab-apple-tree, the next one Little-sloe-bush, the next one Little-spruce, the following Little-mountain, the next one Little-knife, and one more was called Snot. The woman had six children.

The woman and her little grandmother suckled them. Now they were a little older, and then they were grown up. Now they also began to play. They took a stick and played ball. (In olden times the people called this "ball-play.") Then the mother said to her children: "Stop, children! Your grandfathers were killed on account of this game. The Heaven took the whole tribe up. Long ago the children did the same thing that you are doing now. Therefore do not do so."

One day the children did so again. Their mother and the little grandmother were unable to stop them. Now they were young men. There were five Young men and one girl. They were called Little-crab-apple-tree, Little-sloe-bush, Little-spruce, Little-grindstone, and Snot; but the little girl was called Little-knife. They were playing all the time. They were very strong. The little girl was the sixth one.

Now the Heaven heard them again when they started playing.

Then he sent the feathers. They came down again, soaring over the children. The eldest boy saw them and took them. He put them on his head and ran about, playing. Then his feet began to rise from the ground. The sky took him up. His younger brother, Little-sloe-bush, ran up to him, but his feet were lifted from the ground. He could not pull his brother down. When he felt that he was getting weak, he said, "Break, my roots!" and his feet left the ground. Then the Little-spruce-tree rushed up to them. He tried to keep his feet to the ground, but when he grew weak, he also said, "Break, my roots!" Then Little-grindstone rushed up to them, and suddenly there was a great mountain. He also tried to keep his feet down while the Heaven was pulling him upward. He did not move because the mountain was all stone, but after a while the mountain moved. Then Snot rushed up to them. He also stuck to the ground. The little girl was running about, rubbing her hands. She was called Little-knife. When Snot's feet were also lifted from the ground, she rushed up to them and climbed her brothers' heads until she reached the eldest one. Then she cut the feathers over her eldest brother's head. She cut them right in the middle, and the children fell down to the ground. They did not go up to the sky. The feathers always stayed on the eldest brother's head, and he was called Rotten-feathers.

Now Rotten-feathers and his younger brother went on all alone. They came to a town, and there Rotten-feathers married a woman. Then he returned to his own town, and there he stayed with her.

They had a boy. When he was grown up, his father, Rotten-feathers, named him. Then he went . . . . [1]

[1] For continuation, see page 234.

K*?ēLku

[Told by Moses]

A number of children played camping every day. Many played this game in one large hollow log. They went into it and played that it was their house. They made a fire in it and ate there. They took a large quantity of provisions into the log. They ate salmon. They did so every day. One day when they were playing camping, the tide rose high and the large tree floated out to sea. The children did not know it. They were playing inside. Now the log had drifted far out to sea. Then one child went out, and he saw that the log had drifted away. Then all the children went out, and they cried. The log was drifting about in the ocean.

One of the children was wise. He saw gulls flying about, and then he returned into the hollow log and said, "Gulls are always sitting on top of us. What can we do to catch them?" Then one boy said, "Let us hit our noses, and we will rub the blood all over the log, then the feet of the gulls will stick to the log." They did so. They hit their noses until they bled. Then they rubbed the blood on the log. Then they entered the log again. Now many gulls came and sat down on the log. About noon their feet dried to the log. Then one of the boys went out. The gulls tried to fly away, but they could not do so because their feet were glued to the log. Then the boy took hold of them and twisted off their necks. He killed many gulls and took them into the log. Then the boys were glad. They ate the meat of the gulls and forgot that they were drifting about on the ocean.

The land was far away. They were on the edge of the ocean. One day they heard a great noise. The boys went out and, behold, they were drifting round in a whirlpool. Then they began to cry. The tree almost stood on its end, because the whirlpool was swallowing it.

While it was drifting there on end a man ran out to it. He had only one leg. He harpooned the great log and pulled it ashore. He hauled it ashore. The boys were not dead. He had saved them. Then the boys went up to the house of the man. There were many boys. One-leg gave them to eat. The beach in front of the house smelled of seal. The man was spearing seals all the time at the edge of the whirlpool. He watched for seals, and therefore he stayed there. There was also another man living there whose name was Hard-instep. He was much troubled, for he was jealous because One-leg had saved the boys. One-leg was spearing seals all the time, and he carried them up for the children. They ate, and they grew up to be young men.

After a while the children remembered those whom they had left behind, and they began to cry. Then One-leg asked the children why they cried, and they told him. Then he said, "The town of your fathers is not far. It is over there. To-morrow morning you shall start. You may use my canoe, which is at the end of the village." Early the next morning One-leg sent the boys, saying, "Take the cover off from my canoe. It is near by yonder." The children went, and grew tired walking about. They could not find the canoe. Finally they returned. Then One-leg asked, "Did you find it?" The boys said, "No." He sent them again, and they went; but again they grew tired walking about, but they did not find it. Again they returned. Then One-leg himself went. He went to a rotten tree that was there. It was covered with small branches. He took off the branches and they beheld a large canoe. It was made in the shape of a man, with a mouth at one end. It was the same at the other end. Its name was "Wâ'sE-at-each-end." It did not allow anything to cross its bow or its stern.

When a man crossed it, it ate him. Then One-leg said, "Don't pass in front of the canoe." And they obeyed because they were afraid. Then they put it into the water. It was a fine, large canoe. They put many seals aboard, which were to serve as food for the canoe. Then the boys went aboard. They fed the canoe. Its bow and its stern ate five seals each. Then the canoe went. After it had finished eating the seals it went very fast. Then they gave five seals more to the bow and five to the stern, and it went on again.

Finally the children landed at the town of their fathers. They went ashore. Their fathers and mothers and all their relatives were crying. Then the boys came back. That is the end.

The Sealion Hunters

[Told by Moses]

There were four men--one of the Wolf clan, one of the Raven clan, one of the Eagle clan, and one of the Bear clan. They were great hunters. There were four rocks. The men went out in their canoes to these rocks, and when they arrived there they found the rocks full of sealions. The rock of one of the men was not full. He caught only two. The men of the Raven clan, of the Wolf clan, and of the Eagle clan caught a great many. Then the one man was ashamed because he had caught only two. The next time they started he came home again almost empty handed. He had caught only one. Then he was sad.

One evening he started and stole the sealions that were on the rock of the man of the Wolf clan. When, the next morning, this man started there were no sealions on his rock. Then he knew that another person had stolen them, Therefore he carved the figure of a sealion out of wood and put it into the water. It was under water a short time and came up again and floated. Then he carved a sealion out of another piece of wood. He put it into the water, and again it floated. He tried four kinds of wood, but they did not prove to be good. Then he took a piece of hard wood, red in color like the skin of a sealion. He carved it and threw it into the water. Now it was very good. It did not become weak. He laid it on his own rock.

Now, the other person started again at night, intending to steal the sealions. When he came to the. rock, he saw the sealion lying there. He took his harpoon and speared it. Then the sealion dived and swam away. (In former times harpoons were fastened to cedar-bark lines.) The man held the line and paid it out. For a long time the sealion dragged the canoe along, and the line was all paid out. Then the person tried to let it go, but the line stuck to his hands and the sea lion swam away with him.

It was four nights since he had left. For four days the sealion swam through the water. The man and his companions had lost sight of the mountains and they were far out at sea. The man was crying all the time. They went on for a long time--for ten days and ten nights.

The sealion kept on going all the time. Now he went ashore at a distant country and they landed on a sandy beach. They pulled the canoe up and placed it under the trees. Then they sat down. Behold, early in the morning a canoe was coming. One small man was in the canoe, but he was using a large canoe. When he came opposite them, he rose. He held a line. Then he jumped into the water. For a short time he clubbed halibut under water, and then he took his line and strung them up. He caught many halibut, and had a long string. Then he emerged again. He took his canoe and went aboard. He put all the halibut that he had caught tinder water into the canoe. The men who were sitting under the trees saw what he was doing. He stayed in the canoe for a long time. Then he took his line a second time and dived. Again he clubbed halibut under water. Then the men who were sitting under the trees launched their canoe and paddled up to the canoe of the little man. One of them took two halibut, and they returned to the shore as quickly as they could. There they sat down. They had been sitting there a long time when the person emerged, holding in his hands a string of fish, which he had caught. He put them into his canoe; but now he missed two halibut. He put the fish into the canoe, and pulled up his anchor. Then he went ashore. He landed on the sandy beach, went up and found the four men, then he asked, "Who of you stole my halibut?" and three of the men said, "This one took them." They said so, pointing to their companion. Then the man took him by the feet, struck him against a stone, and killed him, because he had stolen the halibut. Now there were only three men left. Their companion was dead.

Then the man returned and landed at his town. He carried his halibut up to the house and said to his friends, "There are people on the other side of the bay. I killed one of them because he stole two halibut." The people said, "Call them." Then they sent a man to call them, and when they came the people gave them to eat.

There were many people. They were all of the same size. They were very small. The three men were by far the largest. They stayed there a long time. Then the people made wooden clubs, and said, "To-morrow we shall be attacked by warriors." The sky darkened, although it was not extraordinarily dark. Now, there was a great sandy point below the town. There was an open prairie there. Then many birds came--swans, cranes, geese, gray cranes, laughing-geese, ducks, blackbirds of the sea, ducks of Nass river, gulls, cormorants. They alighted on the prairie. Then the people rose. They took their wooden clubs and ran down right among the birds, and began to strike them. The feathers of the birds were flying about, filling the mouths and the noses of the people. Many of them died, and only a moderate number returned.

The three men did not join in. They looked at the fight. Then they said, "It is not difficult to fight with the birds. Let us try to-morrow." They did so. At daybreak the birds arrived and sat down on the prairie. They called it war. The birds did not come there to feed. Then the three men ran down. They did not take any clubs, but just took the birds and twisted off their necks. They did so and accomplished a great deal. Not one of the men was dead, but they killed a great many birds. Then the people were glad. They are called Gilginā'mg̲an. [1] The three men had killed almost one-half of the birds. The birds came there for one month. Then they left. Now the people resolved to take pity on the three men. They did so, and sent them back to their own town. They returned, and that is the end.

[1] The Kawkiutl have the same legend. They call the tribe of dwarfs Ginginā'nEmis, i.e., children of the sea. The Tsimshian name is evidently a phonetic distortion of the Kawkiutl word, so that it seems probable that this whole tradition, which is so remarkably alike to the ancient legend of the pygmies and the cranes, is of Kawkiutl origin. (see F. Boas, Indianische Sagen von der nord-pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Berlin, 1895, pp. 88, 192).

Smoke-hole

[Told by Moses]

There was a man who never slept in his house. He always lay at the edge of his smoke-hole. Therefore he grew exceedingly strong. When he went to gather firewood, he pulled out a whole tree and carried it home on his shoulder. In the evening, when he had eaten, he went up and lay down at the edge of the smoke-hole. Therefore his name was Smoke-hole. Nobody could carry what he was able to carry. He always carried firewood on his shoulders. He carried whole trees on his shoulders.

Ts?ak*

[Told by Moses]

There was a boy named Ts?ak* and his old grandmother. They had a small house, and a small brook was running near by. There were salmon in the brook. Ts?ak* went down carrying a stick with a bone point, and speared the salmon. He got a great many. Then he made a rope of cedar twigs and strung them up. Then Ts?ak* went up the little river and caught many salmon. Then he returned, but he did not find the string of fish that he had placed in the water. He had lost it. Then he was sorry, because the great Grizzly Bear had eaten all the salmon which he had strung on the cedar twigs. He said: "Big drop-jaw Grizzly Bear has done this." Then the great Grizzly

Bear came down and said to Ts?ak*, "Why do you scold me?" Ts?ak* replied, "Why do you eat all the salmon I catch?" Then they began to scold each other, and the great Grizzly Bear said, "I shall snuff you in if you say 'Go ahead.'" Then Ts?ak* said, "Go ahead." At once the Grizzly-Bear snuffed him in, and Ts?ak* was in his stomach. Ts?ak* carried a strike-a-light, pitchwood, and tinder. He was in the stomach of the great Grizzly Bear, but he was not afraid. He struck his firestones and made a fire of pitchwood in the great Grizzly Bear. Now there was a great fire. The great Grizzly Bear ran about, and smoke came out of his mouth. Before long he fell down dead. Then Ts?ak* came out at his anus. He ran about at the place where lay the great Grizzly Bear whom he had killed.

Then he returned. He strung up his salmon, and went to the little house of his grandmother. Ts?ak* said, "Grandmother, I killed a great Grizzly Bear. It is in the woods. Give me your little fish knife." His grandmother said, "You are a liar, slave! You are fooling me." Ts?ak* replied, "Grandmother, it is true." Then his grandmother gave him her little knife, and accompanied him toward the place where the great Grizzly Bear lay. He cut it, and she carried the meat all day long. Now they had brought it down and placed it on the drying sticks. Then Ts?ak* went into the woods to cut fuel. He carried a little stone ax. Then he cut firewood. He and his grandmother were very glad.

Now there was a town on the opposite side of the river. In the morning Ts?ak* rose and took some coals. He chewed some tallow and entered the house of the chief. It was full of people who were gambling. Ts?ak* spit into the fireplace. Then his saliva blazed up. One man said to Ts?ak*, "What are you chewing there?" Ts?ak* replied, "The penis of a little dog." The man then said, "Spit into the fire again." Ts?ak* spit into the fireplace, and the fire blazed up. The people took hold of Ts?ak*; they took a rope. There stood a tree to which they tied him. Now he was somewhat troubled. Then many people rushed to the house of his old grandmother and ate all the meat that was in it. Nothing was left. They ate all. They were the Wolves. Now they returned and untied Ts?ak*. They sent him out of the house and he returned to his grandmother. When he entered their little house, all the meat was gone. Then they cried. Ts?ak* and his grandmother had no food. They were crying all the time.

In the evening Ts?ak*'s grandmother was fast asleep. Then he took his knife and cutout her vulva. He roasted it. When it was done, he roused her and said, "Grandmother, awake! Your meal is done. There was a little, of the meat left over, and I roasted it." His grandmother rose and ate it all. Then Ts?ak* ran out and made a song on his grandmother: "Grandmother ate her own little vulva! Grandmother ate her own little vulva!" Then his grandmother shouted to Ts?ak*, "Don't enter my house again, slave!"

Now Ts?ak* walked about outside. His grandmother did not let him in again. She felt ill at ease because her vulva had been cut off. It grew dark. Then Ts?ak* took a stick and went down to the beach. It was low water. He walked about on the sand and looked for cockles, which he wanted to eat. He was crying because he had nothing to eat.

Behold, he saw a man coming up to him who asked, "Why are you crying?" Ts?ak* replied, "The Wolves have eaten all the meat that we had for our food." The man said, "Oh, indeed! Why don't you take revenge?" Then the man put his hand under his blanket and pulled out a hollow bone. He said, "Now go across the river; there you will find a knothole. The daughter of the chief is in the rear of the house. Put this tube through the knothole. Aim right at the heart of the chief's child. Then blow through it." Ts?ak* did so. The bone struck the heart of the chief's child. Then the chief cried, thinking that his child would die quickly. They sent for many shamans (they are the ones who cure disease), but they did not succeed. Then Ts?ak* said to his grandmother, "Go on, Grandmother, and tell them that I will cure her." But Ts?ak* was not a shaman. His grandmother left. She entered the chief's house and said to him, "That slave talks nonsense again. He says he will cure the child of the chief." Then the foolish people rushed up to her and threw her out of the house, because Ts?ak* was not a shaman. That was the reason why they did so. Ts?ak*'s grandmother went to the little house, and as soon as she saw Ts?ak* she said, "They turned me out of the house!" But Ts?ak* repeated, "Go on, Grandmother. I really want to cure her." Then she went again and entered. She said again, "He wants to cure the chief's daughter." And two wise men said, "Let him do as he says"; and they agreed that he should cure her. Ts?ak*'s grandmother went out and returned. She told him that they had agreed. Then Ts?ak* rose and called the wren, the x-skīek, the x-sga'nt, and all the little birds. Then Ts?ak dressed himself. He carried one little bird named Rattlebox. They went in, and Ts?ak* sat down at the feet of the chief's daughter, who was very sick, and all the birds sat down. They carried small sticks. Now the chief's great slave rose in the corner of the house. He was a giant, and his head reached up to the corner of the house. He had a big belly. Then one boy went toward the rear of the house, and stood near by in front of him. The boy took a stick and struck the slave's belly while Ts?ak* was performing his incantations. Therefore the people used to call the slave Drum-belly. Now Ts?ak* pulled out the sickness and saved her. He took all her father's elk-skins in payment. She gave herself to him in marriage, and he took all her grease boxes. Then Ts?ak* became a great chief, because he had saved the chief's child. He married her, and the chief gave with her his giant slave whose name was Drum-belly. Ts?ak* really married the daughter of the chief.

He stayed there a long time, and then he got tired of the woman. He heard that there was a woman on the other side of the mountain. He said he would go. Ts?ak* left his wife. Only his slave, the wren, and another bird accompanied him. They went a long time and arrived at the foot of the mountain. The trail led to it, but there was no way of going on. Then Ts?ak* caught a robin. He skinned it and put on its skin. He flew upward and nearly reached the top of the mountain. Then be came to a great fire, which was just like lightning. It burnt the robin's wings, and he fell back to the foot of the mountain. Then Ts?ak* took off his skin. He caught a bluejay, skinned it, and put on its skin. Again he flew upward and almost reached the top of the mountain. Again he came to the place where it was burning all over. Then the bluejay fell down. He dropped down again to the foot of the mountain. Ts?ak* was very much troubled because there was no way to go on. He and his great slave, Drum-belly, lay down on the grass, and slept. It was almost daylight, and Ts?ak* was still asleep. Then he heard a voice: "My grandmother invites you in." He did not know who was speaking, and lay down again. He bit a hole in his blanket and looked through it. Behold, there was a little Mouse that came out of a bunch of grass and said, "My grandmother invites you in." Now he saw the little Mouse disappearing under the bunch of grass. He rose, went to the grass, and pulled it out. Behold, there was a house under it. A woman was sitting there. "Enter, my dear, if it is you who wants to get a wife." Ts?ak* entered and sat down. The woman said to Ts?ak*, "Throw your earrings into the fire." He did so. He threw his earrings into the fire. Then the woman pulled them out of the fire by magic. She was the Mouse. Then she kept Ts?ak* and his great slave in the house, but she sent back the wren and the other bird. Ts?ak* finished eating. He was quite satiated. Then the woman stopped giving food to them. She said, "I myself am the trail leading through the mountain. I am not a shaman, but my sister on the other side is a great shaman. She will give you advice." Then she opened one corner of her house. Ts?ak* and his great slave went through it, under the mountain. The trail led that way. They passed through it; then they found another house and another woman. She was also a Mouse. Then he and the great slave entered, and the woman said, "Throw your earrings into the fire." Ts?ak* did so. He threw his earrings into the fire, and she pulled them out by magic. Then the woman said to Ts?ak*, "All the princes from everywhere try to marry the daughter of the chief. The stone door of his house has killed a great many. It shuts rapidly. He uses it to kill the princes. You must count how often it opens. It will open four times. Then put this across the doorway. Wait a little while before you enter." Then the woman gave him a little carving of ice, not very long. Ts?ak* wore a marten robe and a dancing robe. He came near the house. Then he asked the great slave to sit down. He alone approached it. Now he came near the door. Then he did as the woman had instructed him. He counted four, then he placed the carving of crystal across the door so that it was unable to close again. Ts?ak* entered. He was not killed by the door. He came in and stepped up to the place where the chief's daughter was lying. Then Ts?ak* lay down. The chief's daughter was very glad when she saw the beautiful man. They were playing all night. Then the chief heard it. Very early in the morning he said to his sister's sons, "Light the fire." His nephews did so. They started a great fire. Then the chief told them to take the skin of the great bear, and he ordered them to spread it out in the rear of his house. Then the chief said, "Let my son-in-law come to the middle of the house." Ts?ak* rose and stepped down to the middle of the house. Then he saw that the hair of the bear was very long. The chief intended to kill Ts?ak* with it. He was to sit down on it, and then the hair would enter his anus, and thus he was to die. Thus thought the chief. But Ts?ak* placed the carving of ice under his feet, and he moved it over the skin. A noise was made by the breaking of the bear's hair. Ts?ak* sat down, and the hair did not enter his anus. Now the chief was ashamed because Ts?ak* was not dead. He said, "Walk to the middle of the house." Thus he spoke to his child. His daughter went down to the middle of the house and sat down beside Ts?ak*. He married her. Then they ate.

When Ts?ak* had finished eating, the chief said to his nephews, "Make a large pyre and place stones on it." His nephews did so. They built a large pyre of wood and placed stones on it. When the stones were hot, the chief ordered a large box to be taken down to the fire, and water to be poured into it. It was done. Then one man took a pair of tongs; another took another pair of tongs; These two persons took the stones and put them into the box, which was half full of water. Now the water began to boil. When it was boiling over, the chief said to Ts?ak*, "Rise and jump into this hot water." Ts?ak* did so. He jumped into it and sat down. His body was covered by the water. Only a little of his hair was visible. Now the water boiled violently, and Ts?ak*'s wife cried when she saw how he was being cooked. Then a person went down to the box and pulled at Ts?ak*'s hair. It came out, and the person said, "He is well done." Now the chief told them to pour out the water. When they had done so, Ts?ak* rose. Then he went to the rear of the house and said to his wife, "Your father will not be able to kill me with all his arts." Then the woman was glad, but the chief was ashamed.

The next morning the chief said, "Come, Son-in-law. Fetch some fuel. One of my nephews and two slaves shall accompany you." Ts?ak* rose. The slaves took stone axes such as the people used in olden times. Ts?ak* felled a great tree. It fell and he split it. Then one of the slaves made wedges. They also carried a large stone hammer, which was fastened with thong to a handle. They put the wedges into the end of the tree. They struck them with the hammer and the tree split. Then they pushed Ts?ak* into it and knocked out the wedges. The tree snapped together, and Ts?ak* was in it. The slaves saw blood coming out of Ts?ak*'s mouth, and they left him, saving, "Now you have been put to shame!" They went home. But Ts?ak* kicked the great tree, so that one half fell to one side and the other half to the other. He carried one half on his shoulder and went home. He threw it into the house, and the whole house front was broken. Then the chief was ashamed, and he worried because he was unable to kill Ts?ak*, who was a great supernatural man.

The chief did not know what to use next, but after a while it occurred to him what to do. One morning he said to Ts?ak* that he should go and spear a seal that he wanted to eat. His nephew and two slaves were to go along, so there were four in the canoe. They started, and found a place where seals were. It was at the edge of a great whirlpool. They asked Ts?ak* to stand in the bow of the canoe, to hold the harpoon and spear the seal. One of the great slaves stood near. He intended to push Ts?ak* into the water, that he should die. While the slave was intending to do so, Ts?ak* threw him into the water and he died. The whirlpool swallowed him. Then Ts?ak* began to spear seals and filled his canoe. He returned and landed in front of the house. The chief had lost one slave, and they told him that he had been drowned. Then Ts?ak* carried the seals up and they cooked them. When they were done, he called the whole tribe, and they ate the seals. Now the chief gave up trying to kill Ts?ak*.

Ts?ak* now thought of returning to his grandmother whom he had left, and to his first wife. Then he went back, accompanied by his new wife, and by his great slave Drum-belly, who had stayed alone in the woods far from the town. They called him, and they returned. Then they came to the place where the Mouse woman lived. She said to Ts?ak*, "Did you succeed in your attempt?" Ts?ak* replied, "I did succeed." Then she gave them to eat until they had enough. They started again and went through the mountain. When they had passed through, they entered the house of the other Mouse. The Mouse women watch both ends of the trail that leads through the mountain. Ts?ak* went on, and reached his own house. That is the end.

Growing-Up-Like-One-Who-Has-A-Grandmother

[Told by Moses]

There was a boy who had lost his father and his mother; only his mother's brother, the chief of the village, remained. One day this chief was purifying himself by drinking a decoction of devil's-clubs. He did so repeatedly because he intended to give a potlatch. One evening he went down to the beach; there he sat down and looked up to the sky. Behold, fire came down from the sky like a shooting star. It came right down. A tree was standing behind the house of the chief, and a branch was standing out from the tree. The fire came right down to it and hung on the end of the branch. The chief saw it. He went up to the house and sent for his people. When they entered, he said, "Copper is hanging on the branch of a tree. The young people shall go and knock it down. If one of you young men hit it, he shall marry my daughter."

Early the next morning they went up behind the house of the chief. The old men also went to look. The young men took stones, and threw all day long until their hands were quite sore; then they stopped for a while and ate. Then they went up again and tried to knock the copper down, but they did not succeed. It grew dark. Then the poor little boy went down to the beach in front of the house and sat down near a canoe, where he urinated. Then he saw a man approaching who said, "What are the people talking about?" The boy replied,

"A copper hangs on a tree and the people tried to knock it down, but they did not succeed." "Go on and try to hit it yourself," said the man. Then he took up a stone and gave it to the boy. He took up another one and gave it to him, and still another one and gave it to him. Then he said, "You shall knock it down. Take first this white stone, then this black stone, then this blue stone, and finally this one." The poor little boy took them, and then the man said, "Do not show these stones to the people."

On the following morning the people went again and began to throw. The poor little boy went up with them and said he would throw too.

Then the young men rose and pushed him, but the wise men stopped them and said, "Let him throw too." Then the young men sat down. The poor little boy rose and took a stone. He swung it in his hands so that it whistled. It whistled four times, then he let it go. He almost hit the copper. He threw again and almost hit it. He threw the black stone first, then the white one, then. the blue one. He almost struck it. Finally he threw the red stone. It hit the copper right on its end. The poor little boy had hit it and it fell down. Then all the young men ran up to it, everyone claiming it. But the poor little boy did not mind. They took it along and ran with it into the house of the chief, intending to marry his daughter, but he who had hit it was standing behind all these liars. Then the chief said, "Wait a while."

When it was evening, the growling of a white bear was heard behind the house of the chief. The chief said, "Whoever kills the white bear shall marry my daughter." Then all the young men rose and ran out very suddenly because the chief had said, "Whoever kills the white bear shall marry my daughter." The young men did not sleep because they wanted to pursue the white bear. In the evening the poor little boy again went down to the beach. He sat down there, and again a person approached him who asked, "What are the people talking about?" The poor little boy replied, "Last evening a white bear appeared behind the town. Whoever catches it shall marry the daughter of the chief." Then the man, who was standing near the poor little boy, said, "Ask for a bow and arrow. You shall shoot it."

Then the poor little boy went up. When it grew dark, all the young men were in the house of the chief. The latter took down to the fire a quiver holding bows and arrows. He gave one bow and two arrows to each man. Then the poor little boy, the chief's own nephew, went down to the fire too. His father and his mother were dead, therefore he was poor. Only his old grandmother took care of him.

He also asked for a bow and two arrows. Then all the young men made fun of him; but the wise men said to the chief, "Give a bow to the poor little boy." The chief did so and he took it. It was evening, and a little before daybreak the white bear appeared again behind the town. All the young men ran out. A long time after they had left, the poor little boy ran out, too. It was as though a fly were flying. The wasp pitied him, and therefore the poor little boy was able to transform himself into a fly. Before the young men could reach the white bear, the poor little boy had passed them. He hit it and it lay there. His arrow passed right through it. Then he took the arrow, and fat was seen right across the nock of the arrow. Then the poor little boy returned. Now all the young men reached the bear and took it, though the poor little boy had killed it. Then they rubbed their arrows with blood, intending to say that they had shot it. They lied because they wished to marry the daughter of the chief. Then they carried the white bear into the house of the chief. One young man went down to the fire and said, "Look at my arrow! I shot the white bear." The chief said, "Give me all your bows and arrows that I may examine them and discover who killed the white bear." They gave them to him and he examined them. Then he demanded the arrow of the poor little boy, and, behold, he had shot the white bear. Then they were all very much ashamed; the chief also was much ashamed. He did not speak, because the poor little boy had first knocked down the copper that was on the tree behind the house of the chief, and then he had also shot the white bear. All the young men, and also the chief, were ashamed, because the poor little boy had accomplished this.

Then the chief made up his mind. He was ashamed, and therefore he sent his slave ordering the people to move away from the village. The great slave ran out, and with a loud voice ordered the people to move. They heard it, and early in the morning they moved. Not a single person stayed behind. They all went by canoe. Only the chief's daughter and the poor little boy were left, and with them his old grandmother. These three stayed behind. The old grandmother had a few pieces of dried salmon, but the chief's daughter would not eat. She fasted. The poor little boy did the same.

The princess slept in the rear of the house, while the poor little boy slept near the fire. They lay down, and he thought of their poverty. It grew dark, and it grew daylight again. The poor little boy left the house. Near the end of the town there was a great river, and a trail led up the river. The poor little boy went along this trail. He went a long time and came to the shore of a large lake. A grassy opening extended to the water of the lake. There he stood and shouted. The water rose and, behold, the one that had charge of the lake emerged. When it saw the poor little boy standing near the water, it came ashore quickly toward the place where the poor little boy was standing. It was a great frog. It had long claws of copper. Its mouth was copper, and so were its eyes and its eyebrows. It came near the poor little boy and almost caught him. Then the boy started to run. It almost caught him, but the boy escaped and the great frog returned. It could not overtake the poor little boy. The poor little boy ran right to the place where a large cedar tree stood. Then he went out of the woods to where the princess and the old grandmother were. Now they had almost nothing to eat. He went about among the empty houses, and there he found a stone ax; after a while he found a handle. Then he tied the ax to the handle. He sharpened it on his whetstone, and in the evening he went to cut a tree. He worked at it the whole day. In the evening it fell. Then he cut up a small tree, making wedges. When he had finished them, he took them to the large tree. Then he found a stone hammer. He tied it to its handle, and split the heart of the large tree. He spread it out wide enough so that a man could pass through it. Then he split a small tree. He selected one that was not very tall. Then he placed these trees across the trail. There were two sticks that he had cut. These he put across the crack of the large tree. [1] Then he stopped. He went home and found the princess and the old grandmother.

He did not speak and did not eat. It grew dark, and before daylight be rose. He went and came to the shore of the great lake. He stood near the water and shouted four times, looking up to the sky. The water rose again and, behold, the great frog emerged. Its claws were copper. Copper was its mouth, its eyes, and its eyebrows. It went quickly toward the shore, but the poor little boy did not mind. When it had almost reached him, be ran away. The frog almost scratched his back. Now he arrived at the place where he had placed the tree across the trail, and he slipped through. Then the great frog also struggled to get through, trying to catch the poor little boy. It tried to squeeze through the crack of the tree. When the poor little boy saw this, he returned, took his stone hammer, and struck the sticks with which he had spread the tree out of the crack. They flew out and the great tree closed, killing the great frog. It could not get out again. When the poor little boy saw that it was dead, he put in the wedges and opened the great tree. Then he took out the dead frog. He laid it on its back and skinned it. He left the claws on the skin. He finished, took the skin, and threw away the flesh. Then he took the skin in order to practice. He put his arms and his legs into it, and laced the chest. Then he went to the shore of the great lake and dived. He walked on the bottom of the great lake and caught a trout. Then he returned. He went ashore carrying a small trout. Then he took the skin off. He took good care of it. There was a tree that had a long branch. He hung the skin of the great frog on it. Then he went home. The princess was still asleep. The poor little boy stepped very softly and entered the house. He laid down the little trout in front of the house. Then he entered secretly and lay down. Early in the morning the princess rose. She heard a raven crying on the beach. When she heard it, she said to the poor little boy, "See why the raven is crying on the beach." The poor little boy rose and went out. He went to the front of the house and, behold, a little trout was lying on the sand. The poor little boy took it and went up with it, and he entered and spoke to the princess, "The raven found a little trout"; but he himself had caught it at the bottom of the lake. The poor little boy had acquired for himself supernatural power, but he did not want the princess to know it, and she did not know it. It was evening again, and the poor little boy made ready to go. But the princess did not eat the little trout, only the poor little boy and his grandmother ate what the raven had found in the morning. Then they lay down. The princess lay in the rear of the house, and the boy lay near the fire. In the evening the poor little boy rose and went out again. Then he found the great skin of the frog and put it on. Again he went to the shore of the great lake and dived. He walked about on the bottom of the lake and caught a trout, a little larger one. Then he went ashore again. Again he put off the skin and hung it on the branch of the tree. He went home again and laid it on the sand in front of the house. The poor little boy entered secretly and lay down. When the day broke, a raven was crying on the beach. The princess heard it and said to the poor little boy, "Go and hear why the raven is crying on the beach." The poor little boy went down again, although he himself had caught in the lake what the raven found on the beach. He went down and took it. Then he returned again and entered. He laid it before the old grandmother, who split it and roasted it; but the princess did not eat, only the old grandmother and the poor little boy ate of it. He did so every night. Then he finished catching trout in the lake.

One night he went out again and found the skin hanging on the branch. He put it on and went down the river, the outlet of the great lake, at the bottom of the water. He went down to the sea; then he walked about on the bottom of the sea and caught a salmon. Before daylight he laid it down in front of the house. Then he went up the river again under the water. He went ashore out of the great lake and took off the great frog's skin and hung it up. He went home and arrived before daylight. He entered secretly and lay down.

When the day broke, the princess rose. Again she heard the raven crying on the beach; there were even two ravens. She called the poor little boy, saying, "See why the ravens are crying on the beach." Again he rose and went down. There was the salmon that he himself had caught in the sea. He took it and went up. He entered, carrying it, and laid it down near the old grandmother. She split it and roasted one-half. When it was done, she addressed the princess, wanting her to eat of it, and she ate with them. The poor little boy and the old grandmother ate one end; the princess ate the other end. He did so every night. Then the princess noticed that the skin of the poor little boy began to be very clean. One night she did not sleep, but she watched him until midnight. He was no longer a boy, but a youth. Now she saw that he was very clean. She saw that not long after dark the poor little boy rose. She was still watching when he reentered. She was unable to sleep, and a little before daylight the poor little boy entered the house. He lay down again, but the princess did not sleep. Now it was daylight, and the raven cried on the beach. Then the princess herself rose and went out. She went down to the beach. Behold, a large salmon lay in front of the house on the sand. The princess herself took it, and she entered, carrying it, while the poor little boy was still lying down. She said, "Rise!" Then the poor little boy rose. The princess said to him, "I wish to question you." The poor little boy sat down near to her, and the princess said to him, "I know that you found the trout and the small salmon. The raven did not find them on the beach. Now I have found a large salmon. I know that you have got many trout. You killed them. My grandmother dried many salmon, and I have found this large salmon." Then the poor little boy said," It is true. My uncle treated us thus. He deserted you and me and my grandmother. We were without food, therefore I went into the woods. I came to a large lake. Then I shouted, and a great frog emerged. It swam ashore and I killed it. I skinned it, and I put on its skin. Then I caught trout and salmon and I became very clean. Now I am great. You have taken notice of me." The princess replied," You shall marry me," and he agreed. He married her and he was now a man; he was no longer the poor little boy.

He caught many salmon, and the house was full. Then he filled another house. He went into the sea, and caught bullhead. He dried many. Then he went to catch halibut, and they dried many. He obtained every kind of fish, and caught a great many. Four houses were full of provisions. Then he went to catch seals, and he caught a very great number. He put them into another house. Now he went to catch porpoises, and placed them in another house. Then he went to catch sealions, and they obtained a great many large water animals. Many houses were full of sealion grease, because the sealions are very large. Then he got whales. He obtained very many.

Now they had two children, and for a long time he caught animals with his hands. Suddenly he became very tired. He told his wife, and she began to worry, and rebuked her husband, saying, "Please stop"; but he caught four large whales and there was a smell of grease all along the beach in front of their houses. The butts of the trees where he had carried up the meat and the fat of whales were full of grease. Bones were lying about in front of his house, and the grease from the whales covered the water of the sea.

Now, many of the people who, with his uncle, had deserted him were dead. His uncle was a very great chief. Now his uncle thought that his daughter, the poor little boy, and the grandmother were dead, and he spoke to his people. The chief had lost many of his people, because there was no food. Many of them and all the children were dead. One day, early in the morning, some people started to look after the princess, the poor little boy, and the grandmother. They were traveling in four canoes. They were approaching the place. When they were still far from the shore, they saw grease on the surface of the water. They noticed it. When they approached the town, they saw several houses full of dried salmon, trout, halibut, and bullhead, and others in which was the grease of seals, of porpoises, of sealions, and of whales. He had very much, because he had caught four whales. He had caught very much with his hands. Then his uncle's people landed. They told him that many of the tribe were dead. They entered his house and he fed them. Then they ate dried salmon, fat of the seal, and fat of the porpoise and of the whale. Then he presented them with dried halibut, bullhead, and trout. He gave presents to those whom he had invited in. He gave them fat of the seal, porpoise, sealion, and whale. Then they started and left him. They landed at the place where the chief was living. Then the people came to the beach and told him that the town of the young man was full of dried trout, salmon, halibut, and bullhead, and of fat of the seal, porpoise, sealion, and whale, that the butts of the trees smelled of meat of the whale, sealion, porpoise, and seal that was lying about, and that four houses were full of dried trout, halibut, and bullhead. When the chief heard this, he was very glad, and he was also glad when he heard that his daughter had two children. He said to his people, "Let us move again." The great slave went out and ordered the people to move back to the place where the princess and the poor little boy were living. The old grandmother had died. Then the people moved, and they stayed at the place that they had once left. Then the boy gave them much dried trout, salmon, halibut, and bullhead. He did what was just right. Then his uncle's people were glad. They were saved, because they now ate dried trout, salmon, halibut, and bullhead, and he also gave them a little fat of the seal, porpoise, sealion, and whale; and his uncle's people were very glad, because they were saved. And all the people said that the poor little boy, when grown up, should be their chief.

The boy always went out to sea to catch seals for his uncle's people, and he always told his wife that it was very hard to take off the frog blanket. Then his wife worried and cried when she lay down. Now the people brought many elks and slaves. They brought enough elks to fill two houses. And he bought them with trout and dried halibut and salmon and bullhead; he bought many slaves. Then he gave a potlatch. He invited all the people from other places. Then he accomplished what he intended to do. The people went into his house, and he placed the elks and all his other goods and his slaves in the middle of the house. Then he said to his uncle, "You shall distribute them." His uncle agreed, and told him to put on the skin of the white bear. He also wore the great copper that he had thrown down from the tree when he still was the poor little boy. He placed the great copper on his head. Then he walked to the middle of the house and stood near the pile of elk skins; then he sang. When the song was ended, the chief said, "Now I will call your name"; and he named him Growing-up-like-one-who-has-a-grandmother. When he had finished, he put off the great copper that he had used, and he put off the skin of the white bear, and he gave away the slaves to all his guests, and he gave them elk skins. When he had finished, they started away.

After he had finished, he again put on his frog blanket, intending to catch seals for food for the people. He found it very difficult to take off his frog blanket. Then he went to bed and told his wife, and she began to cry. He said, "When I put it on again, I shall not be able to take it off, and if I do so, I may not return; I shall only bring seals and halibut and place them in front of the town. I shall not come ashore again, and I shall stay in the sea. All the year round I shall secretly put ashore seals, halibut, salmon, porpoises, sealions, and whales as food for my children." He said so every day.

One morning his wife went down to the beach in front of the town, and he was lost. He did not come ashore again. He stayed at the bottom of the sea. Therefore the woman, every morning when she rose, went down to the beach and cried, accompanied by her two children. They saw two halibut, and they took them up to the house. One morning she went out again, crying, and she looked seaward, crying, because her husband was lost in the sea. Then she saw two seals. Growing-up-like-one-who-has-a-grandmother had given them as food to his children. Another morning she went down. She went down, crying, every morning. She saw a porpoise. She carried it up. Another morning she went down with her two children, and she saw a sealion. She went down and carried it up. Thus her children had always enough. Another morning she went down, and when she ceased crying she saw a great whale. Then she did not go down again, because she could not carry the whale. She said to her father's people "Fasten this whale to the house. The father of these children sent it here. He also sent the sealions, the porpoises, the seals, and the halibut. He told me what he was going to do, because he could not get off his frog blanket, and now he really lives in the sea."

[1] He split a large tree and opened the crack, which he spread apart by means of two short sticks, placing the whole on the trail which led up to the lake.

Little-eagle

A Legend of the Eagle Clan

[Told by Moses]

There was a large town. A chief was its master. He was the commander of all the men. His child was a noble prince. The child did not eat, but made bows and arrows all the time. Now the salmon arrived. Then the chief said to his people, "Catch salmon and dry them." The people did so. They dried many salmon. Then the prince took one salmon. He put it on the sand, and gave it to an eagle to eat. One eagle came, and then another one, and they ate the salmon. Many eagles did so. They ate all the salmon, and then they flew away again. The prince pulled out their feathers and gathered them. Then he was glad, and the eagles also were glad. The prince made arrows; he made many boxes full of them. He used the feathers of the eagles for making his arrows, fastening them to the shaft, and therefore his arrows were very swift. He gave salmon to many eagles. When the salmon were at an end, he stopped.

The prince did not eat. He only made arrows. Now it came to be winter. For about three months the Indians ate only dried salmon and berries mixed with grease and elderberries and currants. They ate all kinds of berries. Now the salmon was all used up. They did not give any salmon to the prince. When the salmon was almost all used up, the great chief felt sad. He said to his great slave, "Go out and order the people to move." The great slave ran out, crying, "Move, great tribe!" The people did so. They moved in the morning. They left the chief's son and his little grandmother, and one little slave, who was still quite small. He was weak. There was no salmon. They only left him his boxes filled with arrows. But his mother buried a clam shell in which she had placed some fire and one-half of a large spring salmon. Then she told the little grandmother where she had hidden the fire and the salmon.

Now the people went aboard and moved away. Only the prince and his little grandmother and the little slave were left. They had no food. Then the little old woman took the coal and made a fire. They did not eat for a whole day, and for a long time they had no food. Then the prince went out. Early in the morning he sat outside. It was low water. Then an eagle was screeching on the beach. The prince called his little slave: "See why the eagle is screeching on the beach." The slave ran down and came to the place where the eagle was sitting. When he was near by, the eagle flew away and, behold, a little trout was lying on the sand. Then the little slave shouted, telling the prince, "A little trout, my dear, lies on the beach." Thus spoke the little slave. Then the prince said, "Take it." The little slave carried it up, and the prince ordered him to roast it. The slave roasted it, and when it was done, he and the little old person ate it. The prince did not eat anything. Only the old person and the slave ate it.

Night came and morning came; then the prince went out again. Again he heard the eagles screeching on the beach. He sent down his little slave, who found a bullhead (sculpin). Then he told the prince, who ordered him to take it up. The little slave took it, and they roasted it. They did so for many days, and the eagles gave them trout and sculpin. Then they had enough to eat.

One morning the prince went out again, and he saw two eagles sitting on the beach screeching. He sent his little slate, who went down. He looked, and, behold, there was a salmon. Then he shouted and said, "There is a large salmon, my dear!" And the prince said, "Take it." The little slave said twice, "I can not take it." The prince went down himself and carried it up. They did so several days, finding salmon on the beach. They dried them.

Another morning the prince went out again, and, behold, there were three eagles. They made much noise. The little slave went down, and, behold, there was a large spring salmon. Again the little slave said he could not carry it, and the prince went down himself. He took it up, and the little old person, his little grandmother, split it. They did so many days. They dried spring salmon. They had very many now.

Another morning the prince went out again. The eagles had given them all kinds of fish, and their houses were full of dried salmon. The slave was quite large when all the salmon was gone.

One morning the prince went out again, and, behold, he saw an eagle far out on the water. He sent his slave down. The little slave had grown to be a little stronger. Behold, there was a large halibut. The little slave shouted, "There is a large halibut, my dear!" The prince said, "Take it"; but the little slave replied, "I can not carry it." The prince went down himself and dragged it up. The little grandmother split it, and they were satisfied. They did so for many days, and dried many halibut. Another house was full of dried halibut. Now they had caught all the salmon and all the halibut.

One morning the little prince went out again, and looked out. Behold, there were quite a number of eagles. He sent his little slave down. The slave went down, and when he came there, behold, there was a large seal. Then the little slave shouted twice, "There is a seal on the beach!" Again the prince went down. He took the seal and dragged it up to the house. He split it. Then they put the fat into a box and dried the meat. They did not take the bones. They did so many days, and filled another house.

Another morning the prince went out again and looked down. Behold, there were many eagles. Then the little slave went down again. He was now quite strong, because he had much to eat. When he got there, behold, there was a large porpoise. The little slave shouted twice. Then the prince went down and dragged it up to the house. They cut it and put the meat away. They filled another house.

Thus the eagles returned the food that the prince had given to them in the summer. The eagles reciprocated. They pitied the prince because he had pitied them in summer. The eagles were glad, and therefore they fed the prince.

One morning the prince went out, and, behold, there were many eagles. He sent the little slave down, and when he went down and reached there, behold, there was a large sealion. Again the little slave told him. He shouted twice and told him. The prince heard it and went down, and, behold, there was a large sealion. Then he returned. He twisted cedar twigs and tied the sealions to the shore. When the tide rose, they drifted ashore, and when the water fell, they lay on the beach. Then they cut them. The sealions were very large and had much fat and much meat. They did this for many days. Then they had a great plenty.

Now the people of his father, who had left him, were dying. One morning the prince went out again, and there were very many eagles; not merely a few. There were a great many eagles on the water. They were flying ashore with a great whale. It lay there. Two nights and two days passed, and there lay another great whale. Then they cut it. (In olden times the Indians chopped the blubber of whales with stone axes in the same way that we chop wood.) Then they chopped the blubber of the whale. Then the blubber came out where they bit it with the ax. Hohoho! They had a great deal, because the whale was very large. The eagles gave the prince and the little grandmother and the slave four whales.

Now the people of his father, who had left him, were dying. The eagles had finished giving food to the prince, and his houses were all full. The grease covered the sea in front of his house. Then the prince shot a gull. He skinned it and put on its skin. He took a piece of seal, not a large piece, and flew away. He went up above to see his, father's tribe who had left him. He flew a long time, and, behold, he saw a canoe coming. The gull flew over the canoe, in which there were a number of men. Then the gull dropped the slice of seal into the canoe, and one of the hunters took it. It was very strange that a gull should drop a piece of dried seal into the canoe. They returned and landed. Then they told what had happened. The chief said to the man and to the slaves, "Go and look for my son." They left after he had told them. In the morning the man and some slaves started in a canoe. They paddled, and arrived at a point of land in front of the old village, Behold, the water ahead of them was covered with grease. It came from the place where they had left the prince. The man and the slaves paddled on. They went ashore at the place where the prince was staying. Behold, they had done a great deal. The houses were full of salmon and spring salmon and halibut and seals and porpoises and sealions and whales. Then they were much astonished. The slaves stretched out their hands and dipped up the grease from the surface of the water. Then they ate it.

The prince did not tell them to land, but after a while they landed. Then they ate salmon, and they ate spring salmon and halibut and seal and porpoise and whale. Now the prince said, "Don't take anything home." Thus he spoke to the man and to the slaves. "Eat as much as you want, and then leave. Don't tell at home what you have seen." But one slave hid two pieces under his skin shirt.

He dropped two pieces of seal in there because he thought of his child. The prince did not give the man and the slaves food. Then he sent them back. Then they reached the town from which they had started.

The prince had said to them, "Tell them that I am dead, and do not say that I have plenty to eat." The man and the slaves landed a little before dark. They went up to the houses and entered the chief's house. The chief asked, "Is my son still alive?" And the man replied, "I think he has been dead for a long time." The slaves and their families were living in one corner of the chief's house. Now they lay down. Then the slave took out a slice of seal meat and gave it to his wife, and he gave another one to his young child. The child ate it, but it did not chew it, and swallowed it at one gulp. The piece of seal choked the child. It almost died, because the seal meat was choking it. The child's mother put her hand into its mouth, trying to pull out the piece of seal, but she could not reach it. Her hand was too short. Then she cried. Now the chief's wife rose and went to the crying woman. She asked her, "Why do you cry?" The slave's wife replied, "My child is choking. We do not know what is obstructing its breath." Then the chieftainess put her hand into the mouth of the child. Her fingers were long. Her hand reached down, and she felt the slice of seal. Then she took it out. Then she knew what it was. Behold, it was seal meat. Then she told the chief, and he asked, "Where did that come from?" He saw that it was boiled seal meat, therefore he asked. Then they told him that the old town was full of the meat of trout and salmon and spring salmon and halibut and seals and porpoises and sealions and whales; that there were four whales, and that the water was covered with grease. They said that the town was full of provisions. Then the chief and the chieftainess and all the princes' uncles could not sleep. One of his uncles had two daughters who were exceedingly pretty.

Early in the morning the chief said, "Order the people to return to the place where we left the prince." He did so on account of the information he had received. Then they arrived, and behold, they saw grease covering the water. Then one of the prince's uncles dressed up his two daughters. Then boards were put across the middle of the canoe, and the children were placed on them. He thought, "My nephew shall marry my daughters." Many canoes were approaching the land. Then the prince went out. He did not allow them to land. He took one box out and opened it. He took a bow and arrows out of it and shot at the canoes. He did not desire them to come, because they had deserted him. Therefore he was very angry. But finally the people landed and went up. They made little sheds, and he gave food to his father and mother. He pitied them, therefore he did so. When they were approaching the shore one woman stretched out her hands to eat the grease that she saw on the water. Therefore the prince, the chief's son, was ashamed. He did not marry her, but he married only the younger one.

The people went ashore. Then the prince invited them into his house. The people went in and he gave them meat of trout and salmon and spring salmon and halibut and seals and porpoises and sealions and whales. He gave them to eat. Then his father's people were very glad, and the people gave the prince elk skins and all kinds of goods, canoes, and slaves.

Now the prince came to be a great chief. He had four houses full of elk skins, many slaves, and many canoes. He was a great chief. When his father died, he gave a potlatch. He invited all the people in, and gave away many elk skins and slaves, because his father had been a great chief. After he had given this potlatch his mother died. Then be gave another potlatch. Again he invited all the people, and gave them elk skins and slaves and canoes. He became a great chief, because he fed the eagles, and the eagles had pitied him. Therefore he became a great chief. His name was Little-eagle.

She-Who-Has-A-Labret-On-One-Side

[Told by Moses]

There was a town. There was a chief and a chieftainess. They had a son. He was almost grown up. He had four friends, who were always near him. They were playing all the time. Once upon a time one of them went out of the house. He saw a little slave girl coming along the street. She entered the last house of the town. There she sat down near the fire. Then the wife of the owner rose, took the back of a salmon, and gave it to the little slave girl, but she did not accept it. The little slave girl rose and left the house. She entered another house, and again sat down near the fire. The wife of the owner rose and gave her the backs of salmon to eat, but she did not accept them. She left the house. She did so in every house.

The friend of the chief's son who had gone out re-entered and said to the prince, "A little slave girl is coming along the street." Then his friends spoke: "Why don't you marry her when she comes in here?" When she came near the chief's house, they took a mat and spread it in the rear of the house. The prince sat down on it. Then the little slave girl entered. Her head was very large. She was not at all clean. One of the prince's friends said, "Sit down over here." Then the little slave girl walked to the rear of the house and sat down by the side of the prince. His friends started a large fire. Her hands, her feet, and her whole body were covered with scabs. The prince's friends saw it. Then the chieftainess rose. She took some dry salmon, roasted it at the fire, and when it was done she broke it to pieces and put it into a dish, which she placed before the boy and the little slave girl. Then they ate. When the dish was empty, one of the friends stepped up to them, intending to take the dish. Then the little slave girl took one large scab from her body and put it into the dish. She said, "Place it in front of the chief." One of the men did so. The great chief looked at it. Behold, it was a large abalone shell. Then the chief was very glad.

The chieftainess took another dish, and she put into it crab apples mixed with grease. Another man placed it in front of the prince and the little slave girl. (In olden times the people used to call this "slave wife.") When they had eaten, she took off another scab, and, behold, there was a large abalone shell. That is what was on her body. She placed it in the dish, and then she said, "Place it before the chieftainess." A man did so. Then the chief and the chieftainess and the prince were very glad when they knew that she was not a slave, as the prince's friend had said.

Now they finished eating. In the evening a woman came to the house and pushed aside the door. She stood in the doorway and said, "Did not She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side enter this house?" One of the prince's friends said, "Come in, come in! She has married the chief's son." The woman replied, "Indeed, my dear, then take good care of her." Thus said the woman who was standing in the doorway. She continued, "My people will come to visit the chief's son to give food to him. They will bring much food--boxes of grease, boxes of crab apples mixed with grease, boxes of cranberries, soapberries, and dried meat, and much fat."

It grew dark. Early the next morning there was a fog on the river. Then many canoes that were full of boxes approached. One canoe was full of boxes of crab apples, one was full of berries, another one full of soapberries, another one full of meat, still another one full of fat, and two canoes were full of elk skins, marten skins, and copper plates. They put them into the house of the chief,.

which was entirely filled by the goods. Then the chief and the chieftainess were very glad.

Now the prince was a great chief. The name of She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side's mother was Evening Sky. She was a supernatural being. Nobody could see her. Her people lived far away from all other people on the other side. They were not Indians; therefore, they had much wealth and much food. Now the prince invited the people in. Then they came, and his father's house was filled with them. Crab apples and grease were given them to eat, and various berries and meat and fat. When they finished eating, they brought out soapberries. After the feast, on the next day, the people were again invited in. Then the prince put into the middle of the house elk skins, copper plates, slaves, and canoes, which he was going to use in the potlatch. He distributed them among the people. After he had finished, the people went back and returned to their own towns. He did so for many days. He gave many potlatches. Then be came to be a great chief. Then he married again. He had two wives. (In former times they called this "one wife on each side.")

Then the prince started in his canoe to visit the town Chilkat. [1] The elks come from this place. The inlanders kill them. The prince intended to buy elk skins for copper plates and seal meat. Now he arrived at Chilkat. Then he bought elk skins, and he took another wife.

Now She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side was left behind. The prince had a brother who was very awkward. The prince went to Chilkat very often. Then She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side said to the awkward man, "You shall go to Chilkat too." The awkward man answered, "I have nothing to sell." Then She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side said, "I will give you something that you may sell there. Take red paint along." Thus spoke She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side to the awkward man. "You shall buy weasel skins for the little box full of red paint, but don't let your brother see it when you arrive there. When you arrive at Chilkat, walk about, and when you see the young women, then put your finger into the red paint and put it on their faces." He did so. When all the young men and the young women saw it, they were anxious to buy it, and they asked him, "Is it expensive?" And they asked the great awkward man, "What do you want in exchange?" He replied, "I want weasels." Then the men and the women brought weasel skins, and the awkward man bought them. He had a whole box full of weasel skins. Then he had sold all his red paint.

When the prince saw him, he made fun of his own brother. Then they returned, and arrived at their own town. In the evening She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side questioned the awkward man, her brother-in-law, and he showed her what he had purchased. Early the next morning She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side said to the awkward man, "Go to the place where the water runs down. I shall go to meet you there." She intended to leave her husband, because he did not take her along when he went to Chilkat. Therefore she was ashamed. She took the awkward man and washed him in order to purify him. Then she intended to marry him. She was going to leave the prince who had first married her. Then the awkward man went out, as She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side had told him. He went to the place where the water was running down, and be stayed in the water for a long time. Then She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side came. There were four deep water holes in the creek. She washed him in the first hole, then in the second one, in the third one, and in the fourth one. Then his skin was very clean, and he became a beautiful man. After be was purified, he married She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side. Then her mother, the Evening Sky, came again, bringing many elks, copper plates, canoes, Slaves, and much food. Then the great awkward man invited all the tribes, intending to give a potlatch. Then he did so. Then the former husband of She- who-has-a-labret-on-one-side was ashamed because the awkward man was going to give a potlatch. He was no longer awkward, because he had been purified, because She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side had washed him.

Now the tribes came. Then they ate all the food. The day after they finished eating, all the tribes went into his house. They put the elks, the copper plates, slaves, and canoes in the middle of the. house. Then the great awkward man, the husband of She-who-has-a-labret-on-one-side, came. He wore a blanket made of weasel skins set with abalone shells. He used a weasel hat. Then he entered and stood in front of the elk skins. Then they sang. After they had finished singing, they stopped, and he gave away abalone shells, copper plates, elks, slaves, and canoes. Then the tribes were glad, and the awkward man had become a great chief.

[1] The narrator maintained that this was a place inland near the headwaters of the Nass river.

The Grizzly Bear

[Told by Moses]

There were four brothers, the sons of a great chief. Their mother was a great chieftainess. They lived in a large town. In midwinter the people had eaten all the winter provisions, and were starving. The brothers were great hunters. Now, the two eldest ones remembered what they used to do, because they were starving. They were hunters, and they went out together. The wife of the eldest one did not accompany him. They went a long distance, and came to a house where they stayed over night. In the morning the younger brother rose. He had two powerful dogs. He started, carrying his lance. He put on his snowshoes and went. He came to the foot of a mountain. He climbed it, and when he was halfway up the mountain he heard the voice of his dog up above. He could not climb any higher because there was a glacier. Then he took his little stone ax and chopped steps in the glacier. Thus he came to the foot of a ridge on which a tree was standing. There his dogs were barking. When he came near, he saw a large Grizzly Bear and two large cubs in a hole under the tree. As soon as he went near, the Grizzly Bear stretched out her arms and pulled the man into her den. She killed him. Then his brothers had lost him.

After two days, when he did not return, the next brother rose. He also had two dogs. He started, carrying his lance. He came to the same place where his brother had been. The dogs ran up the mountain, and be came to the steps that his brother had chopped in the glacier. He climbed up, and he also came to the Grizzly Bear. She took him into her den, and the cubs killed him. He and his two dogs were dead. In this way another brother was lost.

Only one remained. He was a very awkward man. He also rose and started early in the morning. He carried his lance, and his two dogs accompanied him. He put on his snowshoes and went up the mountain on the same trail that his brothers had taken. Now he heard the dogs barking. He went near, and had just placed himself in position when the great Grizzly Bear stretched out her arms, and the great man fell into the den headlong. Then he struck the Grizzly Bear and his hand got into her vulva. Then she said to her cubs, "My dear ones, make the fire burn brightly, for your father is cold." She felt much ashamed because the man had struck her vulva, therefore she felt kindly toward him, and did not kill him. She liked him. She said, "I will marry you." And the big man agreed. Then the great Grizzly Bear was very glad because the Indian had married her.

When he had stayed there many years and was lost to his people, he said one day that he longed for his father and his mother, his wife, his little boy, and his little sister, and that he wished to go home. The great Grizzly Bear agreed, and she said, "I will accompany you." On the next morning they went down the mountain and approached the town. Now the great man entered. The great chief, his father, his mother, and his wife were crying. The man entered and sat down. Then he said that his wife was standing outside. His little sister went to call her. She looked about for her outside the village, and found the great Grizzly Bear. She ran into the house crying, because she was much afraid. "A great ugly monster is standing outside." Then the man, the great Grizzly Bear's husband, went out himself. He called her into the house, and she entered. Then she sat down on a mat that they had spread for her. Her paws were very large, and the chief and his wife were scared.

Then they ate salmon, and she also ate; and they gave her a dish filled with crab apple mixed with grease, and she ate it. The people were much astonished.

After a while the great Grizzly Bear said to her husband, "Give me your child; I wish to see it." Then the man took the child, because the great Grizzly Bear wanted to have it. He gave it to her, and the child did not cry.

Another day the Bear said, "Call your wife." Then the woman came, the first wife of the man. She entered and sat down next to the man, her own husband. Later he had married the Grizzly Bear. His one wife was the Bear, the other was a woman of his own tribe. The woman only had a child. The Grizzly Bear had no children. But her own children were in her house on the mountain. They had not accompanied her when she came out of the woods. Thus they lived for many months.

When it came to be summer, just before the berries were ripe, the great Grizzly Bear said to the woman, "I think the berries are ripe on my mountain," and asked her to accompany her. They went up the mountain, and found that the berries were ripening, and they picked them. The woman picked her berries into a bag, but the great Grizzly Bear had no bag. Her stomach was her bag. She just ate the berries she picked. Then they returned. They approached their husband's house and entered. The Grizzly Bear said, "Now call the people." Then one man went out to invite the people in. The woman took her bag to the middle of the house. The great Grizzly Bear was also in the house. The great Grizzly Bear said to her husband, "Take some dishes to the rear of the house." Her husband did so. Then she defecated into a dish, and the berries she had eaten fell into it. Now the dish was full of berries that she had picked. The Indians saw her defecating into the dishes. Then the Grizzly Bear told the man to take the dishes that were full of what had come out of her anus and place them before the people; but they were afraid to eat it because they had seen that they had come out of her anus. They only ate the berries that the Indian woman had picked. They took home the food that the great Grizzly Bear had given them, and the wives of the people ate it at their own houses. Then the great Grizzly Bear was glad.

Now, salmon were in the river in front of the town. The chief made a weir, and placed a fish trap in it. He finished it. In the evening the people went to sleep, and before daybreak the great Grizzly Bear rose and went down to the weir. She saw that the trap was full of salmon, and she emptied it. She took the salmon into the house. Then she ordered the chief, her father-in-law, to distribute them among the people. He did so. The next night she did the same, but the people did not know it. She did so many days. Then she and the woman dried many salmon, and the house was full of fish that she and the other woman had dried.

One morning a young man went down to the weir. When he saw that there were no salmon in the trap, because the great Grizzly Bear had taken them up to her husband's house, he felt badly. He grew angry, and scolded the great Grizzly Bear. He felt badly because he did not get anything. The young man said, "You rise too early, great Drop-jaw." Thus he said to the great Grizzly Bear, and he scolded again, "You feed us with your excrements." Then the great Grizzly Bear took notice of it. She became angry, ran out, and rushed up to the man who was scolding her. She rushed into the house, took him, and killed him. She tore his flesh to pieces and broke his bones. Then she went. Now she remembered her own people and her two children. She was very angry, and she went home. Her husband followed her, but the great Grizzly Bear said, "Return home, or I shall kill you." But the man refused, because he loved his great wife. The Grizzly Bear spoke to him twice, wanting him to go back, but he refused. Then she rushed upon him and killed him, and her own husband was dead. Then the great Grizzly Bear left.

Squirrel

[Told by Moses]

There were four children who were always shooting squirrels. They killed them all the time. Then they dried their skins and put away their meat. They did so at the foot of a large spruce tree--they did so for a long time all the year round. Then they had killed all the squirrels. Only the chief of the squirrels and his daughter were left. She was very white. Now, a boy went out and came to the foot of the great spruce tree. He looked upward, and saw a little white squirrel running round the tree. When it had gotten to the other side of the tree, behold, he saw that she was a young woman. The boy saw her. The woman called him. Then the boy placed his bow at the foot of the great tree.

The woman entered the house of her father, who was the chief of the squirrels. He was much troubled, as all his people were dead. Therefore he had sent his child to call the boy. The chief questioned his daughter, and she replied, "The boy is standing outside." Then the chief said, "Come in, my dear, if it is you who killed my people." The prince entered and sat down. They gave him to eat. After he had finished, the chief said, "Why did you kill all my people?" The prince replied, "I did not know that they were your people, therefore I did so." "Take pity on me," said the chief to the prince.

"When you return home, burn the meat and the skins of all the squirrels.

I will make you a shaman." The chief did so; he made the prince a shaman. Now he was a great shaman. "Your name as a shaman shall be Squirrel," said the chief.

The prince lay down. Then the chief rose and put on his dancing apron. He painted his body red, and put on a crown of bear claws. From his neck hung the skins of squirrels. He held a rattle in his hand and sang, "Ia haä, iâ nigua iahaē! I become accustomed to this side, I become accustomed to the other side." Then the prince became a great shaman. The chief of the squirrels did so a whole year. Then he sent the prince home.

The chief, who had lost his son, had almost forgotten him. Then one of his other sons went to shoot squirrels, and came to the place where his brother had been. He came to the great spruce tree. He looked up, and, behold, the skeleton of a man was hanging in the branches. The bones were held together by skin only. His flesh was all gone.

The boy returned. He entered the house and told his father about it. The father sent the young men, who saw where the body was hanging. Then one young man climbed the tree, took the body down, and they carried it home. They entered the house. Now the chief's wife took a mat. She spread it out and laid the body down on it. She laid it down very nicely. The young men placed his hands, his feet, and his head in the way they belonged, and laid the head down face upward. There were only bones. Then they covered the mat with another mat. They painted it red and covered it with bird down. Then they sacrificed. For four nights and days his father and mother did not stay in the house. They had gone to another place, to another house. Only four men, his most intimate friends, watched him. Then they sang "Äe!" accompanying their song with batons. Then they spoke, singing. Then the body came to life again. The bones were covered with flesh. Then he sang. He invited the tribe of his father in and the people came. Then the prince said, "Burn the meat of all the squirrels that I shot during the past years, and burn their bones and the skins, which I am keeping in many boxes." The people did so. They burnt it all.

Then the great master of the squirrels was glad, because his tribe had come to life again. Then the prince sang, "Iā hēiaha ä, hēia haä' ayâ nēgwâ' iahâ! I become accustomed to this side; I become accustomed to the other side." He stood there, and was a great shaman. Then he stopped. His name as a shaman was Squirrel. That is the end.

Witchcraft

[Told by Moody]

When a sorcerer wants to kill a fellow-man, he takes some of the man's perspiration, or an old shirt, and takes it to the place where he keeps his witch-box. Then he opens his box, takes a string, and fastens a piece of the old shirt to it. He ties it across the box. When he wants the man to die quickly, he takes a piece of the old shirt, and cuts the string in the box so that the piece of shirt falls on the corpse that is in the box. As soon as this is done, and the string breaks, he pretends to cry for his victim; then the man from whom he has taken the piece of shirt must die. When he knows that the person is dead, he goes around the house in which the bewitched, dead person is lying. After he has finished going around the house, he stops for a while; and when the dead one is buried, he goes to his grave and walks around it. Then he sits down in the grave and rubs his body, pretending to cry all the time. Then be returns, and his work is finished.

It is said that there was a son of a chief who had a friend who was also a prince. The chief was jealous of this prince, and he made up his mind to bewitch him. The chief told his son to invite his friend and to ask him to sleep in big house.

One day the chief's son invited his friend in, and they lay down. The prince lay on the outside and the chief's son on the inside of the bed. The chief's son fell asleep, but the prince could not sleep, because he was afraid the chief might bewitch him. He rose and changed places with the chief's son. He lay down on the inside and put the chief's son on the outside. When the chief heard that they were asleep, he rose and slowly walked to the bed on which the prince and his son were sleeping. The prince was much afraid when he heard the chief coming, but he pretended to sleep. The chief felt about with his hands until he found the place where the prince had lain down in the evening. Then he wiped out the mouth of his own son (thinking him to be the prince). Then the chief lay down again.

1n the morning the prince rose and went out. After a short time the chief's son got sick. Then the chief knew at once that he had made a mistake. For four days the boy was sick. Then he died. Now the chief was much troubled. He cried because his son was dead, saying, "I have destroyed him myself! I have destroyed him myself!"

Supplementary Stories

The Origin of the G*ispawaduwE'da

[Told by Chief Mountain]

There were two towns in the canyon of Nass river. The one was inhabited by the GispawaduwE'da, the other by the Gitg*iniō'x. In the first of these towns there were four brothers who were beaver hunters. They went to a lake that was full of beaver dams. They began to open one of the dams in order to allow the water of the lake to run off. When the eldest brother climbed down under the dam, it gave way and buried him, a large tree piercing his heart. When the water had run off, the brothers took out his body. They said to one another, "Why was our brother unfortunate to-day? Certainly his wife was not true to him." The three brothers went home and hid behind the house. They cut pitch wood and made a torch. When it was dark and the people had gone to bed, they went up to the house in which the wife of the eldest brother was living. They went to the place where they knew her bed stood, and listened. They heard her talking with a man who was lying down with her. They waited until they heard them snoring. Then the youngest brother lighted his torch and entered. He stepped up to his mother and asked, "Did any one come to our house while we were away?" His mother replied, "Yes; the chief's son, from the village opposite, came here, and he is here now." Then the young man told his mother of the death of her eldest son, and added that he had certainly died on account of his wife's faithlessness. Then he took his torch and stepped up to the bed of his sister-in-law. He saw that she was lying with one arm stretched out, and that a young man with earrings of abalone shell was lying on her arm. Then he put his torch down, pulled out his knife, and cut off the head of the young man and took it along with him. The woman awoke and found the blood streaming over her bed. She was frightened. She dug a hole under her bed and buried the body. Then she spread her bed again and lay down.

On the following morning the Gitginiō'x missed their young chief. They inquired where he had gone, and finally learned that he had crossed the river. Then they suspected that he might have been killed by the GispawaduwE'da. The three brothers had taken the body of their eldest brother home, and they had hung the head of their enemy over the doorway. The Gitginiō'x, under the pretext that their fire had gone out, sent a girl slave to the GispawaduwE'da to ask permission to light a torch. They told the girl to ascertain if there were any signs of the whereabouts of the young chief. The young woman obeyed. The river was frozen and she went across, but she did not see anything. Still the suspicions of the Gitginiō'x were not allayed, and every morning they sent the young slave to ask for fire. Finally one morning when she crossed the threshold, a drop of blood dripped on her foot. She desired to see where it came from, and pretended to stumble. She put her torch into the snow and extinguished the flame. Then she returned into the house and lighted her torch again; and when she went out she looked up and saw the head of her young chief, with its large ear ornaments, hanging over the door. She went out, and when she came to the river she threw her torch away and ran home as fast as she could. When she approached the village, she wailed and cried, "I saw my master's head!" Then the Gitginiō'x put on their armors and went out to make war upon the G*ispawaduwE'da.

Wa'gîxs, the wife of the eldest brother, knew all the time what was coming. She made one hole under her bed to hide herself when the Gitginiō'x should come to attack the village, another one for her daughter, whose name was Sqawô. When she saw the enemy coming, she called her daughter, and they hid in the holes. The Gitginiō'x killed all the GispawaduwE'da and set fire to their town. The mother and her daughter heard the houses falling. Finally everything was quiet, and the mother put her hand out of the hole in order to feel if the town were still burning. When she felt that the ashes were cool, she opened the hole and she and her daughter came out. The mother went about the town, but there was not a soul left except herself and her daughter. She went to the end of the town and sat down (therefore this place is called Hwîl uks-g*i-d?ā' Sqawô', Where Sqawô'-sat-down-near-the-water); and she sang:

Nâ-LEm-t?an nak*skᵘL Lgō-Lkwe Sqa-wō̲

That is, "Who will marry my daughter Sqawô?" When she had finished singing, a grouse came. He sat down and said, "I will marry your daughter." The mother asked, "What can you do?" [1] The grouse replied, "(When we fight) we raise our feathers and frighten man." [2] The mother replied, "That is not enough," and the grouse left.

The mother sang again, "Who will marry my daughter Sqawô?" Then the squirrel came and said, "I will marry your daughter." The mother replied, "What can you do?" Then the squirrel said, "We only throw down acorns and frighten man." [3] "That is not enough; go away!" said the mother.

She sang again. The rabbit came and said, "I will marry your daughter." The mother asked, "What can you do?" The rabbit replied, "We open our eyes and move our ears and frighten man." "That is not enough; go away!"

Again she sang, and the owl came and said, "Hm, hm, hm, hm! I will marry your daughter." "What can you do?" "When we talk we frighten man." "That is not enough; go away!"

The owl went, and the mother sang again. All the animals came and wanted to marry her daughter. Finally the bear came and said, "I will marry your daughter." "What can you do?" Then the bear ran away. He threw trees down, tore the ground, and showed that he was very strong; but she was not satisfied, and sent him away.

Again she sang. The grizzly bear came and said, "I will marry your daughter." She asked, "What can you do?" Then the grizzly bear ran away and howled. He ran to a swamp, and tore out two roots of bullrushes (?), which looked like a man's head. He tore off some alder bark, chewed it, and spit the red juice on the roots so that they looked like bloody heads. These he carried to the woman. She was almost ready to accept him, but finally she sent him away.

She sang again. Then there came a clap of thunder, and she fainted; when she came to, she saw a man standing near by. He said, "I will marry your daughter." "What can you do?" He replied, "I take this club from under my blanket, and as I turn it the ground turns and trees grow up." The woman asked him to show his powers, and he turned the club. At once the woman and the girl were buried underground, and trees grew over them. Then he turned the club again, and they came up again. He said, "I saw how your friends were killed, and your village destroyed. Therefore I have come to marry your daughter."

He took the women under his arms and said to them, "We will go up to heaven now. Don't open your eyes while we are flying, though you bear much noise, else we can not reach heaven." He put the mother under one arm, and the daughter under the other, and flew upward. While he was passing through the clouds there was a great noise, which induced the mother to open her eyes. They fell back at once, and he said, "I will try once more; but if you open your eves again, I must leave you." He rose a second time; but when they were passing through the clouds they heard the same noise, and the mother could not withstand the temptation to look. As soon as she opened her eyes they fell back. Then the man said, "I can not take you up. I must leave you down here." He tore off a branch of a tree, put the mother into the hole which he had thus made, and put the branch back in its place. He said, "You shall cry whenever the wind moves the tree." That is the reason why the trees moan when they are moved by the wind.

Then he flew up with his wife and arrived in heaven. He went to his house. They entered. After they had eaten he showed the girl where to lie down. He did not lie down with her, but stayed in a room by himself. His name in heaven was Hîslēgihō'ôntkᵘ. Every morning the rays of the sun fell through a chink upon her, and soon she found that she was with child. After a short time she gave birth to a boy, whom she called after the chief in heaven, Hîslēgihō'ôntkᵘ. After some time, when the rays of the sun struck her body, she conceived another son. She called him Ax-t?Em-hwîlhwî'lgit (Headless). Then a third son was born, whom she called Lē-ga'amExskᵘ (Lying-on). Finally she gave birth to two daughters, whom she called KsEm-mamä'm and KsEm-gwadzîq-t?ēlîx* (Woman-excrements-grease).

The chief made bows and arrows for the boys, and ordered them to fight among themselves. They shot at one another and aimed at their eyes. When an arrow had struck one of them, the girl stepped up to him, took it out, and sucked the wound, which closed at once. When they were grown up, the chief made houses for the boys. The front of the house of the eldest had three doors. It was called Lax-ō'Em. The doorways were ornamented with skulls. It was dark in the entrances. Therefore the doors were called Qalx*si-sqä'Exkᵘ. Painted planks were laid in front of the house. The eldest brother had a head ornament of abalone shells. Another one had a head ornament of skins. Still another had a bow inlaid with abalone shells. They had blankets made of ermine skins. They also had the carved club by means of which they were able to overturn houses.

Then the chief in heaven sent the children and their houses down to the place where the village of the GispawaduwE'da used to stand. Their mother stayed in heaven. Late in the evening the Gitg*iniō'x heard a noise: "BE, bE, bE!" When they went out to see what caused the noise, they saw that it was foggy. A man went down to the river and heard people singing on the other side. They sang:

"Q?am-uks Tōdū't La qal-ts'aps dep alā'lEx."

Just | out from the shore | Tōdū't | | the town of | the | fearless ones."

He ran back to the house and said, "I hear people singing on the other side." The others made fun of him, and said, "Those are the ghosts of the G*ispawaduwE'da."

On the following morning they saw four beautiful houses on the site of the former town of the GispawaduwE'da. The chief of the Gitginiō'x ordered his people to cross the ice, and to make war on the occupants of the houses. They began to shoot with arrows. An arrow struck the eye of one of the brothers. Their sister sucked it out, and the wound closed again. After some time the eldest brother shouted, "Stop fighting, else I shall turn over my club, and your town will be buried. Trees will grow up in its place." When they continued the fight, he turned his club, and the whole town disappeared under ground. Trees grew in its place. Then he turned his club again and the town reappeared, but the Gitg*iniō'x continued to fight. Then he turned his club once more. The town was buried again and all the people died.

The brothers traveled all over the world, and made war on all the tribes, and destroyed them by means of their club. The chief in heaven became angry because they abused his gift, and wished that they might forget the club on one of their expeditions. So it happened that they forgot the club when they went out to attack the town Gulgē'u. Therefore the place has been called ever since that time Hwîl d?aks-ts?aX, or Where-the-club-was-forgotten. Then they went to DEmlaxā'm on Skeena river, where they settled, as they were unable to continue fighting on account of the loss of the supernatural club. Their descendants became the G*isq?ahā'st.

On account of the gifts received in heaven, this clan have the privilege of using head ornaments of abalone shell, such as they received from Hîslēgiyō'ôntkᵘ.

[1] Ago' si-gwix*-hwî'lEn?
[2] Q'am-hō'saldEm la'yîm, nLk*?ē hō'tSiL ga'dEm.
[3] Q?am-ma'gildEm mäq, nLk*?ē hōtL g*at.

Asi-hwî'l

[Told by Chief Mountain]

A long time ago the people of Lax-q?al-tsa'p and those of Gitwunksi'Lk were starving. There were two sisters living in these towns. When the provisions were almost exhausted, the sister living in Lax-q?al-tsa'p thought that she would try to reach her sister who lived in Gitwunksi'Lk. She started and went up the valley. After some time she saw a woman approaching. When she came near, she recognized her sister. She knew at once that the people of G*itwunksi'Lk were starving also. The sisters met and sat down and cried. Since that time this place has been called Hwîl-lē-nE-hwa'da (Where-they-met each-other). The sister who had gone up the river had only a few haw berries, and the other had only a small piece of spawn about as long as her finger. They divided and ate.

In the evening they made a small hut of branches and lighted a fire. The sister who had come from G*itwunksi'Lk had a daughter whom she had taken along. They lay down to sleep,- About midnight all of a sudden a man appeared and lay down next the younger sister, who was unmarried. He asked her, "Is it true that all your friends are starving?" She said, "There were no provisions in our village, and I went to see my sister." The man continued, "Stay here. I will make a fish weir for you." His name was Hō'uX (Good-luck). He was a supernatural being. Early in the morning he rose and made a weir of small sticks and twigs,, and soon it was full of trout. He took them out of the weir and the women roasted them. Then he went hunting, and in the afternoon he came back, bringing five porcupines. Then the sisters were glad. On the following day he went hunting again, and brought back a mountain goat. The sisters had made a basket of spruce roots in which they boiled the meat. On the next day he went hunting again and caught a large bear, the fat of which was about as thick as a man's hand is wide. On the fourth day he returned early in the morning, bringing a bighorn sheep. He told the sisters that he had killed ten sheep, and asked them to carry the meat home. The house was now full of meat and fish, because the trap was full every morning.

Soon the woman was with child, and she gave birth to a boy. When the boy was able to walk, his father made snowshoes for him and sent him up the mountains to look for bears. The boy came back in the evening, but he had not killed anything. His father asked him, "Did you not see a bear?" The boy had not seen any. Then his father demanded to see his snowshoes. He examined them and found that he had made a mistake in making them. He made a new pair and sent the boy off again. Soon he returned, bringing a piece of bear meat. He told his father that a bear which be had killed was lying on the mountains. Then his father put on his snowshoes and brought the bear home. On the following day the father went out hunting. Soon he returned, bringing two mountain goats, and told his son that there was a flock of goats on the other side of the mountains. The father sent him after them. Then his mother said, "Now we have a name for our son. We will call him Asi-hwî'l. That means Going-across-the-mountains."

Before the boy left, the father made a new pair of snowshoes for him, and said to him, "With these snowshoes you can climb mountains, however steep they may be. Whenever you come to a difficult place, put on these snowshoes." Then he took a bag made of cedar bark from under his arm. He opened it and took out two tiny dogs, one of which was spotted, the other one red. He put them on the snow and struck them, saying at the same time, "Red, red, red," to one, and, "Spotted, spotted, spotted," to the other. At once they became large dogs. Then he struck them again, and they became small again. He told the boy to take the dogs out of the bag whenever he should see any goats, to make them large, and to command the one to go up the mountains on the right-hand side, and the other to go up on the left-hand side. Then they would run up, barking, and frighten the goats so that they would fall down. Furthermore, he cut a pole for his son, with a goat horn attached to one end, which he was to use in climbing the mountains. He said, "If you strike the rock with the horn, there will be a hole." The other end of the pole was provided with a sharp black bone point. The boy, after having received these gifts, left his parents.

Once upon a time the young man fell in with a powerful man whose name was Wud?aX-mExmä'Ex (Large-ears). This man asked him, "What weapons do you use for killing game?" The boy replied, "I do not use any weapon. I run after them, and they fall down. What kind of weapon do you use for killing game?" "I do not use any weapon. I have supernatural powers." Asi-hwî'l was desirous to know how Large-ears killed his game. They went a short distance together, and came to a place where there were many goats. The youth said, "Let me see how you kill goats." Large-ears took a pair of long mittens from under his blanket. He put them on and clapped his hands. At once all the goats fell down the steep sides of the mountains. They went to another mountain where they saw a number of goats. Then Large-ears said, "Now, let me see how you kill mountain goats." Asi-hwî'l pulled his bag from under his blanket, took the dogs out, and said, "Red, red, red! Spotted, spotted, spotted!" Then the dogs grew large--one went to the right, and the other to the left--and they began to bark. The goats fell down at once. Then Asi-hwî'l put on his snowshoes, and walked right up a vertical cliff. When Large-ears saw this, he was surprised. They parted, and each went home. When Asi-hwî'l came to his father, he told him what had happened, and his father praised him.

After some time Hō'uX said to his wife and to her sister, "Your brothers are coming to look for you. Therefore I must hide in the woods." A short time after he had left, the brothers came. When they saw the house full of meat, they were surprised. Then the women gave them to eat. On the following morning the brothers left, carrying along some meat which the sisters had given them. As soon as they left, Hō'uX returned. The sisters told him that their brothers had asked them to return home. Then Hō'uX said, "Let us part. You may return to your home; I will return to mine." On the following morning many people came to fetch the women and the boy. They took them to G*itxadē'n. The boy's uncles gave a feast, and his mother told them the boy's name, Asi-hwî'l. The people bought meat of them, and paid for it with elk skins, which Asi-hwî'l used in giving a potlatch.

A supernatural being who lives in heaven saw that Asi-hwî'l was a great hunter. He covered one of his slaves with ashes, so that he looked like a white bear, and sent him to Nass river. The hunters set out to kill the bear, but they were unable to reach it. When the bear came to G*itxadē'n, Asi-hwî'l put on his snowshoes, took his bag and his pole and pursued it. The bear reached Leading point. There a vertical cliff rises, and the tracks of Asi-hwî'l's snowshoes where he climbed the cliff are still visible. Beyond the cliff he saw the bear entering a large house. He stayed at the door and heard the people singing:

That is, "Asi-hwî'l is picking the bones of my neck." Asi-hwî'l was unable to enter, and returned. He had lost the bear.

He went to the country of the Tsimshian, and married a girl of that tribe. The girl's brothers were sealion hunters. Once upon a time, during winter, gales were raging, and the brothers were unable to kill any sealions. One day Asi-hwî'l accompanied them. When they came to the sealions' rock, they found that there was a high swell, and they were unable to land. But Asi-hwî'l put on his snowshoes, took his staff, and jumped ashore. Then he ran up the rock and killed all the sealions. The brothers became jealous of him, and deserted him. When Asi-hwî'l had killed all the sealions and made ready to jump back into the canoe, he saw that the brothers had left. The tide began to rise. When it had almost covered the rock, he put his staff into a fissure and sat down on top of it. When the flood tide rose still higher, he tied his bow to the end of his staff and climbed on top of the bow. There he sat, and whistled the call which his father had taught him:

Then the tide ceased to rise, and soon the water began to fall. The rock became dry again. Then he lay down to sleep. While he was sleeping, somebody nudged him and whispered, "Grandmother invites you in." He looked. down, but be did not see anyone. He pulled his blanket over his head and tore a hole in it with his teeth. Then he peeped through the hole. After a little while he saw a mouse coming out of a place where a bunch of grass was growing. She whispered in his ear, "Grandmother invites you in." Then he pulled off his blanket, and saw the mouse disappearing under the bunch of grass. He pulled it out, and saw a house underneath. The mouse had taken the shape of a woman, and spoke to him, "Enter, if you are Asi-hwî'l, who has been deserted here." He entered, and the woman gave him to eat. The old woman who had invited him in said, "You know that this rock is the house of the sealions. Their chief is very sick. The shamans are unable to cure him. Please try if you can heal him." He promised to do so, and she led him to the chief, who was sick in bed. Asi-hwî'l saw a bone harpoon in his side. He sat down. Then the mouse said to the chief, "He will heal you if you will give him this canoe in payment." So saying, she pointed to the largest canoe. It was made of the intestines of sealions. The chief gave it to him. Then he stepped up to him, and, taking hold of the harpoon, pushed it first slightly into the flesh and then he pulled it out. The chief opened his eyes, and said at once that he felt better. Then they moistened the intestines, placed him inside, tied them up, and put them into the sea. Then they invoked the west wind, which drifted the intestines to the mainland. In the evening he heard the surf, and felt that the sealion's intestines were being knocked about on the beach. Then he opened them, and went out.

He resolved to take revenge. Therefore he carved two killer-whales out of red cedar. He put them into the water. They swam a short distance, but then they became logs, turned over, and drifted about. He called them back, and carved two new ones of yellow cedar. They swam a little longer than the first ones, but then they also became logs, turned over, and drifted about. He called them back and burnt them. Then he carved two new ones of yew wood. They became real killer-whales, who swam, blowing and snorting. They did not turn into wood again. Then he called them back and said to them, "The men who have deserted me will go out sealion hunting to-morrow. As soon as they go out I shall put you into the water. Go and break their canoes." On the following morning, when he saw his enemies coming, he put the whales into the water, and they broke the canoes. Asi-hwî'l went back to his wife and stayed with her.

The Grouses

A Legend of the G*ispawaduwE'da

[Told by Chief Mountain]

A chief had a beautiful daughter. Many young men came to marry her, but he refused her to all of them. Then the chief of the Grouses flew down and alighted on the roof of the old chief's house. He assumed the shape of a man who wore a blanket made of fox skins.

When it was dark, he entered the house without the knowledge of the chief, and lay down with the girl, who accepted him. The Grouse persuaded her to elope with him. At midnight they rose and left the house. They crossed the river and came to a large town which was inhabited by the Grouses. The young Grouse's father gave a feast when he arrived with his wife. They stayed there all winter, and in summer she gave birth to four children.

The old chief searched all over the country for his daughter, but he was unable to find her. When the children began to grow up, their mother said to them, "Don't you want to see your grandfather? He is a chief, and lives on the other side of the river. He has a large house with many steps, and a pole in front of it." The young Grouses wished to see him, and crossed the river on the ice. While going across they said, "Ps, ps, ps, ps!" The children in the chief's village heard the noise, and saw four young Grouses coming. They threw stones at them. Then the Grouses flew back. On the following day the young Grouses tried again, but were driven back by the children. They tried every day. Then the people said to one another, "Next time when the Grouses come, we will not disturb them." On the following day they came again, and went right to the old chief's house. The chief opened the door, and they entered. He spread a mat for them and they sat down. All the people came to see the birds. Finally an old man spoke to the chief, "Don't you remember that you lost your daughter some years ago? The birds must be her children, because they know your house." Then the old chief said to the birds, "Tell your father that I invite him and all his people to a feast to-morrow, and ask your mother also to come." Then the birds rose and left the house. They returned over the ice.

On the following morning innumerable Grouses came across. The ice was black with birds, and among them was the chief's daughter. Then they entered the chief's house. They sat down on the floor; and many had to sit on the posts and beams because there was not enough room on the floor. When the boys saw this, they shook the posts, and the birds flew from one side of the house to the other. The chief made a feast and gave them dry salmon and berries. Then he spoke, "I am old, and unable to split wood. Will not my son-in-law please stay here and help me?" His daughter repeated his speech to her husband, who replied, "Ps, ps, ps, ps!" and the other birds spoke to him in the same manner. Then the chief's daughter said that the birds would go and split wood on the following morning.

On the following morning the chief opened the smoke-hole of his house. Then his son-in-law delivered a speech, and flew out, followed by all the birds. When they had gone, the chief's daughter swept the house. About noon the noise of the birds was heard again.

The chief had a fire in his house, and the birds reentered through the smoke-hole. Each threw some fat into the fire, so that it blazed up high. They brought a long pole as high as a mountain, which was covered with fat. The chief of the birds gave this pole to his father-in-law, who divided it among his tribe. Then the chief and his people in return gave presents to the chief of the Grouses. They gave him a feast, after which the birds left. The chief's daughter and her children went back with them to the town of the Grouses.

TsEgu'ksku

In the town Lax-anLôE, below GiLwunksî'Lk, was a shaman who owned a rattle and a carved squirrel, which became alive as soon as it was dark. There was a village on the opposite side of the river, whose inhabitants were enemies of the shaman. One night he sent his squirrel across the river to kill his enemies. It obeyed and killed all the people, with the exception of a few men, among them a shaman, whose name was TsEgu'kskᵘ. After the squirrel had killed all the people, TsEgu'ksku and three other men got into a canoe and descended the river. He had a long board in his canoe which was painted red. They landed near Cape Fox. There TsEgu'kskᵘ lay down on the plank and covered himself with a mat made of cedar bark. Then his friends made a small fire on the end of the plank and burnt meat, tallow, and berries in the fire. They turned their faces away from the plank, and when they looked again the plank with the fire and TsEgu'kskᵘ had disappeared. They heard a noise, from the depths of the sea. TsEgu'kskᵘ had been taken into the house of the chief Gitk*staqL, who lives at the bottom of the sea. The chief sent for a box drum. The three men heard the following song coming from the deep:

Wudē', wudē', wudē', hē'yi, wudē, wudō'.

Hwîl nE-g̲Ebg̲ā'bEL pLô'ôn qanL näqL, iē',

Hwîl g?ōL-qa1g̲ā̲'l qabā'q iē'.

Hwîl g?ōL-diē'qat wī-Ts?egä'uks ts?äuL, wī-hwî'lpsqat GîtktsEm wâ'ōpElē'.

That is, "Fastened together are sea otter and killer-whale; scattered are the cockles where TsEgu'kskᵘ walks about in his great house at Wâ'ôpEL" [1]

Then GitkstaqL gave TsEgu'kskᵘ a club in shape of a land otter and a small box, the lid of which was carved in the shape of a fin of a whale. Furthermore, he gave him a chamber-pot made of wood. He said to him," The river is frozen now. Take this, it will break the ice for you." Then TsEgu'kskᵘ was sent back. All of a sudden he was seen again in the canoe, and by him were the presents of the chief from below. He threw the club into the water. It swam up the river and cut the ice. After some time the club became tired. He took it into the canoe and put the box on the ice. The box assumed the shape of a killer-whale and moved over the ice, thus cutting it. Then he told it to go to the house of the shaman who had killed his friends. The latter had a daughter, whose name was Lgo-yī'yuk (Little-worker). TsEgu'ksku commanded the whale to break the ice when he saw the girl on the river and to bring her to him. Soon the girl came down to the river to fetch water. Then the whale rose and carried her away to where his master was staying, and the latter sang:

Next he ordered the whale to watch and whenever a woman went to fetch water to take her away. The inhabitants were therefore in great want of water. Finally TsEgu'ksku sent his otter club to kill all the people. The club swam across the river and killed every one. Only one man, who happened to be out hunting, was saved.

At this time the Haida used to make war upon the villages of Observatory inlet. TsEgu'kskᵘ happened to be there with his friends when the Haida made an attack on the village, and he and all his companions were killed. The Haida cut off the heads of the slain to take them along as trophies. TsEgu'kskᵘ's head was placed in the bow of the canoe. When the Haida had gone some little distance, his head rolled overboard and swam back to where the body lay. Head and trunk were joined again, and TsEgu'kskᵘ rose hale and well. He returned to Nass river.

The man who had been absent hunting while TsEgu'kskᵘ's otter-club had killed all his friends resolved to take revenge. He invited TsEgu'kskᵘ to a feast. He was going to give him dried human flesh mixed with poison to eat. One of TsEgu'kskᵘ's supernatural helpers had warned him, however, and had told him to take out his intestines after the feast, and to replace them with dogs' intestines, then the poison would do him no harm. TsEgu'kskᵘ put on a bearskin for his blanket, placed a ring of red cedar bark around his neck, and strewed eagle-down on his head. Then he went across. He entered the house of his enemy and sat down. When the food was ready for him, he remarked, "This is human carrion," but he ate it nevertheless. At night he became sick. Then he said to the people, "I am going to die. When I am dead, open my stomach, and take out the intestines. Then kill a dog, take its intestines, and put them in place of mine. Then you must sew up my stomach." They obeyed, and after four days TsEgu'kskᵘ was alive and well. They placed his intestines in a canoe, which was pushed into the river. It sank at once, and his intestines are still at the bottom of the river. They cause the noise of the rapids.

Once upon a time TsEgu'kskᵘ traveled down the river in his canoe. The canoe capsized, and when he was about to be drowned a great number of gulls came to his rescue. They took him on their backs and carried him up the river to his village, singing:

Hâ de-kâ'etnē hagun-dE-hwî'lēL qē'wundeL an-dā'xL lax-ha'.

That is, "I am taken along on the water, I am taken around the world by gulls."

After a short time an epidemic of smallpox visited the villages. TsEgu'ksku placed a pole, which he had painted red, in front of his house to ward off the disease. But, nevertheless, he became sick. He called all the great shamans of his village, and asked them if he would recover. Finally one of them replied that he would not recover. Then he made a bow and four arrows, which he painted red. He ordered one of his friends to shoot the arrows up to the sun. His friend did so, and the arrows did not return; but every time he shot, blood began to flow from TsEgu'kskᵘ's forehead and from his cheeks. When TsEgu'kskᵘ felt the blood, he said, "I shall not remain dead." He took his rattle and went around the fire twice, following the course of the sun. Then he asked for a coffin box. He crawled into it and died. Then the people took the skin of a mountain goat, cut ropes out of it, and tied the box tightly. Then they placed it on a large bowlder behind the village. On the fourth night after the burial a noise was heard proceeding from the box. When the people went Out to see what it was, they saw that TsEgu'ksku had broken the thongs, and that he was sitting on the box. He had assumed the shape of a white owl. One man tried to catch him; but as the owl flew away, he became afraid and returned. Then a second man, whose name was Lō-gwisgwā's, tried. He did not succeed. After four men had tried, the owl suddenly fell back into the box, and the thongs were replaced by magic. The staff which TsEgu'kskᵘ had raised in front of his house fell to pieces and was seen to be rotten all through. Before the owl fell back into the box, it said, "WuL dEmā'ndē;" that is, "Nobody will be left." The epidemic continued for some time, and all the people died. This was the first visitation of smallpox.

[1] A place near China Hat.

Rotten-feathers

[The continuation of this story from page 100, line 6, was told by Chief Mountain, as follows:]

Twice she tried to cut it, then the feather snapped and the boys all fell down. The eldest one kept the feather and received the name Rotten-feathers. At the same time when the boys fell down a great many bones fell down from heaven. Rotten-feathers moved the feather over them four times and the bones became again living people.

Then the brothers went to Skeena river. Little-grindstone ate of the berries that were growing there and was transformed into a mountain that may be seen to this day. The brothers traveled on and reached a mountain which they were unable to pass. Rotten-feathers moved his feather over it and the mountain melted down. The molten rock may still be seen.

Finally they came to a canyon. They saw a town on the other side of the river and a bridge leading across to it. Here they met a woman named Great-goose (Wī-ksEm-ha'x), who warned them. She said, "You cannot cross this bridge. If you try to do so, it will break and you will be drowned. On the other side lives Chieftainess Knife-hand (Haq?ôLEm-an?o'n), who has a beautiful daughter. She cuts off with her hands the heads of all her daughter's suitors." Rotten-feathers thought he could overcome her by means of his magic feather. He crossed the bridge in safety and entered the house. The old woman laughed when she saw him, and immediately asked her daughter to spread the bed. At night he lay down with the young woman. He had his hair tied in a bunch on top of his head and in it he had hidden his feather. As soon as the young woman was fast asleep he arranged his own hair like that of a woman and tied the young woman's hair in a topknot. Then he pretended to be asleep. Soon the old woman came. She felt of the heads of the sleepers. She believed her daughter to be the stranger and cut off her head. Then Rotten-feathers tied up his hair again and put the feather on top. He took the labret of the dead woman. Therefore he received the name Labret. The feather carried him back across the river. Great-goose greeted him, saying, "My son, did you come back safely?" He told her what had happened. On the following morning Knife-hand came across the river wailing, "My child! my child! Sister Great-goose, how did it happen that your child became a great supernatural being?" Great goose replied, "The heavens were clear when my child was born, therefore she has become a great supernatural being, sister." Then Knife-band said, "O, yes, sister Great-goose."

Rotten-feathers, who had now the name Labret, heard that a supernatural being named Sleep had a beautiful wife. He desired to abduct her, and, notwithstanding Great-goose's warning, he set out. He reached the house and found Sleep fast asleep. He told Sleep's wife that he had come to abduct her. She was willing to elope with him. She told him that Sleep had a very fast canoe, which traveled by itself. They went aboard this canoe and escaped. Sleep had a chamber-pot whose office it was to wake him if any danger approached. The pot knocked him on the head and the urine ran over his face, but he did not awake. Then a wooden maul, whose office it was also to wake him, knocked him on the head until he awoke. The maul said, "Labret abducted your wife." Immediately Sleep launched a canoe and set out to pursue the fugitives. Soon he descried them. He shouted, "Stop, Labret, else I shall raise rocks in front of you." When the couple paddled on Sleep raised a mountain right in front of them, but Labret moved his feather against it and thus opened a passage. Sleep continued his pursuit. When he approached he ordered Labret to stop, threatening to put his comb in front of him. When Labret paddled on, Sleep threw the comb ahead and thus made a dense forest in front of the fugitives. Labret, however, moved his feather against the woods and so made a passage through it. Thus the couple escaped safely. The mask of Sleep is used up to this day by the G*ispawaduwE'da.

Abstracts

Txä'msEm and Lôg̲ôbolā'

A chief's wife pretends to be dead and is buried on a tree. Her lover goes to see her in the grave box. They are discovered and killed by the chief. The dead woman gives birth to a boy who lives by sucking his mother's intestines. He takes away the arrows of some playing children, and is discovered and taken to the house of the chief, who raises him. The boy and one of his friends kill two birds, put on their skins and fly through a hole in the heavens. The boy goes on alone, assumes the shape of a cedar leaf, drops into a well, and is swallowed by the daughter of the chief in heaven. She gives birth to a boy, who cries for the box in which the sun is kept. The chief sends for it. The boy steals it and becomes Txä'msEm, the Raven. He puts his cap into a cliff. He goes up Nass river and returns because ghosts whistle in front of him. Therefore the water of the river turns back. He then asks the ghosts, who are fishing olachen, for fish. He is refused and makes it daylight, thus driving away the ghosts. Finally Txä'msEm meets his brother, Lôg̲ôbolā', who takes off his hat, thus causing a fog in which Txä'msEm is lost. Lôg̲ôbolā' causes all fresh water to disappear. They have a shooting match and stake the Nass river against the Skeena river. Txä'msEm orders the crows to put his arrow into the goal and to remove Lôg̲ôbolā''s. Thus he wins by fraud. They divide the stakes and make the olachen go up Nass river and the salmon up Skeena river. They separate.

Txä'msEm

Txä'msEm visits a chief who owns fresh water. He pretends that the chief soiled his bed, and by threatening to tell on him he gets permission to take a drink of water. He takes all the water and flies away. The water runs out of his blanket and forms rivers. He meets the ghosts and turns back, therefore the waters of Nass river turn back. He makes a gull vomit olachen, then he rubs its spawn over his canoe and goes to a chief who owns the olachen. He pretends to have caught many olachen, showing the spawn in his canoe. The chief is annoyed and releases the olachen from his house. Txä'msEm catches olachen and roasts them. Gulls steal them. He throws the gulls into a fire and the tips of their wings become black. He assumes the shape of a deer, ties pitchwood to his tail, and steals fire. He strikes the butts of the trees with his burning tail, and therefore the wood burns. Txä'msEm then marries a salmon woman and thus obtains salmon. She makes his hair grow long. He scolds her, and all the salmon and his long hair disappear.

Txä'msEm

Txä'msEm is born, but can not be induced to eat. Two old men chew salmon for him, and put a scab into it. Then he becomes voracious and is deserted. He tries to catch a bullhead but can not, so he curses it and makes its tail thin. Believing that he sees a beautiful dancing-blanket in the woods, be tears his raven blanket and finds that what he believed to be a blanket is moss. Then he takes a slave. They reach a chief's house. The slave says that Txä'msEm does not like food that has been offered, and eats it all himself. Txä'msEm induces his slave to cross a canyon on a bridge made of the stalk of a skunk cabbage. The bridge breaks, the slave falls down, his belly bursts, and Txä'msEm eats the contents of his stomach. He finds children playing ball with a slice of blubber, and eats it. The children tell him that they obtain blubber by throwing themselves down from a tree and shouting "Piles of blubber!" He does so and kills himself. He comes to life again and goes fishing with Cormorant, takes a louse from his neck, and pretends that he wants to put it on his tongue. He tears out Cormorant's tongue and steals the fish that Cormorant has caught. He exchanges the chief's club for one of rotten wood, and induces the chief to strike him with the club, but in an ensuing fight he kills the chief with his own club. Seal invites Txä'msEm into his house and lets grease drip from his hands into a dish. A bird strikes its ankle and pulls out fish roe. Another bird makes salmon berries by his song. Txä'msEm tries in vain to imitate his hosts. He steals bait of the fishermen from their hooks. His jaw is caught and torn off, but he recovers it. He calls a salmon and kills it. He is advised by his excrements to steam the salmon in a hole. A stump sits down on the hole and eats the salmon. Txä'msEm then invites Grizzly Bear to go fishing with him. He pretends to use his own testicles for bait and induces the bear to cut off his testicles for bait, thus killing himself. He makes the wife of Grizzly Bear swallow red-hot stones to secure good luck for her husband, and thus kills her. He asks Pitch to go fishing and lets him melt in the hot sun. Pitch runs over a halibut and makes one side black. When he reaches the town of the air, he tries to steal provisions, but is beaten off by invisible hands. He asks Deer to accompany him and split wood. He kills Deer by striking his head with a hammer. He then enters the house of smoke-hole, who prevents his escape by ordering the door and the smoke-hole to close. Txä'msEm, caught in the smoke-hole, puts his voice as an echo into a cliff and scolds the chief, who allows the smoke-hole to open again. Txä'msEm flies away in the shape of a raven. He catches seals and steams them. A stump eats them. Txä'msEm makes the stump his slave, and finally he calls all the fish ashore and kills them.

The Stone and the Elderberry Bush

The Stone and the Elderberry Bush gave birth nearly at the same time, but the children of Elderberry Bush were born first. Therefore man is mortal.

The Porcupine and the Beaver

The Beaver invites the Porcupine to his house, carries him over the water, and gives him sticks to eat. They agree to play together. The Beaver carries the Porcupine through the water and almost drowns him. The Porcupine then invites the Beaver to visit him and takes him over slippery ice to a tree which he climbs and lets himself fall down. He carries the Beaver up. The Porcupine lets go of the tree and shouts "Space!" and is not hurt when he strikes the ground; but the Beaver shouts "Rock!" and his belly bursts when he lands on the ground.

The Wolves and the Deer

The Wolves and the Deer have a feast. They play laughing at each other. The Wolves laugh first. The Deer fear the large teeth of the Wolves. The Deer are told to laugh aloud. When the Wolves see that the Deer have no teeth, they devour them.

The Stars

A boy ridicules a Star and is taken up by it to the sky where he is tied to the smoke-hole of the Star's house. The boy's father is told by a woman how to recover his boy. He shoots arrows up to the sky, making a chain, which he climbs. He sees a man, to whom he gives tobacco, red paint, and sling-stones in return for advice. The father then carves figures in the shape of his son, of different kinds of wood, finally of yellow cedar. He ties this figure on the roof in the place of his son. The figure cries when sparks fall on it. The father escapes with his son. Finally the figure stops crying, and the escape of the boy is discovered. The Stars pursue the fugitives, who throwaway the tobacco, paint, and sling-stones. The Stars stop and paint their faces. Therefore the Stars are red and blue. The man who had given advice swells on receiving more paint and tobacco and obstructs the way of the Stars. The father and his son safely descend the chain of arrows.

Rotten-feathers

Children play ball and make much noise, which annoys Heaven, who sends feathers down. One boy puts them on his head and they lift him up. Others try to hold him and all are taken up. One menstruating girl and her grandmother, who were in a small hut, are the only ones left. The girl puts wedges of various kinds of wood, a grindstone, a knife, and some mucus into her blanket and soon gives birth to five boys and one girl, who are these objects personified. The children annoy Heaven by their noise. The feathers come down again and take them up, though they transform themselves into trees, mountains, and mucus. The knife girl climbs her brothers' bodies and cuts off the feather. Then the boys fall down. The feathers remain on the head of the eldest, who is called Rotten-feathers. The bones of those who had been taken up before fall down. They are revived. Grindstone eats berries and is transformed into a mountain. Rotten-feathers cuts passage through the mountains with a feather and reaches Great-goose, who advises them. He marries the daughter of a chieftainess, who tries to cut off his head with her sharp hands. He changes his own and his wife's headdress and the young woman is killed in his place. He abducts the wife of Sleep and escapes in a self-moving canoe. Sleep is awakened by his watchmen, Chamber-pot and Wooden Maul. He creates a mountain in front of Rotten-feathers and his wife, which is cut by the feathers. Then he throws a comb ahead of them, which is transformed into a thicket. Again Rotten-feathers cuts a passage and escapes with the woman.

K*?ēLku

Children are playing in a hollow log of driftwood on the beach. They are carried out to sea by the tide. They strike their noses until they bleed and smear the outside of the log with the blood. Gulls that alight on the log are glued to it by the blood. The boys kill them and subsist on them. The log drifts into a large whirlpool and is pulled out by a one-legged person who lives near by, hunting seals in the whirlpool. He takes care of the boys. His neighbor, Hard-instep, envies him. The boys are homesick and are sent to look for One-leg's canoe, which they can not find because it looks like a rotten log. Finally he uncovers it and it proves to be a self-moving canoe with a head of WāsE at each end. These heads eat whatever crosses the bow or the stern of the canoe. The boys feed each end with five seals and the canoe takes them home.

The Sealion Hunters

One of four sealion hunters finds no sealions on his rock and steals those of his companion. The latter makes an artificial sealion, which, when harpooned by the thief, pulls him with his crew across the ocean.

He is unable to let go the harpoon line. Finally they reach the land of the dwarfs. One of these appears in a canoe, jumps into the sea, clubs halibut under water, and puts them into the canoe. When he jumps into the sea again, one man steals two halibut. The dwarf notices it, finds the men, and knocks the thief to the ground so that be dies. The survivors are invited in by the chief of the dwarfs. Some birds arrive and a battle ensues in which many dwarfs are killed. On the following day the men attack the birds and kill them by twisting their necks. The men are sent home by the dwarfs.

Smoke-hole

A man attains supernatural strength by always sleeping at the edge of his smoke-hole.

Ts?ak*

A boy named Ts?ak* catches fish, which are stolen by the Grizzly Bear. He scolds the Grizzly Bear, who snuffs him in. Ts?ak* kills the bear by starting a fire in his stomach, and then comes out and asks his grandmother to cut open the bear. At first she refuses to believe him, but finally accompanies him and finds the bear. He visits the village of the Wolves across the river. They tie him, go to his house, and steal the bear meat. On being released he finds his grandmother asleep, cuts out her vulva, roasts it, and gives it to her to eat. She turns him out of the house. A supernatural being tells him how to take revenge on the Wolves. Through a hollow bone he blows sickness into the daughter of the chief of the Wolves. The shamans can not cure her. He offers to do so, and when he is successful he receives the girl in marriage, and is given much property and a slave named Drum-belly. He desires to get another wife, and starts with his slave Drum-belly and several birds. He comes to a burning mountain, which he tries unsuccessfully to cross by assuming the shape of various birds. He lies down, and is called by a Mouse, whose house is under a bunch of grass. He gains her good will by burning his earrings. She shows him the trail under the mountain. He reaches another Mouse at the far end of the trail, who gives him a carving of crystal for protection, and tells him what to do. He reaches a chief's house with a snapping door. He puts the crystal in so that it can not close, and enters safely. He takes the chief's daughter for his wife. The father-in-law spreads a bearskin with sharp hair in order to kill him, but Ts?ak* breaks the hair with his crystal. Then the father-in-law tries to boil him in a box, and though Ts?ak* seems to be boiled he rises unharmed. He is then thrown into the crack of a split cedar, which closes over him when the wedges are knocked out, but he kicks the tree apart and comes out. The chief orders his slave to throw Ts?ak* into the whirlpool while they are hunting seals, but instead the slave is drowned. He returns with his wife by the same way by which he came.

Growing-Up-Like-One-Who-Has-A-Grandmother

A chief's nephew is a poor orphan. A light comes down from heaven and hangs at the end of a branch. It proves to be copper. The chief promises his daughter to the one who will knock it down. The orphan boy receives from a supernatural being stones of four different colors, and with the last stone knocks it down, but the young men take the copper away from him, and claim to have bit it. The next day a white bear is heard behind the village, and the chief's daughter is promised to him who kills it. The orphan boy kills it with his arrow. The other youths claim to have killed it, but the youth's arrow is found, and thus the chief learns that his nephew has killed the bear. The chief is ashamed and deserts his nephew, his daughter, and their grandmother. The boy goes to a pond and shouts. A giant frog, the guardian of the pond, emerges and pursues the boy. The boy makes a trap and catches the frog in it. He skins it and goes into the pond, where he catches a trout. He puts the trout on the beach. In the morning a raven finds it and begins to croak. The princess sends the boy to look, and he brings the trout. Every night he goes out and catches in succession trout, salmon, halibut, bullheads, seals, porpoises, sealions, and whales. Finally the princess discovers that he catches them and asks him to marry her. They have two children. The chief's people are starving, and the chief sends a man and some slaves to see if his nephew, his daughter, and their grandmother are dead. The boy gives them to eat, and they report what they have seen. The people return, and he sells his provisions for slaves and elk skins, gives a potlatch, and becomes a chief. Finally he is unable to take off his frog blanket, and stays in the sea, whence he provides his wife and children with food.

Little-eagle

A chief's son, instead of catching salmon, feeds eagles and pulls out their feathers for his arrows. In winter, when provisions run short, the boy, his grandmother, and a slave are deserted. The boy's mother hides some fish in a clam shell. Every morning the eagles bring them food; first a trout, then bullheads, salmon, halibut, seals, porpoises, sealions, and whales. The boy puts on a gull skin and flies to look at his people, whom he finds starving. He drops a piece of seal meat into a canoe. The chief sends a man and several slaves to see if his son is dead. They find him alive and he feeds them, but forbids them to take food along. One slave hides some seal meat under his shirt. At home he gives the meat to his child. The child bolts it and is almost suffocated. The chief's wife pulls out the seal meat, and thus they learn that the prince has plenty of provisions. The people move back, and one of the prince's uncles gives him his daughter in marriage. The prince sells provisions for elk skins and slaves, gives a potlatch, and becomes a chief.

She-Who-Has-A-Labret-On-One-Side

A scabby slave girl appears on the street of a village. A prince marries her. When his mother feeds her, she puts into the empty dish a scab, which is transformed into an abalone shell. In the evening the girl's mother, Evening Sky, comes and announces that her people will come and give the prince much property. Next day they arrive. The prince and his people go inland to trade. His wife is angry because he does not take her along. She bathes the awkward brother of the prince, gives him red paint, and sends him to the inlanders to trade for weasel skins. He becomes beautiful and rich, and she marries him. Her mother comes again and brings much property, which she gives to her new husband.

The Grizzly Bear

The eldest of four brothers goes hunting with his two dogs. He comes to a glacier, which he crosses, and suddenly finds himself in front of the den of a Grizzly Bear, who kills him and his dogs. The second and third brothers meet the same fate. The youngest, on reaching the den, falls into it and strikes with his hand the Bear's vulva. She marries him. After some time be gets homesick and returns, accompanied by his bear wife. They live with his parents and the Bear makes friends with the man's child and with his former wife, whom she allows to return to him. The Bear and this woman go berrying, the Bear keeping the berries in her stomach. On their return they invite the people in. The Bear defecates the berries into a dish, but the people are afraid to eat them. The Bear robs a man's salmon weir, taking out the fish before daylight. She gives the fish to the people. The owner of the weir scolds her and she kills him. She goes back to the mountains, and tells her husband, who tries to follow her, to go home. When he does not obey, she kills him.

The Squirrel

A young man has killed many squirrels. One day he sees a white squirrel climbing a spruce tree. He goes around the tree to get a shot and finds that the squirrel is the daughter of the chief of the squirrels. He is called into the house. The chief asks him to burn the meat and bones of the squirrels whom he has killed and thus to restore the squirrel people to life. In return he promises to make the hunter a shaman and gives him a dance and a song. After some time the youth's dried-up body is found on the tree. It is taken to his father's house and placed on a mat, and during the mourning ceremony he revives. The squirrel meat is burned and the youth becomes a great shaman.

The Origin of the G*ispawaduwE'da

There are two towns on opposite sides of Nass river. The eldest of four brothers from one of these towns is killed while hunting. The reason for his accident is the faithlessness of his wife, whose lover is the son of the chief of the other village. The surviving brothers find the lover with their sister-in-law. They cut off his head and hang it over the doorway. When the young chief is missing his people send a slave girl across the river to look for him, under the pretext that their fire has gone out. She finds his head, and a battle ensues in which all the people of the first village are killed except the woman whose lover had been slain and her daughter. They hide in a hole under ground while the town is being burned. When all is quiet, the mother shouts, "Who will marry my daughter?" Various animals come, but she refuses them because they are too weak. Finally a supernatural being from heaven comes and is accepted. He tries to carry both women up to heaven, but is compelled to leave the mother behind because, against his orders, she opens her eyes on the way. He puts her into the branch of a tree, where she remains and causes the noise produced by the wind. The daughter has several children, who receive supernatural gifts and are sent back to earth. Among these gifts is a club which, when turned, causes the earth to turn over and bury the owner's enemies. The children come down at the old village site. In a battle with their old enemies the brothers are victorious by using their magical club. Not satisfied with taking revenge, they continue to make war and thus excite the anger of the chief in heaven, who makes them lose their club.

Asi-hwî'l

The people in two villages are starving. Two sisters who live in these villages start to visit each other and meet half way. They make a small hut, and a supernatural being, "Good-luck," appears and marries the younger sister. Their son is named Asi-hwî'l. He receives from his father magic snowshoes, with which he can climb the steepest mountains, and two small dogs which can be made to grow large and to throw mountain goats down precipices. The boy goes hunting and meets a supernatural being who kills mountain goats by clapping his hands. The sisters, with their son, rejoin their people and become very rich. Asi-hwî'l tries in vain to kill a supernatural white bear which disappears in a cliff. He marries a Tsimshian girl. Her brothers become jealous of him on account of his prowess and desert him on a sealion rock. When the tide rises he puts his staff in a crevice and sits down on top of it. When the tide recedes, he lies down and is called by a Mouse, which he observes through a hole in his blanket. He finds the house of the Sealions under a bunch of grass and cures their chief whom he himself had wounded. The Sealions send him back in a sealion stomach. He makes two artificial killer-whales, which kill his brothers-in-law.

The Grouses

A chief's daughter elopes with the chief of the Grouses, who appears as a man in fox skins. Their four children cross the river on the ice, intending to visit their grandfather. The children chase them away, but finally they enter the house of the chief, who suspects that they are his grandchildren and issues an invitation to the Grouse tribe to visit him. They all come, among them the lost woman. They bring as a present a pole covered with grease. The woman returns with them.

[file "TsEgu'kskᵘ"}

TsEgu'ksku

A shaman has a carved squirrel, which comes to life and kills all the people of a village except TsEgu'kskᵘ. He lies down on a painted board in a canoe, sings, sacrifices, and is taken down to the bottom of the sea, where he receives a box in the form of a killer-whale and a magical club. The box, by his orders, becomes a live whale, which breaks the ice and takes away all the women of his enemy's village when they come down to get water. Eventually the club and the box kill all these people. The Haida make war on the Nass river villages and kill TsEgu'kskᵘ. His head is cut off and taken along, but it swims back to the body and joins it, and TsEgu'kskᵘ revives. He is invited to a feast. He knows that he is to be poisoned and tells his friends to take out his intestines when he seems to be dead and to replace them with those of a dog. This is done and he revives. Another time he capsizes in his canoe, but is rescued by gulls, which carry him to the shore. An epidemic of smallpox visits the villages. He becomes sick. Four arrows are shot up to the sky, which do not return, and with each shot blood flows from TsEgu'kskᵘ's cheek. This shows that he will die, but will afterward revive. He dies. His body is tied in a box, but revives and sits on the grave box in the shape of an owl. A painted pole which he has erected in front of his house falls over and is seen to be rotten. At the same time the owl falls back into the box dead.

Colophon

Franz Boas's Tsimshian Texts (Nass River Dialect) was first published in 1902 by the U.S. Government Printing Office as Bulletin 27 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution. Public domain (pre-1930).

Source: digitized text of the sacred-texts.com archive, from the library's local mirror.

Prepared for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted research, transcription, and editorial work.

Boas's transcription uses the underline and strikethrough conventions described in this library's other sacred-texts-mirror editions of Northwest Coast texts: an underlined letter is rendered here as that letter plus a Unicode combining low line (e.g. g̲), and a barred l as ł, where either occurs. The double hyphen used throughout in place of an em dash is preserved as printed, per this library's established convention for these mirror editions. The book's own tale headings are printed in running display capitals throughout; this edition follows the casing given on the mirror's own index page (or, for the two tales the index page does not separately list — "Txä'msEm and Lôg̲ôbolā'," the book's opening myth, and "TsEgu'ksku" among the Supplementary Stories — the casing used in the book's own running prose) rather than reproducing capitals as a substitute for heading structure. Footnotes appear as bracket-numbered lines directly following the passage in which they occur, renumbered [1], [2], ... within each tale in place of the source's per-page numbering.

Four musical illustrations belong to the original edition and are reproduced in place, with the Native-language song words they set given in the running text beside them: the mourning song in "Txä'msEm and Lôg̲ôbolā'"; the song heard through the door of the bear's house, together with its separate drum-beating notation, in "Asi-hwî'l"; and the song TsEgu'ksku sang as the whale carried the girl to him, in "TsEgu'ksku." The source digitization splits a number of paragraphs at every printed page boundary even where the boundary fell mid-sentence; wherever a split plainly broke a sentence in two, the halves have been rejoined here into one paragraph, with no wording changed. The source's "[paragraph continues]" apparatus tags, marking such a split, have been removed as digitizer scaffolding rather than book content.

Two chapter files in the mirror carry content the site's own index page does not separately link: "TsEgu'ksku," a Supplementary Story between "The Grouses" and "Rotten-feathers (continued)," and the first part of the opening myth, "Txä'msEm and Lôg̲ôbolā'" itself (the index links only its second and third parts, both titled simply "Txä'msEm"). Both are included here in their proper place in the sequence; neither is a gap in the mirror, only in its navigation links. Two different tales in this book share the title "The Grizzly Bear" / "Squirrel" pairing and near-identical titles elsewhere between the main Myths section and the closing Abstracts section by design — the Abstracts are Boas's own condensed second telling of the same collection, not a duplicate to be removed.

Spot-read against the source HTML: the Introduction and Alphabet, the opening myth ("Txä'msEm and Lôg̲ôbolā'"), a Supplementary Story with a musical illustration ("Asi-hwî'l"), and the closing Abstracts section. No other dropped or garbled text was found in the sections checked.

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