_Lillooet_
Once a whole village moved away. They were angry with a boy, so they
left him behind with his grandmother. Now it looked as though they
would starve. Grandmother said, “Snare small animals. Shoot the
birds.” So the boy snared rabbits and squirrels and many small
animals. He shot many birds with bright plumage. Grandmother cooked
the animals and birds, but she made him a robe from the skins of the
birds. The robe was very large and bright. The boy wore it when he
went to spear fish.
Now Sun, when he followed the trail in the Sky Land, saw the robe
when the boy was spearing fish. He saw that robe many times. One day
Sun left the trail and came to visit the boy. Sun always dressed in
a goatskin robe, with long fringe.
Sun said to the boy, “I will exchange blankets with you.” The boy
looked at the goatskin robe, and said, “Oh, no!”
[Illustration: Haida Blanket Border Designs
Symbolical of the raven and the killer whale
_From “Memoirs, American Museum of Natural History”_]
Sun said, “You do not know the value of my robe. It can catch more
fish than you can spear.” Sun placed the fringe of his blanket in
the water, and at once a fish caught on each tip of the fringe. When
the boy saw that, he exchanged blankets at once.
Before Sun traded for the boy’s robe of birds’ plumage, he was pale,
and his light was like the light of the moon. Therefore people could
look at him. Now he became bright and dazzling as he is today,
because of his bright robe. People can no longer look at him.