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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 39
TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS
RECORDED BY
JOHN R. SWANTON
[Illustration]
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1909
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY,
_Washington, D. C., May 20, 1908_.
SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith for your consideration the
manuscript of Tlingit Myths and Texts, by Dr. John R. Swanton, with
the recommendation that it be published in this Bureau’s series of
Bulletins.
Yours, respectfully,
W. H. HOLMES, _Chief_.
The SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
_Washington, D. C._
CONTENTS
Page
Phonetic Key VIII
Introduction 1
Myths Recorded in English at Sitka 3
1. Raven 3
2. The Big Clam 21
3. English Version of the Story of the Four Brothers 22
4. Origin of the Killer Whale 25
5. Kᴀkaˊ 28
6. The Land-otter Sister 29
7. The Land-otter Son 30
8. The Wolf-chief’s Son 33
9. Wolverine-man 36
10. The Halibut People 38
11. Stories of the Monster Devilfish and the Cry-baby 40
12. The Woman who was Killed by a Clam 41
13. Root-stump 41
14. The Protracted Winter 43
15. Beaver and Porcupine 43
16. The Poor Man who Caught Wonderful Things 45
17. The Finding of the Blue Paint, and How a Certain Creek
Received its Name 46
18. Various Adventures near Cross Sound 47
19. Kātsǃ 49
20. The Unsuccessful Hunters 50
21. Origin of Iceberg House 52
22. The Woman Taken Away by the Frog People 53
23. How the Frogs Honored the Dead 54
24. The Brant Wives 55
25. Story of the Puffin 57
26. Story of the Wain-house People 58
27. The Alsek River People 64
28. The Youthful Warrior 69
29. The First War in the World 72
30. How Protestant Christianity was First Heard Of at Sitka 79
Myths Recorded in English at Wrangell 80
31. Raven 80
32. Kakēˊqǃᵘtê 154
33. Origin of the G̣onaqᴀdēˊt 165
34. A Story of the G̣onaqᴀdēˊt 170
35. Origin of the ʟǃêˊnᴀxx̣īˊdᴀq 173
36. The Thunders 175
37. Origin of the Screech Owl 176
38. Little Felon 177
39. Origin of the Fern Root and the Ground Hog 180
40. The Halibut that Divided the Queen Charlotte Islands 180
41. The Image that Came to Life 181
42. Djīyīˊn 182
43. The Self-burning Fire 186
44. The Giant of Tāˊsna 187
45. The Woman who Married a Land Otter 187
46. The Land-otters’ Captive 188
47. The Man Fed from the Sky 189
48. The Salmon Sack 192
49. Roots 192
50. The Mucus Child 194
51. The Salmon Chief 196
52. The Jealous Uncle 198
53. The Man who Married the Eagle 203
54. The Brant Wife 206
55. The Duck Helper 208
56. The Boy who Shot the Star 209
57. The Boy and the Giant 212
58. The Boy with Arrows on his Head 214
59. Gᴀmnāˊtckǃî 215
60. The Hīn-taỵīˊcî 217
61. The East and North Winds 219
62. The Big Beaver 219
63. Beaver and Porcupine 220
64. The Man who Entertained the Bears 220
65. Mountain Dweller 222
66. How the Sitka Kîksᴀˊdî Obtained the Frog 224
67. Qāqǃᴀtcgūˊk 225
68. The Beaver of Killisnoo 227
69. Story of the Grizzly-bear Crest of the Teˊqoedî 228
70. Story of the Eagle Crest of the Nexᴀˊdî 229
71. Story of the Killer-whale Crest of the Dᴀqʟǃaweˊdî 230
72. Story of the Nanỵaāˊỵî Crests 231
73. Story of the Frog Crest of the Kîksᴀˊdî of Wrangell 232
74. Story of the Kāˊgwᴀntān Crests 233
75. Migration of the G̣ānᴀxᴀˊdî to Tongass 233
76. The Woman who Married the Frog 236
77. The Girl who Married the ʟǃᴀʟǃ 237
78. The Woman who Married a Tree 238
79. The Girl who Married the Fire Spirit 239
80. Orphan 240
81. The Dead Basket-maker 240
82. The Crying-for Medicine 241
83. The Runaway Wife 242
84. The Rejected Lover 243
85. The Faithless Wife 245
86. The Woman who Married the Dead Man 247
87. The Returned from Spirit Land 249
88. The Sky Country 250
Texts 252
89. The Origin of Copper 252
90. The Man who was Abandoned 262
91. The Shaman who Went into the Fire, and the Heron’s Son 267
92. Mountain Dweller 280
93. Kāhāˊsǃî, the Strong Man 289
94. The ʟǃêˊnᴀxx̣īˊdᴀq 292
95. Origin of the Frog Crest among the Kîksᴀˊdî 294
96. How the Kîksᴀˊdî Came to Sitka 295
97. The Four Brothers 297
98. The Kîksᴀˊdî Woman who was Turned into an Owl 299
99. Moldy-end 301
100. Moldy-end (Wrangell version) 311
101. Qāqǃᴀtcgūˊk 321
102. The Sea-lion Hunt 324
103. The War in the Spruce Canoe 325
104. Story of the Kāˊgwᴀntān 326
105. Story of the Kâˊckǃe qoan 347
106. Origin of a Low-caste Name 369
The Tobacco Feast 372
Speeches Delivered at a Feast when a Pole was Erected for the
Dead 374
Words of Songs Taken in connection with Graphophone Records 390
Abstracts of Myths 416
Myths recorded in English at Sitka 416
Myths recorded in English at Wrangell 429
PHONETIC KEY
ā a longer and shorter forms of the Continental _a_, like _a_ in
_far_
â as in _fall_
ᴀ as in _final_; a close approximation to _u_ in _cut_
ē e longer and shorter forms of the Continental _e_, like _a_ in
_fate_
ê as in _bell_
ī i longer and shorter forms of the Continental _i_, like _ee_ in
_street_
î as in _hit_
ō o longer and shorter forms of English _o_, as in _flow_
ū as in _rule_
u as in _put_
ᵘ ᵒ barely formed _o_ and _u_ sounds; rather qualities of the
preceding consonant sounds than independent vowels
q the velar _k_, not found in English
g̣ the velar _g_ corresponding to the preceding, not found in
English
ỵ a sound similar to but deeper than the preceding, pronounced
by the younger Indians almost like English _y_
x the velar spirant, pronounced like Spanish _j_ or German _ch_
x̣ the palatal spirant, often mistaken for _h_
c like English _sh_ in _short_
dz as in _adze_
ts as in _sits_
dj like English _j_ and _dg_ in _judge_
tc like English _ch_ in _church_
ʟ not found in English, but resembling a rapid pronunciation of
_t_ and _l_, or of _k_ and _l_
ʟ̣ not found in English, but resembling a rapid pronunciation of
_d_ and _l_
ł a spirant belonging to the same series as the preceding; not
found in English though often represented by _thl_ or _hl_
t, d, n, s, k, g, h, w, y approximate the sounds for which they stand
in English though the agreement is by no means absolute
tǃ, sǃ, tsǃ, tcǃ, ʟǃ, kǃ, qǃ are similar to _t_, _s_, _ts_, _tc_, _ʟ_,
_k_, _q_, but are accompanied by a catch in the breath which
sometimes gives the impression of a pause, and sometimes
sounds like a sharp click
kˊǃ when _kǃ_ is pronounced very far forward in the mouth it is
sometimes set off in this way, but the distinction between
the two sounds is by no means clear
Labials are found only in a few words of foreign origin
TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS
Recorded by
JOHN R. SWANTON
INTRODUCTION
The following myths and texts were collected at Sitka and Wrangell,
Alaska, in January, February, March, and April, 1904, at the same
time as the material contained in the writer’s paper on the Social
Condition, Beliefs, and Linguistic Relationship of the Tlingit Indians
published in the Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau. For further
information regarding these people the reader is referred to that
paper, to Krause’s Tlinkit Indianer (Jena, 1885), Emmons’ Basketry of
the Tlingit Indians, Niblack’s Coast Indians of Southern Alaska and
Northern British Columbia, Dall’s Alaska and its Resources, Boas’s
Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas (Berlin,
1895), and the same writer in the Fifth Report of the Committee
Appointed by the British Association for the Advancement of Science,
to Investigate the Northwestern Tribes of Canada, and the two special
reports on Alaska for the censuses of 1880 and 1890. Most of the
ethnologic information contained in the works of Veniaminoff and other
early writers is incorporated into the work of Krause.
Stories 7, 19, 94, 101, 102, and 103 were related by the writer’s
Sitka interpreter, Don Cameron, of the Chilkat Kāˊgwᴀntān; stories
96 and 97 by Katlian, chief of the Kîksᴀˊdî; story 105 by a Yakutat
man, Qǃāˊdᴀstin; and all the other Sitka stories, including the texts
numbered 89–93, 95, 98, 99, and 104—by an old man of the Box-house
people, named Dekināˊkǃᵘ. From Katishan, chief of the Kasqǃagueˊdî of
Wrangell, were obtained stories 31, 32, 33, 38, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70,
71, 72, 73, 74, 100, 106, and the potlatch speeches. Stories 34, 35,
42, 50, 52, 53, 54, 57, 64, and 75 were related by an old Kake man
named Kᴀsāˊnkǃ, and the remaining Wrangell tales by Katishan’s mother.
The last mentioned has lived for a considerable time among the whites
at Victoria, but with one exception her stories appear to have been
influenced little by the fact. Her son has been a church member and
shows a moralizing tendency; at the same time he was considered the
best speaker at feasts in past times, and is supposed to have a better
knowledge of the myths than anyone else in Wrangell. Dekināˊkǃᵘ of
Sitka is also a church member but his stories appear to be entirely
after the ancient patterns.
MYTHS RECORDED IN ENGLISH AT SITKA
1. RAVEN[1]
No one knows just how the story of Raven really begins, so each
starts from the point where he does know it. Here it was always begun
in this way. Raven was first called Kit-kaˊositiyi-qā-yīt (“Son of
Kit-kaˊositiyi-qā”). When his son was born, Kit-kaˊositiyi-qā tried to
instruct him and train him in every way and, after he grew up, told him
he would give him strength to make a world. After trying in all sorts
of ways Raven finally succeeded. Then there was no light in this world,
but it was told him that far up the Nass was a large house in which
some one kept light just for himself.
Raven thought over all kinds of plans for getting this light into the
world and finally he hit on a good one. The rich man living there had a
daughter, and he thought, “I will make myself very small and drop into
the water in the form of a small piece of dirt.” The girl swallowed
this dirt and became pregnant. When her time was completed, they made
a hole for her, as was customary, in which she was to bring forth, and
lined it with rich furs of all sorts. But the child did not wish to
be born on those fine things. Then its grandfather felt sad and said,
“What do you think it would be best to put into that hole? Shall we put
in moss?” So they put moss inside and the baby was born on it. Its eyes
were very bright and moved around rapidly.
Round bundles of varying shapes and sizes hung about on the walls of
the house. When the child became a little larger it crawled around back
of the people weeping continually, and as it cried it pointed to the
bundles. This lasted many days. Then its grandfather said, “Give my
grandchild what he is crying for. Give him that one hanging on the end.
That is the bag of stars.” So the child played with this, rolling it
about on the floor back of the people, until suddenly he let it go up
through the smoke hole. It went straight up into the sky and the stars
scattered out of it, arranging themselves as you now see them. That was
what he went there for.
Some time after this he began crying again, and he cried so much that
it was thought he would die. Then his grandfather said, “Untie the next
one and give it to him.” He played and played with it around behind his
mother. After a while he let that go up through the smoke hole also,
and there was the big moon.
Now just one thing more remained, the box that held the daylight, and
he cried for that. His eyes turned around and showed different colors,
and the people began thinking that he must be something other than
an ordinary baby. But it always happens that a grandfather loves his
grandchild just as he does his own daughter, so the grandfather said,
“Untie the last thing and give it to him.” His grandfather felt very
sad when he gave this to him. When the child had this in his hands,
he uttered the raven cry, “G̣ā,” and flew out with it through the
smoke hole. Then the person from whom he had stolen it said, “That old
manuring raven has gotten all of my things.”
Journeying on, Raven was told of another place, where a man had an
everlasting spring of water. This man was named Petrel (G̣ᴀnūˊk). Raven
wanted this water because there was none to drink in this world, but
Petrel always slept by his spring, and he had a cover over it so as
to keep it all to himself. Then Raven came in and said to him, “My
brother-in-law, I have just come to see you. How are you?” He told
Petrel of all kinds of things that were happening outside, trying to
induce him to go out to look at them, but Petrel was too smart for him
and refused.
When night came, Raven said, “I am going to sleep with you,
brother-in-law.” So they went to bed, and toward morning Raven heard
Petrel sleeping very soundly. Then he went outside, took some dog
manure and put it around Petrel’s buttocks. When it was beginning
to grow light, he said, “Wake up, wake up, wake up, brother-in-law,
you have defecated all over your clothes.” Petrel got up, looked at
himself, and thought it was true, so he took his blankets and went
outside. Then Raven went over to Petrel’s spring, took off the cover
and began drinking. After he had drunk up almost all of the water,
Petrel came in and saw him. Then Raven flew straight up, crying “G̣ā.”
Before he got through the smoke hole, however, Petrel said, “My
spirits up the smoke hole, catch him.” So Raven stuck there, and
Petrel put pitchwood on the fire under him so as to make a quantity
of smoke. Raven was white before that time, but the smoke made him of
the color you find him to-day. Still he did not drop the water. When
the smoke-hole spirits let him go, he flew around the nearest point
and rubbed himself all over so as to clear off as much of the soot as
possible.
This happened somewhere about the Nass, and afterwards he started up
this way. First he let some water fall from his mouth and made the
Nass. By and by he spit more out and made the Stikine. Next he spit out
Taku river, then Chilkat, then Alsek, and all the other large rivers.
The small drops that came out of his mouth made the small salmon creeks.
After this Raven went on again and came to a large town where were
people who had never seen daylight. They were out catching eulachon in
the darkness when he came to the bank opposite, and he asked them to
take him across but they would not. Then he said to them, “If you don’t
come over I will have daylight break on you.” But they answered, “Where
are you from? Do you come from far up the Nass where lives the man who
has daylight?” At this Raven opened his box just a little and shed so
great a light on them that they were nearly thrown down. He shut it
quickly, but they quarreled with him so much across the creek that he
became angry and opened the box completely, when the sun flew up into
the sky. Then those people who had sea-otter or fur-seal skins, or the
skins of any other sea animals, went into the ocean, while those who
had land-otter, bear, or marten skins, or the skins of any other land
animals, went into the woods [becoming the animals whose skins they
wore].
Raven came to another place where a crowd of boys were throwing fat
at one another. When they hit him with a piece he swallowed it. After
a while he took dog’s manure and threw at the boys who became scared,
ran away, and threw more fat at him. He consumed all in this way, and
started on again.
After a while he came to an abandoned camp where lay a piece of jade
(sǃū) half buried in the ground, on which some design had been pecked.
This he dug up. Far out in the bay he saw a large spring salmon
jumping about and wanted to get it but did not know how. Then he stuck
his stone into the ground and put eagle down upon the head designed
thereon. The next time the salmon jumped, he said, “See here, spring
salmon jumping out there, do you know what this green stone is saying
to you? It is saying, ‘You thing with dirty, filthy back, you thing
with dirty, filthy gills, come ashore here.’”
Raven suddenly wanted to defecate and started off. Just then the big
spring salmon also started to come ashore, so Raven said, “Just wait,
my friend, don’t come ashore yet for I have some business to attend
to.” So the salmon went out again. Afterward Raven took a piece of
wild celery (yāˊnaet), and, when the salmon did come ashore, he struck
it with this and killed it. Because Raven made this jade talk to the
salmon, people have since made stone axes, picks, and spears out of it.
Then Raven, carrying along the spring salmon, got all kinds of birds,
little and big, as his servants. When he came to a good place to cook
his fish he said to all of them, “Here, you young fellows, go after
skunk cabbage. We will bury this in the ground and roast it.” After
they had brought it down, however, he said, “I don’t want any of that.
My wife has defecated all over that, and I will not use it. Go back and
pass over two mountains.” While they were gone, Raven put all of the
salmon except one fat piece cut from around the “navel”[2] which is
usually cooked separately, into the skunk cabbage and buried it in the
fire. Before they returned, he dug this up and ate it, after which he
put the bones back into the fire and covered them up.
When the birds at last came back he said to them, “I have been across
two mountains myself. Now it is time to dig it up. Dig it out.” Then
all crowded around the fire and dug, but, when they got it up, there
was nothing there but bones.
By and by the birds dressed one another in different ways so that they
might be named from their dress. They tied the hair of the blue jay
up high with a string, and they added a long tail to the tsǃēg̣ēnîˊ,
another crested bird. Then they named one another. Raven let out the
tsǃēg̣ēnîˊ and told him that when the salmon comes he must call its
slime unclean and stay high up until the salmon are all gone.[3]
Now Raven started off with the piece of salmon belly and came to a
place where Bear and his wife lived. He entered and said, “My aunt’s
son, is this you?” The piece of salmon he had buried behind a little
point. Then Bear told him to sit down and said, “I will roast some dry
salmon for you.” So he began to roast it. After it was done, he set
a dish close to the fire and slit the back of his hands with a knife
so as to let grease run out for Raven to eat on his salmon. After he
had fixed the salmon, he cut a piece of flesh out from in front of his
thighs and put it into the dish. That is why bears are not fat in that
place.
Now Raven wanted to give a dinner to Bear in return, so he, too, took
out a piece of fish, roasted it, set out the dish Bear had used, close
to the fire and slit up the back of his hand, thinking that grease
would run out of it. But instead nothing but white bubbles came forth.
Although he knew he could not do it, he tried in every way.
Then Raven asked Bear, “Do you know of any halibut fishing ground out
here?” He said “No.” Raven said, “Why! what is the use of staying here
by this salt water, if you do not know of any fishing ground? I know
a good fishing ground right out here called Just-on-the-edge-of-kelp
(Gīˊckǃîcuwᴀnyîˊ). There are always halibut swimming there, mouth up,
ready for the hook.”
By and by Raven got the piece of fish he had hidden behind the point
and went out to the bank in company with Bear and Cormorant. Cormorant
sat in the bow, Bear in the middle, and, because he knew where the
fishing ground was, Raven steered. When they arrived Raven stopped
the canoe all at once. He said to them, “Do you see that mountain,
Wasǃēˊtî-cā?[4] When you sight that mountain, that is where you want
to fish.” After this Raven began to fill the canoe with halibut. So
Bear asked him, “What do you use for bait anyhow, my friend?” [Corvus
respondit, “Testium cute ad escam praeparandam utor.” Ursus aiebat
corvo, “Licetne uti meis quoque?” Sed corvus dixit, “Noli id facere,
ne forte sint graviter attriti.” Paulo post ursus aegre ferens aiebat,
“Abscide eos.” Tum corvus cultellum acuens aiebat, “Pone eos extrema in
sede.” Postea corvus eos praecidit, at ursus gemens proripuit circum
scapham et moriens incidit in undas extremo cum gemitu.]
After a while Raven said to Cormorant, “There is a louse coming down
on the side of your head. Come here. Let me take it off.” When he came
close to him, he picked it off. Then he said, “Open your mouth so that
I can put it on your tongue.” When he did open his mouth, however,
Raven reached far back and pulled his tongue out. He did this because
he did not want Cormorant to tell about what he had done. He told
Cormorant to speak, but Cormorant made only a gabbling noise. “That is
how young fellows ought to speak,” said Raven. Then Raven towed the
dead body of the bear behind the point and carried it ashore there.
Afterwards he went to Bear’s wife and began to take out his halibut. He
said to the female bear, “My father’s sister, cut out all the stomachs
of the halibut and roast them.” So she went down on the beach to cut
them out. While she was working on the rest of the halibut, he cooked
the stomachs and filled them with hot rocks. Then he went down and said
to her, “You better come up. I have cooked all those stomachs for you.
You better wash your hands, come up, and eat.” After that Cormorant
came in and tried to tell what had happened but made only a gabbling
sound. Raven said to the bear, “Do you know what that fellow is talking
about? He is saying that there were lots of halibut out where we
fished. Every time we tried to get a canoe load they almost turned us
over.” When she was about to eat he said, “People never chew what I
get. They always swallow it whole.” Before she began she asked Raven
where her husband was, and Raven said, “Somehow or other he caught
nothing, so we landed him behind the point. He is cutting alders to
make alder hooks. He is sitting there yet.”
After the bear had swallowed all of the food she began to feel uneasy
in her stomach, and Raven said to Cormorant, “Run outside quickly and
get her some water.” Then she drank a great quantity of water, and the
things in her stomach began to boil harder and harder. Said Raven, “Run
out Cormorant.” He did so, and Raven ran after him. Then the female
bear ran about inside the house grabbing at everything and finally fell
dead. Then Raven skinned the female bear, after which he went around
the point and did the same thing to the male. While he was busy there
Cormorant came near him, but he said, “Keep away, you small Cormorant,”
and struck him on the buttocks with his hand saying, “Go out and stay
on those rocks.” Ever since then the cormorants have been there. Raven
stayed in that place until he had consumed both of the bears.
Starting on again, Raven came to a place where many people were
encamped fishing. They used nothing but fat for bait. He entered a
house and asked what they used for bait. They said “Fat.” Then he said,
“Let me see you put enough on your hooks for bait,” and he noticed
carefully how they baited and handled their hooks. The next time they
went out, he walked off behind a point and went under water to get this
bait. Now they got bites and pulled up quickly, but there was nothing
on their hooks. This continued for a long time. The next time they went
out they felt the thing again, but one man among them who knew just
how fish bite, jerked at the right moment and felt that he had caught
something. The line went around in the water very fast. They pulled
away, however, until they got Raven under the canoe, and he kicked
against it very hard. All at once his nose came off, and they pulled it
up. When they landed, they took it to the chief’s house and said, “We
have caught a wonderful thing. It must be the nose of the G̣onaqᴀdēˊt.”
So they took it, put eagle down on it, and hung it up on the wall.
After that, Raven came ashore at the place where he had been in the
habit of going down, got a lot of spruce gum and made a new nose out of
it. Then he drew a root hat down over his face and went to the town.
Beginning at the nearer end he went through the houses saying “I wonder
in what house are the people who caught that G̣onaqᴀdēˊt’s nose.” After
he had gone halfway, he entered the chief’s house and inquired, “Do you
know where are the people who caught that G̣onaqᴀdēˊt’s nose?” They
answered, “There it is on the wall.” Then he said, “Bring it here. Let
me examine it.” So they gave it to him. “This is great,” he said, and
he put up his hat to examine it. “Why,” said he, “this house is dark.
You ought to take off the smoke-hole cover. Let some one run up and
take it off so that I can see.” But, as soon as they removed it, he put
the nose in its place, cried “G̣ā,” and flew away. They did not find
out who he was.
Going thence, Raven saw a number of deer walking around on the beach,
with a great deal of fat hanging out through their noses. As he passed
one of these, he said, “Brother, you better blow your nose. Lots of
dirt is hanging out of it.” When the deer would not do this, Raven came
close to him, wiped his nose and threw the fat by his own side. Calling
out, “Just for the Raven,” he swallowed it.
Now Raven formed a certain plan. He got a small canoe and began
paddling along the beach saying, “I wonder who is able to go along
with me.” Mink came down and said, “How am I?” and Raven said, “What
with?” (i. e., What can you do?). Said Mink, “When I go to camp with my
friends, I make a bad smell in their noses. With that.” But Raven said,
“I guess not. You might make a hole in my canoe,” so he went along
farther. The various animals and birds would come down and say, “How
am I?” but he did not even listen. After some time Deer ran down to
him, saying, “How am I?” Then he answered, “Come this way, ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî,
come this way ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî.” He called him ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî because he never
got angry. Finally Raven came ashore and said to Deer, “Don’t hurt
yourself, ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî.” By and by Raven said “Not very far from here my
father has been making a canoe. Let us go there and look at it.”
Then Raven brought him to a large valley. He took very many pieces of
dried wild celery and laid them across the valley, covering them with
moss. Said Raven, “ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî, watch me, ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî, watch me.” Repeating
this over and over he went straight across on it, for he is light.
Afterwards he said to Deer, “ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî, now you come and try it. It
will not break,” and he crossed once more. “You better try it now,” he
said. “Come on over.” Deer did so, but, as he was on the way, he broke
through the bridge and smashed his head to pieces at the bottom. Then
Raven went down, walked all over him, and said to himself, “I wonder
where I better start, at the root of his tail, at the eyes, or at the
heart.” Finally he began at his anus, skinning as he went along. He ate
very fast.
When he started on from this place, he began crying, “ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî-ī-ī,
ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî-ī-ī,” and the fowls asked him, “What has become of your
friend, ᴀxkwᴀˊʟǃî?” “Some one has taken him and pounded him on the
rocks, and I have been walking around and hopping around since he died.”
By and by he came to a certain cliff and saw a door in it swing open.
He got behind a point quickly, for he knew that here lived the woman
who has charge of the falling and rising of the tide. Far out Raven
saw some kelp, and, going out to this, he climbed down on it to the
bottom of the sea and gathered up a number of small sea urchins (nīsǃ)
which were lying about there. He brought these ashore and began eating,
making a great gulping noise as he did so. Meanwhile the woman inside
of the cliff kept mocking him saying, “During what tide did he get
those things?”
While Raven was eating Mink came along, and Raven said, “Come here.
Come here.” Then he went on eating. And the woman again said, “On what
tide did you get those sea urchins you are making so much noise about?”
“That is not your business,” answered Raven. “Keep quiet or I will
stick them all over your buttocks.” Finally Raven became angry, seized
the knife he was cutting up the sea urchins with and slit up the front
of the cliff out of which she spoke. Then he ran in, knocked her down
and began sticking the spines into her buttocks. “Stop, Raven, stop,”
she cried, “the tide will begin to go down.” So he said to his servant,
Mink, “Run outside and see how far down the tide has gone.” Mink ran
out and said, “It is just beginning to go down.” The next time he came
in he said, “The tide is still farther down.” The third time he said,
“The tide is lower yet. It has uncovered everything on the beach.” Then
Raven said to the old woman, “Are you going to let the tide rise and
fall again regularly through the months and years?” She answered “Yes.”
Because Raven did this while he was making the world, nowadays, when a
woman gets old and can not do much more work, there are spots all over
her buttocks.
After the tide had gone down very far he and his servant went out. He
said to Mink, “The thing that will be your food from now on is the sea
urchin (nīsǃ). You will live on it.” The tide now goes up and down
because he treated this woman so.
Now Raven started on from this place crying, “My wife, my wifeǃ” Coming
to some trees, he saw a lot of gum on one of them and said to it, “Why!
you are just like me. You are in the same state.” For he thought the
tree was crying.
After this he got a canoe and began paddling along. By and by Petrel
met him in another canoe. So he brought his canoe alongside and said,
“Is this you, my brother-in-law? Where are you from?” He answered,
“I am from over there.” Then Raven began to question him about the
events in this world, asking him how long ago they happened, etc. He
said, “When were you born? How long have you been living?” And Petrel
answered, “I have been living ever since the great liver came up from
under the earth. I have been living that long.” So said Petrel. “Why!
that is but a few minutes ago,” said Raven. Then Petrel began to get
angry and said to Raven, “When were you born?” “I was born before this
world was known.” “That is just a little while back.”
They talked back and forth until they became very angry. Then Petrel
pushed Raven’s canoe away from him and put on his hat called fog-hat
(qog̣āˊsǃ sǃāx̣ᵘ) so that Raven could not see where he was. The world
was round for him [in the fog]. At last he shouted, “My brother-in-law,
Petrel, you are older than I am. You have lived longer than I.” Petrel
also took water from the sea and sprinkled it in the air so that it
fell through the fog as very fine rain. Said Raven, “Î, î.” He did not
like it at all. After Petrel had fooled him for some time, he took
off Fog-hat and found Raven close beside him, pulling about in all
directions. Then Raven said to Petrel, “Brother-in-law, you better let
that hat go into this world.” So he let it go. That is why we always
know, when we see fog coming out of an open space in the woods and
going right back again, that there will be good weather.
Leaving this place, Raven came to another where he saw something
floating not far from shore, though it never came any nearer. He
assembled all kinds of fowl. Toward evening he looked at the object and
saw that it resembled fire. So he told a chicken hawk (kᴀǃkᵘ) which had
a very long bill to fly out to it, saying, “Be very brave. If you get
some of that fire, do not let go of it.” The chicken hawk reached the
place, seized some fire and started back as fast as it could fly, but
by the time it got the fire to Raven its bill was burned off. That is
why its bill is short. Then Raven took some red cedar, and some white
stones called nēqǃ which are found on the beach, and he put fire into
them so that it could be found ever afterward all over the world.
After he had finished distributing the fire he started on again and
came to a town where there were many people. He saw what looked like a
large animal far off on the ocean with fowl all over the top of it. He
wondered very much what it was and at last thought of a way of finding
out. He said to one of his friends, “Go up and cut a cane for me.” Then
he carved this cane so as to resemble two tentacles of a devil fish. He
said, “No matter how far off a thing is, this cane will always reach
it.”
Afterward he went to the middle of the town and said, “I am going to
give a feast. My mother is dead, and I am going to beat the drums
this evening. I want all of the people to come in and see me.” In the
evening he assembled all of the people, and they began to beat drums.
Then he held the cane in his hands and moved it around horizontally,
testing it. He kept saying “Up, up, up.”[5] He said, “I have never
given any feast for my mother, and it is time I did it, but I have
nothing with which to give a feast. Therefore I made this cane, and I
am going to give a feast for my mother with this wonderful thing.”
Then he got the people all down on the beach and extended his cane
toward the mysterious object until it reached it. And he began to
draw it in little by little, saying to the people, “Sing stronger all
the time.”[6] When it struck land, a wave burst it open. It was an
everlasting house, containing everything that was to be in the waters
of the world. He told the people to carry up fish and they did so. If
one had a canoe, he filled it; if he had a box, he filled that; and
those that had canoes also boiled eulachon in them. Since then they
have known how to boil them. With all of these things Raven gave the
feast for his mother.
After this was over he thought up a plot against the killer whales and
sent an invitation to them. Then he told each of his people to make a
cane that would reach very much above his head. So, when the killer
whales came in and inquired, “What do the people use those canes for
that extend up over their heads?”, he replied, “They stick them down
into their heads.” They asked him several times, and he replied each
time in the same way. After a while one of the whales said, “Suppose
we try it.” Raven was glad to hear that and said, “All right, we will
try it with you people, but the people I have invited must not look
when I put a cane into anyone’s head.” Then he went away and whittled a
number of sticks until they were very sharp. After that he laid all of
the killer whales on the beach at short distances apart, and again he
told them not to look up while he was showing one how it was done. Then
he took a hammer or maul and drove his sticks into the necks of these
whales one after the other so that they died. But the last one happened
to look up, saw what was being done, and jumped into the ocean.
[7][Now Raven and another person started to boil out the killer whales’
grease, and the other man had more than he. So Raven dreamed a dream
which informed him that a lot of people were coming to fight with him,
and, when such people really did make their appearance, he told his
companion to run out. After he had done so, Raven quickly drank all the
latter’s grease. By and by, however, the man returned, threw Raven into
a grease box, and shut him in, and started to tie it up with a strong
rope. Then Raven called out, “My brother, do not tie the box up very
strongly. Tie it with a piece of straw such as our forefathers used to
use.” The man did so, after which he took the box up on a high cliff
and kicked it over. Then Raven, breaking the straw, flew out, crying
“G̣ā.” When he got to the other side of the point, he alighted and
began wiping himself.]
Next he came to a large whale blowing along out at sea, and noticed
that every time it came up, its mouth was wide open. Then Raven took
a knife and something with which to make fire. When the whale came
up again he flew into its mouth and sat down at the farther end of
its stomach. Near the place where he had entered he saw something
that looked like an old woman. It was the whale’s uvula (ᴀnūˊtǃayî).
When the whale came up, it made a big noise, the uvula went to one
side and the herring and other fish it lived on poured right in. Then
Raven began eating all these things that the whale had swallowed, and,
presently, he made a fire to cook the fat of the whale itself that hung
inside. Last of all he ate the heart. As soon as he cut out this, the
whale threw itself about in the water and soon floated up dead. Raven
felt this and said, “I wish it would float up on a good sandy beach.”
After he had wished this many times, the whale began to drift along,
and it finally floated ashore on a long sandy beach.
After a while some young fellows who were always shooting about in this
neighborhood with their bows and arrows, heard a voice on the beach
say, “I wonder who will make a hole on the top so that he can be my
friend.” The boys ran home to the town and reported, “We heard a queer
noise. Something floated ashore not far from this place, and a person
inside said, ‘I wish that somebody would make a hole above me so that
he can be my friend.’” Then the people assembled around the whale and
heard Raven’s words very clearly. They began to cut a hole just over
the place these came from and presently they heard some one inside say,
“Xōnēˊ-ē.” When the hole was large enough, Raven flew straight up out
of it until he was lost to sight. And they said to him, “Fly to any
place where you would like to go.” After that they cut the whale up and
in course of time came to the spot where Raven had lighted his fire to
make oil.
Meanwhile Raven flew back of their camp to a large dead tree that had
crumbled into fine pieces and began rubbing on it to dry himself. When
he thought that the people were through making oil, he dressed himself
up well and repaired to the town. There he said to the people, “Was
anything heard in that tcǃān (his word for whale)?” and one answered,
“Yes, a queer noise was heard inside of the whale.” “I wonder what it
was,” said Raven.
After their food was all prepared Raven said to the people, “Long ago,
when a sound was heard inside of a tcǃān, all the people moved out of
their town so as not to be killed. All who remained were destroyed. So
you better move from this town.” Then all of the people said, “All of
us better move from this town rather than be destroyed.” So they went
off leaving all of their things, and Raven promptly took possession of
them.
Raven once went to a certain place outside of here (Sitka) in his
canoe. It was calm there, but he began rocking the canoe up and down
with his feet until he had made a great many waves. Therefore there are
many waves there now even when it is calm outside, and a canoe going in
thither always gets lost.
By and by Raven came to a sea gull standing at the mouth of a creek and
said to it, “What are you sitting in this way for? How do you call your
new month?” “Yᴀdāqǃoˊł,”[8] replied the sea gull. Raven was questioning
him in this way because he saw many herring out at sea. So he said, “I
don’t believe at all what you say. Fly out and see if you can bring in
a herring.” This is why, until the present time, people have differed
in their opinions concerning the months and have disputed with one
another.
After they had quarreled over it for a long time, the gull became
angry, flew out to sea, and brought back a big herring. He lighted near
Raven and laid the herring beside him, but, when Raven tried to get
it, he gulped it down. In another direction from the sea gull Raven
saw a large heron and went over to it. He said to the heron, “Sea gull
is calling you Big-long-legs-always-walking-upon-the-beach.” Then,
although the heron did not reply, he went back to the sea gull and
said, “Do you know what that heron is saying about you? He says that
you have a big stomach and get your red eyes by sitting on the beach
always looking out on the ocean for something to eat.” Then he went
back to the heron and said to it, “When I meet a man of my own size, I
always kick him just below the stomach. That fellow is talking too much
about you. Go over, and I will help you thrash him.” So the heron went
over toward the sea gull, and, when he came close to it, Raven said,
“Kick him just under his stomach.” He did so, and the big herring came
out. Then Raven swallowed it quickly saying, “Just for the Raven.”
Going on again, Raven came to a canoe in which were some people lying
asleep along with a big salmon which he took away. When the people
awoke, they saw the trail where he had dragged it off, and they
followed him. They found him lying asleep by the fire after having
eaten the salmon. Seeing his gizzard hanging out at his buttocks, they
twisted it off, ran home with it and used it as a shinny ball; this is
why no human being now has a gizzard.
The people knew it was Raven’s gizzard, so they liked to show it
about, and they knocked it around so much that it grew large by the
accumulation of sand. But Raven did not like losing his gizzard. He was
cold without it and had to get close to the fire. When he came to the
place where they were playing with it, he said, “Let it come this way.”
No sooner had they gotten it near him, however, than they knocked it
away again. After a while it reached him, and he seized it and ran off,
with all the boys after him. As he ran he washed it in water and tried
to fit it back in place. It was too hot from much knocking about, and
he had to remove it again. He washed it again but did not get all of
the sand off. That is why the raven’s gizzard is big and looks as if it
had not been washed.
Next Raven came to a town where lived a man called Fog (or
Cloud)-on-the-Salmon (Xāˊtkᴀ-kog̣āˊsǃî). He wanted to marry this man’s
daughter because he always had plenty of salmon. He had charge of that
place. So he married her, and they dried quantities of salmon, after
which they filled many animal stomachs with salmon eggs. Then he loaded
his canoe and started home. He put all of the fish eggs into the bow.
On the way it became stormy, and they could not make much headway, so
he became tired and threw his paddles into the bow, exclaiming to his
wife, “Now you paddleǃ” Then the salmon eggs shouted out, “It is very
hard to be in stomachs. Hand the paddles here and let me pull.” So the
salmon eggs did, and, when they reached home, Raven took all of them
and dumped them overboard. But the dried salmon he carried up. That is
why people now use dried salmon and do not care much for salmon eggs.
Journeying on, Raven came to a seal sitting on the edge of a rock, and
he wanted to get it, but the seal jumped into the ocean. Then he said,
“Yâkǃōctǃᴀˊʟǃ,” because he was so sorry about it. Farther on he came to
a town and went behind it to watch. After a while a man came out, took
a little club from a certain place where he kept it in concealment, and
said to it, “My little club, do you see that seal out there? Go and
get it.” So it went out and brought the little seal ashore. The club
was hanging to its neck. Then the man took it up and said, “My little
club, you have done well,” after which he put it back in its place and
returned to the town. Raven saw where it was kept, but first he went to
the town and spoke kindly to the owner of it. In the night, however,
when every one was asleep, he went back to the club, carried it behind
a point and said to it, “See here, my little club, you see that seal
out in the water. Go and get it.” But the club would not go because it
did not know him. After he had tried to get it to go for some time, he
became angry and said to it, “Little club, don’t you see that seal out
there?” He kept striking it against a rock until he broke it in pieces.
Coming to a large bay, Raven talked to it in order to make it into Nass
(i. e., he wanted to make it just like the Nass), but, when the tide
was out great numbers of clams on the flats made so much noise shooting
up at him that his voice was drowned, and he could not succeed. He
tried to put all kinds of berries there but in vain. After many
attempts, he gave it up and went away saying, “I tried to make you into
Nass, but you would not let me. So you can be called Skᴀnᴀˊx” (the name
of a place to the southward of Sitka).
Two brothers started to cross the Stikine river, but Raven saw them and
said, “Be stones there.” So they became stones.[9]
Starting on, he came to the ground-hog people on the mainland. His
mother had died some time before this, and, as he had no provisions
with which to give a feast, he came to the ground hogs to get some.
The ground-hog people know when slides descend from the mountains, and
they know that spring is then near at hand, so they throw all of their
winter food out of their burrows. Raven wanted them to do this, so he
said, “There is going to be a world snow slide.” But the ground-hog
chief answered, “Well! nobody in this town knows about it.” Toward
spring, however, the slide really took place, and the ground hogs then
threw all of their green herbs, roots, etc., outside to him.
[Postea corvus in litus descendit cum quidam eum certiorem faceret de
quattuor mulieribus, quae essent in insula, maturitatem adipiscentes.
Deinde conatus est muliebria genitalia conficere e cortice lini
arboris, et cum adveniret mediam in viam, quae in insulam perducebat,
simile nomine eam nuncupavit; sed res male processerunt. Cortex
edidit vocem argutam at ille, ira incensus, in undas eum proiecit.
Eodem modo tentavit tabaci folia et alias res, sed inutile erat.
Postremo processit in insulam, cui nomen erat muliebribus genitalibus
(G̣ânqǃāˊtê). Eius comes vir quidem nomine Ignavus (Qǃᴀtxāˊn) erat.
Corvus autem aiebat ignavo, “Etiam si aliquid minime pavorem tibi
iniicit, percute scapham.” Mox ignavus scapham quassabat atque
exclamavit, “Iam luna adest.” Paene corvum in undas proiecit, qui,
etsi ipse hortatus cum erat ut id faceret, aegre tulit. Corvus omnia
genitalia, quae in insula erant, colligens, complevit scapham.
Disponens ea locis in aequis, praeparvit dare propter ea convivium
escis porci.]
After this he said to the people, “Make ear pendants because I am going
to invite the whole world.” He was going to invite everyone because he
had heard that the G̣onaqᴀdēˊt had a Chilkat blanket and a hat, and he
wanted to see them. First he invited the G̣onaqᴀdēˊt and afterwards the
other chiefs of all the tribes in the world. At the appointed time they
began to come in. When the G̣onaqᴀdēˊt came in he had on his hat with
many crowns and his blanket but was surrounded by a fog. Inside of the
house, however, he appeared in his true form. It is from this feast of
Raven’s that people now like to attend feasts. It is also from this
that, when a man is going to have a feast, he has a many-crowned hat
carved on top of the dead man’s grave post (kūtīˊyᴀ).
Raven made a woman under the earth to have charge of the rise and fall
of the tides.[10] One time he wanted to learn about everything under
the ocean and had this woman raise the water so that he could go there.
He had it rise very slowly so that the people had time to load their
canoes and get into them. When the tide had lifted them up between the
mountains they could see bears and other wild animals walking around
on the still unsubmerged tops. Many of the bears swam out to them, and
at that time those who had their dogs had good protection. Some people
walled the tops of the mountains about and tied their canoes inside.
They could not take much wood up with them. Sometimes hunters see the
rocks they piled up there, and at such times it begins to grow foggy.
That was a very dangerous time. The people who survived could see trees
swept up roots and all by the rush of waters, and large devilfish and
other creatures were carried up by it.
When the tide began to fall, all the people followed it down, but the
trees were gone and they had nothing to use as firewood, so they were
destroyed by the cold. When Raven came back from under the earth, if
he saw a fish left on top of a mountain or in a creek, he said, “Stay
right there and become a stone.” So it became a stone. If he saw any
person coming down, he would say, “Turn to a stone just where you are,”
and it did so.
After that the sea went down so far that it was dry everywhere. Then
Raven went about picking up the smallest fish, as bull heads and tom
cod, which he strung on a stick, while a friend who was with him at
this time, named Cᴀkǃᴀˊkᵘ,[11] took large creatures like whales. With
the grease he boiled out, Cᴀkǃᴀˊkᵘ filled an entire house, while Raven
filled only a small bladder.