uncle’s wife thought a great deal of him, while his uncle seemed to do
so too. One day, however, he saw his wife talking to the boy and again
determined to kill him. Then he put something sharp pointed on the
ground, took the nephew up to the top of a very high tree and crawled
up after him. The boy, who knew what was going to happen, began singing
and turning his bracelet round slowly at the same time. Just as he had
turned it for the fourth time his uncle reached him and pushed him
over. When he landed upon the ground, however, there was nothing to be
seen but a ball of eagle down.
His uncle saw this, and, feeling that he could not kill his nephew,
treated him well for a very long time, but watched him closely. His
wife said to the boy, “Your uncle is thinking a great deal because he
can’t kill you.” But all that the boy would answer every time she said
this was, “Only a ball of eagle down.” She did not know what he meant.
One day the uncle thought that he would deceive his wife and nephew, so
he told the latter that he was going back into the woods and started
off. Instead of going away, however, he went back of the house, looked
through a hole at them and listened. Then the boy came to his wife and
sat down close to her, and she said, “Let us run away. I am afraid of
your uncle.” He answered that he would if he could get a canoe, and she
told him of a place where there was a canoe, some distance from the
town. Then the uncle came right in and wanted to kill his wife on the
spot but was so fond of her that he could not. The boy sat perfectly
still, moving his bracelet.
That night the uncle treated his nephew very kindly and began telling
him all kinds of stories, until at last the boy fell asleep. This was
just what he wanted. Then he tied the boy to a board, thinking, “I am
going to get rid of him this time. The feathers will get wet, and he
will be drowned.” So he took him quite a distance out to sea and set
him adrift there. It was very stormy.
The boy, however, floated along for some time and finally came ashore
in safety on a nice sandy beach. The tide was very low. Then he heard
the laughter of some girls who were out digging clams. There were
three of them, and they were sisters. Now the eldest of the girls saw
something moving on the beach and went thither, thinking it was some
dying animal. Instead she saw a handsome youth, who looked right up
at her but said nothing. Said she, “What has happened to you?” But he
would not speak. She called to her sisters, and they ran up. Then the
second sister immediately fell in love with him, but the youngest had
nothing to say. The eldest had formerly been in love with the youth
that was first destroyed, so she said to her second sister, “How much
like my dead lover he looks.” She saw him smile because he knew her,
but he did not know the others, and immediately the eldest began to
cry, saying that that was her lover’s smile only that he was a larger
man. Then the second sister laughed, saying that she was going to untie
him and have him for her husband. The youngest, however, said, “Well!
you two can have him, for I am not going to have a man that can not
talk.” “If he comes out all right after we have untied him,” said the
eldest, “we will both be his wives.” So, the two older girls untied him
and started to raise his head while the youngest ran off to dig clams.
They asked him if he could talk, and he said, “Yes.” As he walked
between the girls, one of them said, “You shall go to my father’s house
with me.” At the time they untied him the eagles were gathering around
to devour him.
Then they took him into their father’s house and their father said,
“Who is that fellow?” “We found him,” said the second, “and we are
going to marry him.” This one was very quick to speak, while the eldest
was slow and quiet. Their father consented, and he married both of the
girls. Then the eldest spoke to her father of how much he resembled her
dead lover, although the boy had not told anything about himself.
Those girls used to go off to hunt and spear salmon just like boys, so
the younger said next morning, “I am going out to spear salmon.” She
brought a salmon home. The day following both girls asked him to go
with them, and he did so. They tried to teach him how to hunt, for he
belonged to such a very high family that he had never learned.
On the way the younger wife acted sulkily toward her elder sister
because she would never leave their husband’s side. So she started
off alone, and her husband was afraid she would go away for good, for
he liked her very much on account of her liveliness. In the evening,
however, she came back with a salmon and said to her sister, “You can
live on love. You stick by your husband and do not go to get anything
to eat.” Then their husband carried the salmon back, and his elder
wife came home slowly. The younger sister cooked the salmon and put it
between herself and her husband. He pulled it along toward his elder
wife, but the other said, “She shall not have any. She is going to
live on love.” Then her husband said that if she would let her sister
have some salmon he would go out and try to get another himself. It
was early in the spring and the salmon were scarce. The younger wife
now felt jealous of her sister because she thought that their husband
thought more of her than of herself, though really the reverse was the
case. He pitied the elder, however, because she had done so much for
him.
When the young man saw that his younger wife was angry toward the
elder, however, he determined to leave them for a time. The younger did
not want to let him go, and begged him hard to remain, but the elder
said nothing, for he had told her his reasons. Finally he told his
younger wife that she must let him go but that he would come back. He
said that she must treat her elder sister well because his cousin (lit.
“elder brother”) had been in love with her. When she asked him what
cousin he meant, he explained that his elder brother had died quite a
while ago and that this girl had been in love with him. After that she
let him set out.
At this time he thought that he would kill his uncle, so he paddled
thither. His uncle saw him, knew what he had come for, and was
frightened. Then the young man went to his uncle’s house, spent the
evening and started away again. About midnight, however, he returned
and told his uncle that he had come to kill him because he had murdered
his brothers and made him himself suffer. Although his uncle begged
hard to be spared, he killed him, and, after telling his uncle’s wife
that he had killed her husband and why he had done so, he returned to
his wives.
FOOTNOTES:
[116] This is expressed in a rather unusual manner, and may have been
modified perhaps by white influences, but the main plot is entirely
native.
53. THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE EAGLE
This is a story of something that happened among the Haida. It is
about a young man there who married a very fine-looking girl. This
girl deceived her husband and went with the son of the town chief, but
her husband found it out and killed him. Since the dead man belonged
to such high-caste people, the girl’s husband was afraid and told
his slave to take him off in his canoe. Before the relatives of the
murdered man found it out and had started in pursuit, he had gotten
some distance away. He and his slave paddled very hard and got way out
into the ocean, and, when at last the man looked up, he found that he
was close to a large rock very far out. Then he jumped ashore, and,
seeing that there were very many seals there, he began clubbing them
forgetful of the fact that he was a fugitive. At last, when he did
look up, he found that his slave had deserted him and was now a long
distance off.
The man camped on the rock that night and next morning studied very
hard what he should do. At last he fixed upon a plan which he proceeded
to carry out. Taking the largest seal he had killed, he skinned it very
carefully so as not to cut through the hide anywhere. Late that night
he got inside, tied the skin together over himself very tightly so that
no water could come in, and set himself adrift. Then he floated along
on the ocean, and at times he felt that he was bumping against rocks,
but he kept quiet and after he had gone for a long time he felt himself
drift ashore upon a beach.
Next morning very early, as he lay there, the man heard an eagle cry
and knew that it was flying toward him. Finally it lighted right on
top of the seal. The eagle seemed to notice, however, that this seal
sounded empty, and instead of trying to eat it, sat still there. By
and by the man took out his knife, cut through the skin right where
the eagle sat and seized its legs. Then he looked up at it through the
hole, and lo! instead of an eagle there was a girl. Then the girl said
to him, “Come up to my father’s house with me.” He agreed, and, when
she had taken him up, he saw a fine house over every bed in which hung
an eagle skin.
After that the young man took the girl for his wife. At that time
one of his brothers-in-law stood up and gave him an eagle-skin coat,
saying, “I have given you a coat as a present. With this coat you can
catch cod easily.” Another brother-in-law got up and said, “I also
give you a coat. With this coat you can easily catch salmon.” Another
got up and said, “I also give you a coat. With this coat you can catch
halibut.” Another got up and said, “I, too, will give you a coat. With
this coat you can catch seal. Always sit on a tree top and look down
at the water. Then the seal will look to you like a very small fish.
It feels like a small fish when you catch it in this coat.” So, all in
the house presented him with different coats. The last of them was a
young black eagle which said, “I give you this coat, and with this coat
you can catch a sea lion.” Then the older eagles made fun of his gift,
saying, “With that young skin you need not think you can catch even the
smallest trout.”
Meanwhile the people in the town this boy had come from had sent his
mother, who was a very old woman, away from the village to starve. He
was at that time very near where she was living, but he did not know it.
After this the young man put on the coat he had received first, went
out in it and caught a cod which he gave to his wife. He put the next
coat on and caught a salmon. When he looked down upon this it appeared
to be very small, and it felt very light while he was carrying it, but
when he got it home it was a very large fish. With the next coat he
caught a very big halibut, and with the next a seal. This seemed very
light to him, but, when he got it home to his father-in-law and his
brothers-in-law, he was surprised at its size. Lastly, he put on the
black eagle skin. He went out and watched, and after a while he saw a
sea lion a long distance out. He went after it and brought it ashore
easily, but, after he had taken it to his father-in-law, he wondered
how he had carried it.
By and by the man felt that his mother was suffering somewhere, and,
going along the beach, he found her living in a little house made of
branches. He asked her what the matter was, and she told him. Then he
said to his mother, “In the morning you will hear some sea gulls. As
soon as that happens, get up and go along the beach. You will find a
large salmon.” The woman did so. In the morning she got up and looked
and a very large salmon lay there. She had to cut it up and carry it to
her brush house in pieces. In the evening her son went to her again and
said, “To-morrow I will get a seal for you. Look for it very early.” So
she awoke very early, found a large seal, and took up its meat.
After that her son went to her again and told her that he had been
captured by the eagles and was living very comfortably among them. He
said that he had a wife who was very good to him and told her not to
worry for he would always look after her. Then he said, “Early next
morning go and look again. I will try to get you a sea lion.” She did
so, and found a very large sea lion upon the beach. She took off the
skin, dried it, preserved the oil, and dried the meat.
Now the man went to his mother once more and said to her, “Next morning
I will get a whale and leave it down here on the beach. Don’t touch it.
A canoe will come from our village and find it. While they are cutting
up the whale don’t go down to them.” It happened just as he had said,
and when this canoe had carried back the news everybody came down from
the village to cut it up.
As the old woman did not go down to look while they were cutting
up this whale, some one said, “Run up to see the old woman.” When
they came there, they found her in a very large brush house in which
salmon, seal, and sea-lion meat were drying. They were surprised to
see how much food she had when they themselves had barely enough. Then
everybody ran up to look at her. They had stripped the whale down,
but had not taken off the pieces. When they left her house to go down
again, the old woman came out and the eagle, which had sat on top of a
tree watching, said to her, “Get away. Get away.” After that one of the
men took a rock and hit her in the face with it.
When the eagle saw what was done to his mother he flew down, seized
the town chief by the top of the head and flew up with him. Then he
came down again far enough for a person to seize the town chief’s legs
and flew round and round the whale. By and by another man caught hold
of the chief and was unable to let go. The eagle flew around a little
higher up until another seized the second man, and so he continued to
do until he had carried up all of the men. Meanwhile the women were in
a great hurry to cut the whale, but the old woman poked it, telling it
to go out, and it went away from them right out to sea. Meanwhile the
eagle rose higher and higher into the air and flew far out over the
ocean, where it dropped all of the men of that place and drowned them.
54. THE BRANT WIFE[117]
A man at G̣onāˊxo in the Łaxaỵîˊk (or Yakutat) country married a brant
woman (qên). One day in spring this woman said to her husband, “Let us
go outside and watch the flocks of geese passing. My father’s canoe
will soon be coming along.” Then they went out and saw a flock of brant
coming. The brant seemed to stop over the woman a little while, and she
called to them saying, “Have you anything for me?” Immediately some
dried tsǃēt fell upon her lap.
Next day she again said to her husband, “I am sure that my father’s
canoe will come along to-day. Let us go outside and sit there.” So they
did. Then they saw the largest flock of brant they had yet observed,
and the woman jumped up, saying, “There is my father’s canoe coming
along.” When the flock got over the place where they were sitting, one
of them made a great noise directly overhead, and her husband thought
that must be his wife’s father. His wife also began making the brant
noise in return, so that her husband became very much frightened. As
soon as she had finished she flew up among the brant people.
Now her husband started off under the flock, and ran for a very long
time until he was thoroughly tired out. Seeing that he was now so far
behind that she could barely see him, his wife said to her father,
“Father, let us camp here.” So her father had them encamp there on a
flat place, and her husband saw it from a high hill. When he came up
with them, he stood around on the flats and would not go near. By and
by a man came out to him and said, “You better come in. We have a place
prepared for you.” So he went in, and found his wife sitting on a mat
in the house with room enough for him beside her. The brants looked to
him just like human beings. Then they cooked for them, and afterward
left the place, taking him with them. When they reached the place where
they were to stay all summer, he saw that they worked very hard to get
food in order to take it back.
Some time afterward the sand-hill cranes (dūł) and the geese (tǃāwᴀˊk)
made war on the brants and killed off many of the latter. At first the
man stood and watched them without taking part, and at last his wife’s
father, who was chief of the brants, said to his daughter, “Daughter,
why is it that your husband will not help us? Doesn’t he see that my
people have all been killed? Ask him to help me.” Then the man made
war aprons, coats, and hats for the brants and for himself, and he
made himself a club. He killed great numbers of sand-hill cranes and
geese, while none of the brants were destroyed. After he had killed
enough of the enemy to make up for the brants that had been destroyed,
his father-in-law told his daughter to say to him that he had killed
enough. “If he kills any more,” he said, “they will want to kill more
of my people.” So all stopped fighting, and they recommenced collecting
food for the return journey. The girl’s father felt very good toward
his son-in-law for saving their lives.
When fall came and the brants were ready to start back their chief
said, “We will not go back the same way we came. We must go another
way.” Then they started. It seemed to the man that they were going in
canoes instead of flying. Late the first evening the chief said, “Now
we will camp out here.” The place that he referred to was a large rock
far out at sea, and they camped upon it. After they had eaten all went
to sleep.
Next morning, however, although the man awoke early, he found himself
lying out on the rock alone. Then he was very sad, and did not know
what he should do. He thought, “How am I to get home from here without
any canoe?” He remained out upon that rock for a long time and thought
that he should never see his friends again. He remained there, in fact,
all winter, living on food that the brants had left him. When spring
came he was more anxious than ever to get home, so much so that he did
not care to eat anything and went for several days without nourishment.
One morning he said to himself, “What is the use of getting up?” And
he lay down again with his blankets over his head. After some time had
passed, he heard something say to him very loudly, “Why are you lying
here? What are you doing out here on this rock?” He threw his blanket
off and looked around but saw nothing except a bird called gusǃyadūˊłî
sitting near by. He lay down again, and again he heard the voice. He
heard it for the third time. Every time the bird was sitting in the
same place. When he again lay down he thought he must be crazy, but on
keeping a lookout he saw the gusǃyadūˊłî run up toward him very fast,
so he said to it quietly, “I have seen you.” Then the bird replied, “I
have come to bring you luck. Get on my back and keep your face buried
in the feathers on the back of my neck.” When he had done this, the
bird started to fly off with him. It said, “Don’t look up. I do not
want you to look up.” The farther it went the more it repeated this
warning, so he tried hard to keep his face concealed. Finally the bird
stopped, and he wondered where they were. “You can open your eyes now,”
said the bird, and when he did so he saw that they were on a big pile
of seaweed drifting around far out at sea. Then the bird told him to
close his eyes again, and by the time it stopped with him once more
he was very tired. Then the bird said again, “Now open your eyes.” He
opened his eyes and recognized the place well as being close to his own
village.
FOOTNOTES:
[117] See story 24.
55. THE DUCK HELPER
All the people in a village called Tāˊsna, “just south of the mouth of
the Yukon,” once died of smallpox with the exception of one woman and
her son. The boy was just old enough to realize what had happened. His
mother kept weeping day after day, and it so distressed her son that
he went off hunting with bow and arrows and did not return until he
thought she was through.
One day he went farther than he realized and on turning about was
puzzled to know where the village lay. He walked for a long time in
different directions trying to find it but in vain. He was lost and
had to camp that night. Next morning he began looking again, and he
looked all day with no better success. On the third morning, after he
had looked about until he was very tired, he caught sight of water
through the trees and, thinking it was the ocean, ran quickly toward
it. When he came up to it, however, he found it was only a lake. He
remained there for some time, living on roots, and afterward continued
his journey. Again he traveled all day and on the following morning he
again saw water through the woods. Now he felt happy once more, but
when he came down to it and looked around, lo! it was the same lake he
had left.
By this time the boy was too tired to walk any more, so he thought,
“Well! I might as well stay right here.” He covered himself up with
moss and went to sleep. Suddenly, however, he was awakened by a voice
saying, “Who is this boy?” He looked around but saw no one. He was
entirely alone. Then he fell asleep again, and again something said,
“Who is this boy?” He thought that he was dreaming, for, when he looked
around, he saw only a black duck far out on the water.
After this the boy said to himself, “Now I am going to sit up and
watch.” So he seated himself against a large bush and, although he
became so sleepy there that his eyes kept closing, he would open them
resolutely and keep on the watch. Finally he got up and went behind the
bush. While his eyes were closed, the boy heard the same voice again,
but he was not quite asleep, so he opened them quickly and saw the
black duck (gāx̣ᵘ) on the beach. Immediately it turned into a man, who
stood looking at him. “What are you doing here?” said the man. Then
the boy told him how he had gotten lost. “All of our village people
died, and my mother cried so that I wanted to get away from her, so I
traveled in the woods alone and became lost. Since that day I have not
been home to see my mother.” Then the man took off his coat, gave it
to the boy, and said, “Put on this coat. As soon as you have done so,
stretch out your arms and keep going like that. Don’t think of me and
don’t think of this lake. Think of your uncle’s house.”
The boy did as he had been told, and it seemed to him that he was
flying along very rapidly far above the trees. For a long time he
thought of nothing else than his uncle’s house and his uncle’s village,
but at length he remembered the lake and lo! he was there once more
with the man standing before him in the same place. Then the man said,
“Didn’t I tell you not to think of me or the lake? Start over again.
Think of nothing but your uncle’s house and the village you are bound
for.” So this time the boy tried very hard, and all at once he came out
back of his uncle’s house, where his mother was waiting and calling for
him. When she recognized him she was very happy.
56. THE BOY WHO SHOT THE STAR
Two very high-caste boys were chums. The father of one was town chief
and had his house in the middle of the village, but the house of the
other boy’s father stood at one end. These boys would go alternately
to each other’s houses and make great quantities of arrows which they
would play with until all were broken up.
One time both of the boys made a great quantity of arrows to see
which could have the more. Just back of their village was a hill on
the top of which was a smooth grassy place claimed by the boys as
their playground, and on a certain fine, moonlight night they started
thither. As they were going along the lesser chief’s son, who was
ahead, said, “Look here, friend. Look at that moon. Don’t you think
that the shape of that moon is the same as that of my mother’s labret
and that the size is the same, too?” The other answered, “Don’t. You
must not talk that way of the moon.” Then suddenly it became very dark
about them and presently the head chief’s son saw a ring about them
just like a rainbow. When it disappeared his companion was gone. He
called and called to him but did not get any answer and did not see
him. He thought, “He must have run up the hill to get away from that
rainbow.” He looked up and saw the moon in the sky. Then he climbed the
hill, and looked about, but his friend was not there. Now he thought,
“Well! the moon must have gone up with him. That circular rainbow must
have been the moon.”
The boy thus left alone sat down and cried, after which he began to
try the bows. He put strings on them one after the other and tried
them, but every one broke. He broke all of his own bows and all of his
chum’s except one which was made of very hard wood. He thought, “Now
I am going to shoot that star next to the moon.” In that spot was a
large and very bright one. He shot an arrow at this star and sat down
to watch, when, sure enough, the star darkened. Now he began shooting
at that star from the big piles of arrows he and his chum had made, and
he was encouraged by seeing that the arrows did not come back. After
he had shot for some time he saw something hanging down very near him,
and, when he shot up another arrow, it stuck to this. The next did
likewise, and at last the chain of arrows reached him. He put a last
one on to complete it.