Raven finished this. He then traveled northward. After he had traveled
for a while he came to where a village lay. He then put himself in the
form of a conifer needle into a water hole behind the chief’s house and
floated about there awaiting the chief’s daughter.
The chief’s child then went thither for water, and he floated in the
water that she dipped up. She threw this out and dipped a second time,
but he was still there. And when close to her he said: “Drink it.”
Not a long time after that she became pregnant. Then she gave birth [to
a child], and its grandfather washed the child all over and put his
feet to its feet. It began to creep about. After it had crept about for
a while it cried so violently that no one could stop it. “Boo hoo,
moon,” it kept saying. After it had tired them out with its crying they
stopped up the smoke hole, and, having pulled one box out of another
four times, they gave it a round thing. There came light throughout the
house. After it had played with this for a while it let it go and again
started to cry. “Boo hoo, smoke hole,” it cried. They then opened the
smoke hole, and it cried again and said: “Boo hoo, more.” And they made
the space larger. Then he flew away with it. Marten [193] pursued him
below. Tā′ʟᴀtg̣ā′dᴀla, [194] too, chased him above. They gave it up and
returned.
He then put the moon into his armpit. And, after he had traveled about
for a while, he came to where Sea-gull and Cormorant sat. He made them
quarrel with each other. And he said to Cormorant: “People tell me to
brace myself on the ground with my tongue this way [when fighting].” He
then did it, and [Raven] went quickly to him. He bit off his tongue.
Then he made it into an eulachon. And he put on his cape and rubbed
this all over it, and he rubbed it on the inside of the canoe as well.
Then he also put rocks in and went in front of Qadadjâ′n. [195] And he
entered his house. “Hī, I, too, have become cold.” Qadadjâ′n was lying
with his back to the fire and, looking toward him, saw his canoe,
covered with slime, lying on the water as if full. He then became angry
and pulled the screen down toward the fire. Eulachon immediately poured
forth. He then threw the stones out of the canoe and put them into it.
When it was full, he went off with them.
After he had distributed the eulachon along the mainland in the places
where they now are and had put some in Nass inlet, he left a few in the
canoe.
He then placed ten paddles under these, of which the bottom one had a
knot hole running through it. And he shouted landward to where a
certain person lived. She then brought out a basket [196] on her back,
and he said to her: “Help yourself, chieftainess.” After she had put
them into [the basket] a while, and her basket was nearly full, he
stepped upon a stalk of łqeā′ma [197] which he had provided and said:
“Ā-ā-ā, I feel my canoe cracking.” He then pushed it from the land, and
when she stretched out her arm for more [eulachon] he pulled out the
hairs under her armpit.
Fern-woman (Snᴀndjā′ñ-djat) at once called for her sons. Both her sons
knew how to throw objects by means of a stick, they say. [198] He
immediately fled. And one of them shot at him and broke his paddle. And
after they had broken ten he paddled with the one that had a knot hole.
When they shot after him again he said “Through the knot hole,” and
through the knot hole went the stone. Thus he was saved. He had
dexterously got her armpit hair.
He then left the canoe. He came to a shore opposite some people who
were fishing with fish rakes in Nass. And he said: “Hallo, throw one
over to me. I will give you light.” But they said: “Hᴀ hā′-ā-ā, he who
is speaking is the one who is always playing tricks.” He then let a
small part shine and put it away again. They forthwith emptied their
canoe in front of him several times.
He then called a dog and said to it: “Shall I make (or ordain) four
moons?” The dog said that would not do. The dog wanted six. He (Raven)
then said to him: “What will you do when it is spring?” “When I am
hungry I will move my feet in front of my face.” And he made it as he
(the dog) told him to do, they say.
He then bit off a part of the moon. After he had chewed it for a while
he threw it up [into the sky]. “Future people are going to see you
there in fragments forever.” He then broke the moon into halves by
throwing it down hard and threw [half of] it up hard into the air, the
sun as well.
Thence he traveled northward. The smoke of House-point was near him. He
then pulled off his hair ribbon and threw one end of it over here. He
at once ran across on it. And he walked about the town, peering in
[through the cracks]. The wife of the town chief of House-point had
given birth to a child. And he waited until evening. Then, at the time
when they went to bed, he entered [the child’s] skin and himself became
newly born.
Every morning they washed him, and his father held him on his knee.
After a while his aunt came down to the fire. They handed him to his
aunt. After she had held him for a while he pinched her teats.
“Ha′oia,” she said. “Why do you say that, ʟ̣a?” [199] “Why, he nearly
fell from me.” The town chief was named “Hole-in-his-fin,” and his
nephew was named “Fin-turned-back.”
After a while he thought: “I wish the village children would go
picnicking.” And on the next day the children of the town went
picnicking. They brought along all sorts of good food. And his aunt
brought him to the same place. When they had played for a while they
went away. After they had all gone his aunt sat there alone. He looked
about, entered his own skin quickly, and seized his aunt. And his aunt
said: “Do not take hold of me. I am single because your father is going
to eat my gifts.” [200]
Then, as soon as she started off, he became a baby again. His aunt was
crying and as she went had it on her mind to tell what had happened. He
wished his aunt would forget it when she went in. And she went in.
After her brother had looked at her a while he asked: “What is the
cause of those tear marks?” “Why, I discovered him eating sand. That is
why I am crying.”
He then started along by the sea and, having punched holes in the
shells brought up by the tide, he made two dancing rattles. And he ran
toward the woods. He took grave mats, frayed out the ends, and fastened
shells upon these. He made them into a dancing skirt. And he said to
the ghost: “Are you awake?” It got up for him, and he tied the dancing
skirt upon it. He also put the rattle into its hand. And he said to it:
“Walk in front of the town. When you reach the middle wave the rattle
in front of you toward the houses. A deep sleep will fall then upon
them.”
Now it began to dance, they say. When it waved the rattle toward the
town, just as he had told it to do, they began to mumble in their
sleep. They had nightmares. He then went into the first house and,
roughly pulling out a good-looking woman, lay there with her. And he
entered the next one. There, too, he lay with somebody. As he went
along doing this he entered his father’s house, went to where his aunt
slept, and lay with her.
And a certain old woman living in the house corner did not have a
nightmare. She had been observing the chief’s son in the cradle come
out of himself. Then he went out again. After he had been away for a
while he came in and lay down to sleep in the cradle. He made the ghost
lie down again.
The town people told one another in whispers that he had lain with his
aunt, and his mother, Flood-tide-woman, as well. This went on for a
while; then, all at once, there was an outbreak. Then they drove
Flood-tide-woman away with abusive language. Her boy, too, they drove
off with her with abusive words. She was the sister of Great-breakers,
[201] belonging to the Strait people, they say.
And they came along in this direction (i.e., toward Skidegate). After
they had come along for a while they found a young sea otter opposite
the trail that runs across Rose Spit (G̣o′łgustᴀ). His mother then
skinned it and sewed it together. Now she stretched it and, having
scraped it, laid it out to dry. When it was dried she made it into a
blanket for her son. He was Nᴀñkî′lsʟ̣as-łiña′-i, [202] they say.
And after they had traveled for a while she stood with her child in
front of her brother’s house. By and by somebody put his head out. “Ah,
Flood-tide-woman stands without.” “N-n-n, she has done as she always
does (i.e., been unfaithful to her husband), and for that reason comes
back again,” said her brother. And again he spoke: “With her is a boy.
Come, come, come, let her in.”
Then she came in with her son. And her brother’s wife gave them
something to eat. By and by he asked of her: “Flood-tide-woman, what
are you going to name the child?” And she moved her hand over the back
of her head. She scratched it [in embarrassment]. “Why, I am going to
name your nephew Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łiña′-i.” As she spoke she held back her
words hesitatingly. “I tell you, name him differently, lest the
supernatural beings who are afraid to think of him (the bearer of that
name) hear that a common child is so called.”
While she was staying with her brother her child walked about. He
banged the swinging door roughly. “Flood-tide-woman, stop that child
from continually opening the door in that way.” “Why, chief, I never
can stop him.” “Just hear what she says. What a common child is
continually doing the supernatural beings ever fear to do.” On another
day, while Great-breakers was lying down, he banged the door again. He
said to the mother: “Flood-tide-woman, a common child is doing the same
thing again. Try to stop him.” “Why, chief, I can never stop your slave
nephew.”
And where he was sitting with his mother by the fire, on the side
toward the door, right there he defecated. And his uncle’s wife made a
pooping sound at him. “I shall indeed go with that husband’s nephew,”
he heard his uncle’s wife say. [203]
On the next day, very, very early in the morning, he started off. After
he had gone along for some time he came to some persons who burst into
singing sweet songs and danced. They then asked him: “Tell us, what are
you doing hereabout?” “I am gathering woman’s medicine.” “Well, what do
you call woman’s medicine? Is woman’s medicine each other’s medicine?”
“Yes; it is each other’s medicine.” Those women chewed gum as they
sang. Then one of these gave him a piece. “This is woman’s medicine.”
And one of them gave him directions: “Now, when you enter the house,
pass round to the right. Chew the gum as you go in. And when your
uncle’s wife asks it of you, by no means give it to her. Ask of her the
thing her husband owns. When it is in your hands give the gum to her.”
And he went away from the singers. When he entered the gum stuck out
red from his mouth. Then his uncle’s wife said to him: “I say,
Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i, come, give me the gum.” He paid no attention to
her. He then sat down beside his mother, and to his mother he said:
“Tell her to give me the thing my uncle owns. I will then give her the
gum.” Then his mother went to her. She told it her. And to her she gave
something white and round. He then handed her the gum. While his
uncle’s wife chewed it and swallowed the juice he saw that her mind was
changed.
Some time after that his fathers [204] went by on the sea. And he said
to a dog sitting near the door: “Nᴀñki′lsʟas-łîña′-i says he desires
the place where his fathers now are to dry up and leave them.” And
immediately it went out and said so. The tide left them high and dry,
and they were in great numbers. They made a scraping sound in their
efforts to move. He then said to his mother: “I say, go and pour water
upon my fathers.” She then went down to them, and she did not look upon
her husband. She poured it only upon Fin-turned-back. And he went to
his mother and told her to pour water upon his father. She acted as if
she did not hear his voice. They were going to the supernatural beings
of Da′osgên [205] to buy a whale, they say.
Then he came in and said to the dog again: “Go and say,
‘Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i says he desires the tide to come in to his
parents.’” He then went out quickly and said it. X̣ū-ū-ū-ū-ū (noise of
the waves coming in), and they at once were moving along far off on the
water.
And, after they had been gone a while, they returned to that place. And
again he said to the dog: “Go and say, ‘Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i says he
wishes his parents to leave something for him.’” He then went out
quickly and said so. Something black was sent to one end of the town.
He went thither. A whale floated there.
After he had made a house of hemlock boughs he shot all kinds of birds
there. By and by a bufflehead came and ate of the whale. He then wanted
it. And he aimed just above the top of its head. When it flew it struck
its head. He then skinned it and entered [the skin]. And he wished for
a heavy swell, and it became rough, and he walked toward the water. And
when a wave came toward him he quickly dived under it. After he had
done the same thing repeatedly he flopped up from the water, took the
skin off, and dried it in his branch house. He thus came to own it,
they say. He kept it in the fork of a tree.
After he had shot there all kinds of birds something blue and slender
came and ate of it. It flew down from above. It ate sitting upon it. He
then shot it. He shot [only] through its wings. He (Raven) was sad. And
on the next day, early in the morning, he entered his branch house.
After he had sat there for a while it again came down from above,
making a noise as it came. And after it stood upon it and had begun to
eat he shot it. The arrow again passed quickly through its wings. His
mind was sad.
And on the next day, very early in the morning, he again went into the
branch house. It came by and by and ate. And he now shot over it. As it
started to fly it was struck in the head. He then went down to get it.
He brought it into the branch house.
When he had skinned it, he entered it. He then flew up. After he had
flown for a while he turned quickly and came down. He then ran his beak
into a rocky point at the end of the town. At the same time he cried
out: “G̣ao” (Raven’s croak). Though the rock was strong, he split it by
his voice. After he had dried it in the branch house he put it where he
kept the bufflehead.
He then started off, they say. He went in and sat down by the side of
his mother. By and by his aunt said to her husband: “Why do you remain
seated so long? Go and hunt,” she said to him. And they brought out a
war spear and a box of arrows, and they put pitch on [the cord wound
round the arrow point] for him. And at midnight he went off in a canoe,
and his place was vacant in the morning.
He (Raven) then went out and stood up out of himself (i.e., changed
himself). He put on two sky blankets and painted his face. And, as soon
as he entered, his uncle’s wife turned her head. He went around behind
the screens. And, after some time had passed, it thundered on the
underground side of the island.
And her husband came back and asked his wife: “My child’s mother, what
noise was that, sounding like the one that is heard when I go to bed
with you?” And she laughed and said: “Why, I guess I am the same with
Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i, your nephew.”
On the next day, early in the morning, Great-breakers sat in the place
where the fire was. On the top of the chief’s hat (dadjî′ñ skîl) that
he wore a round fleck of foam swirled rapidly. Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i
began to look around. And he went out, got his two skins, put on his
two sky blankets, and came in. His uncle had his hair tied in two
braids. Something on his head began turning around very rapidly.
Then a strong current of sea water poured from the corner of the house.
And he put his mother in his armpit, quickly entered his bufflehead
skin, and swam about in the current. He dived many times and again swam
about. And when the sea water came up to the roof of the house he
floated out with it through the smoke hole.
He then quickly entered the raven’s skin. He at once flew up. He then
ran his beak into the sky. And his tail was afloat on the water. Then
he kicked against the water. “Enough. You, too, belong to me.” There it
stopped (lit., “came to a point”). It began to melt downward.
And he looked down. The smoke of his uncle’s house looked pleasing. He
then became angry with him, at the sight, and started to fly down.
After he had flown for a while he ran his beak into it from above,
crying as he did so, “G̣ao.” “Oh, you shall own the title of
Chief-of-chiefs (Kî′lsʟekun)” [said his uncle].
He then became what he had been before. He entered with his mother.
From that time he often set out to hunt birds. When he came in one day
he said to his mother: “Mother, Qî′ñgi [206] says he is coming to adopt
me.” And his uncle said to her: “Qꜝā′la īdjā′xᴀn, [207]
Flood-tide-woman, stop that child from talking. We are, indeed, fit to
be adopted.”
After this had happened many times they saw something wonderful, they
say. People came dancing on ten canoes. He then went out, put on two
sky blankets, and walked around on the retaining planks. Said his
uncle: “What he brought on by his talking has happened. I wonder how we
are going to supply people and food.”
And, after he had walked about for a while, he kicked upon the ground
in the front part of the house on the right side. There the ground
cracked open. Out of it one threw up a drum from his shoulder. They
came pouring out. He went to the other side as well. There he also
kicked. “Earth, even, become people” [he said]. Thence, too, one threw
up a drum from his shoulder. And he did the same thing to the ground in
one of the rear corners. Out of that, too, some one threw up a drum
from his shoulder. He did as before on the other side. And they danced
in four lines toward the beach. Out of his uncle’s house Tsimshian,
Haida, Kwakiutl, Tlingit [came] singing different songs. [208] Yet his
uncle said [sarcastically]: “We shall indeed have lots to eat.” They
sat down in lines, and around the door was a crowd to serve the food.
Then Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i said: “Now go to my sister Sî′ndjugwañ to get
food for me.” [209] And a crowd of young men went to get it. They came
back with silver salmon and cranberries. And [he said]: “Go to
Yał-kīñā′ñg̣o, [210] too, to beg some for me.” Her house was also full
of silver salmon, cranberries, and sockeye salmon. They also brought
some from the woman at the head of Skidegate creek, [211] and they
brought some from the woman at the head of Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o creek. It mounted
up level with the roof. The distribution of food was still going on
when daylight came. On the next day, too, and on the next day [it went
on]. At the end of ten days they went off in a crowd. These [days] were
ten winters, they say.
And he went off with his father Qî′ñgi. Soon after they arrived at his
village he invited the people to come. He called them for a feast. He
(Nᴀñkî′lsʟas) did not eat the smallest bit. And on the next day he
called them in to a feast for his son. Again he did not eat. Two
big-bellied fellows had come in. People took up cranberries by the box,
and when one of these opened his mouth they emptied a boxful into it.
They also emptied boxes into the mouth of the other.
On the next day his father invited them again, and they (the
big-bellies) came in and stood there. And again cranberries were
emptied into their mouths. Then Nᴀñkî′lsʟas went quickly toward the end
of the town. As he was going along he came to open ground where
cranberries were being blown out. He stopped up this hole with moss,
and he did the same to another. After he had entered he questioned the
big-bellied ones, who stood near the door: “I say, tell me the reason
why you eat [so much].” “Don’t ask it, chief. We are always afflicted
in this way.” “Yes; tell me. When my father calls in the people, and
you are going to eat, if you do not tell me I will make you always
full.” “Well, chief, sit close to me while I tell you. Early in the
morning take a bath, and when you lie down [after it] scratch yourself
over your heart, and when scabs have formed on the next day swallow
them.”
He did at once as he was told. After he had sat still for a while [he
said]: “Father, I have become hungry.” Upon this his father sent to
call the people. [The big-bellied persons] again came in and stood
there. Again was [food] emptied into their mouths. It did them no good.
And he again became hungry. He again called them in. Day after day, for
many days, he called them in. One day he went out [to defecate]. They
saw him eating the cranberries that had floated ashore upon the beach
[from peoples’ dung]. Thereupon they shut the door upon him.
He now started off. By and by he came [back] and sat behind his
father’s house. “Father, please let me in.” They did not want him.
“Father, please let me in. I will put grizzly bears upon you. I will
put mountain goats upon you.” [212] He offered him all the mainland
animals. “No, chief, my son, they might wake me up by walking over me.”
He then began to sing a certain song. He beat time by striking his head
against the house. The house began to fall over. And at that time he
nearly let him in, they say. And when he went away they snatched off
from him the black bear and marten [skins] he wore.
That time he went away for a long period. By and by they saw him
floating on the sea in front of the town in a hair-seal canoe. [213] He
wore his uncle’s hat. On top of it the foam was swirling around as he
floated. As soon as they saw he had become changed in some unknown
manner the town people all entered Qîñgi’s house. And after they had
talked over what they should do for a while he dressed himself up. The
town people put themselves between the joints of his tall hat. After
Nᴀñkî′lsʟas had remained there a while the sea water continued to
increase. And Qîñgi, too, grew up. Then he became angry and broke the
hat by pulling it downward. Half the people of his town were lost.
After he had been gone for a while he came and stopped in front of the
town. “Nᴀñkî′lsʟas is in front on a canoe.” And his father said: “Go
and get him that I may see his face.” They then spread out mats, and
his comrades came in and sat there. His father continually gave him
food. His father was glad to see him.
After food had been given out for a long time and evening was come, his
father sat down near the door. By and by he said: “My son, chief’s
child, let one of your companions tell me a story.” He then asked the
one who sat next to him: “Don’t you know a story?” [214] “No,” they all
said, and he turned in the other direction also. “Don’t you know one
story?” “No; we do not.” He then said to his father: “They do not know
any stories.” And his father, Qîñgi, said, “Ītꜝē′i, let one of your
companions relate to me ‘Raven traveling,’” by which he made
Nᴀñkî′lsʟas so ashamed that he hung his head.
By and by, lo, a small, dark person, who sat on the right side, threw
himself backward where he sat. “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the village of the
master of stories, Qîñgi.” When he said this the people in the house
were [startled], as if something were thrown down violently.
“Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings came to look at a
ten-jointed łqeā′ma [215] growing in front of the village of the master
of stories, Qîñgi. There they were destroyed.” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the
supernatural beings came and looked at a rainbow [216] (a story name)
moving up and down in front of the village of the master of stories,
Qîñgi. There they were destroyed [said the next].” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō,
the supernatural beings once came to look at Greatest-sea-gull and
Greatest-white-crested-cormorant throw a whale’s tail back and forth on
a reef that first came up in front of Qîñgi’s town. There they were
destroyed.” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings came to see
Harlequin-duck and Blue-jay run a race with each other on the property
of the master of stories, Qîñgi. There they were destroyed.”
“Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings once came to look at the
lower section of a wooden rattle lying around which used to sing of
itself. [217] There they were lost.” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the
supernatural beings once came to look at an inlet, which broke suddenly
through white rocks at the end of Qîñgi’s town, out of which Djila′qons
came knitting. There they were destroyed.” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the
supernatural beings once came to see Tā′dᴀlᴀt-g̣ā′dᴀla and Marten run a
race with each other in front of the village of the master of stories,
Qîñgi. There they were destroyed.” [What the other three said has been
forgotten. [218]]
Then Nᴀñkî′lsʟas started off afoot. After he had traveled for a while
he came to the town of Ku′ndji. In front of it many canoes floated.
They were fishing for flounders. [219] They used for bait salmon roe
that had been put up in boxes. He then desired some, and changed
himself into a flounder. And he went out. After he had been stealing
the salmon roe for a while they pulled out his beak.
Those people, who then sat gambling in rows in the town, looked at the
beak one after another. They handed it back and forth for the purpose.
Nᴀñkî′lsʟas looked at it, and said: “It is made of salmon roe.” He then
went toward the woods and called Screech-owl. And he pulled its beak
out, put it upon himself, and put some common thing into [the owl] in
its stead.
By and by they went out again to fish and again he went out. And after
he had jerked off many pieces of salmon roe a hook entered one of his
lips. They then pulled him to the surface and came ashore, and [the
owner] gave it to his child, and they ran a stick through it [to put it
over the fire]. And when his back became too warm he thought: “I wish
something would make them run over toward the end of the town.” After
some time had passed the whole town (i.e., the people of the town)
suddenly moved. And right before the child, who sat alone near by, he
put on his feather clothing and flew out through the smoke hole. The
child then called to its mother: “My food flew away, mother.”
He did not go away from the town, they say. On another day they
prepared some food in the morning. Crow invited the people to a feast
of cakes made of the inner bark of the hemlock and cranberries mixed
together. Among them they called him (Raven). And he refused. “No; you
only call each other for mussels.” Afterward he sent Eagle out to see
what they did call each other for. And after he had gone thither he
said to him: “They call each other for cakes of hemlock bark and
cranberries.” “Now, cousin, be my messenger.” Eagle then said: “The
chief is coming.” “No; we call each other for mussels.”
Before they had begun eating he ran into the woods. After he had made
rotten trees into ten canoes he put in spruce cones, standing them up
along the middle. Grass tops he put into their hands for spears. They
then came around the point, and he walked near them with his blanket
wrapped tightly around him. Terrible to behold, they came around the
point, men standing in lines along the middle of the canoes. Leaving
their food, the people fled at once. He then went into the house and
ate the cakes. He ate. He ate. Where the canoes landed they were washed
about by the waves.
He then started off. He traveled about. On the way he got his sister
neatly, they say. He then left his sister with his wife. And he started
off by canoe. He begged Snowbird [220] to go along with him, and took
him for company. He also took along a spear. And short objects [221]
lay one upon another on a certain reef. Then, when they came near to
it, the bird became different. [222] He took him back. And he begged
Blue-jay also to go, and he started with him. But when they got near
he, too, flapped his wings helplessly in the canoe. And, after he had
tried all creatures in vain, he made a drawing on a toadstool with a
stick, placed it in the stern, and said to it: “Bestir yourself and
reverse the stroke” [to stop the canoe]. He then started off with him.
But when he got near it shook its head [so strong was the influence].
He then speared a big one and a small one and took them back. And when
he came home he called his wife and placed the thing he had gone for
upon her. And he put one upon his sister as well. Then Sīwa′s (his
sister) cried, and he said to her: “But yours will be safe.” [223]
After he left that place he married Cloud-woman. And, as Cloud-woman
had predicted, a multitude of salmon came up for him. But, when they
were on the point of moving and he went through the middle passage of
the smokehouse, salmon bones stuck in his hair, and he used bad
language that made his wife angry. [224] She then said to the dog
salmon: “Swim away.” From all the places where they lay they began to
swim off. And a box of salmon roe on which his sister sat was the only
food left in the house.
They then moved the camp empty-handed. And he made himself sick. He
went along in the bow beside the salmon roe. After he had gone along
for a while his sister smelt something, and he said it was a scab he
had pulled off with his finger nails. After she had spoken about it
many times as they went along he threw Sīwa′s’s box empty ashore.
And after they had gone along for a while they built a camp fire. He
then put yellow cedar upon the fire. After it had given forth sparks
for a while one flew between Sīwa′s’s legs. He then told her a remedy:
“Now, go around in the woods exclaiming, ‘I call for medicine.’ When
something says ‘Yes,’ go over to it and sit down where a short red
thing sticks up.” And after he had spoken to her, and she had called
about for a while, something said “Yes.” And after she had looked for
it [she saw] something red sticking up. Then she sat down there. Lo,
she discovered her brother lying on the ground under her.
He then became ashamed, and drew something with the tip of his finger.
Right there a child cried. And he took it out [of the ground]. And he
put boards round it as people were going to do in the future. Then the
child became old enough to play. And he went around after [the child].
One time when it went out to play it vanished forever.
Then he started to search for it. He put on his feather clothing and
flew over the whole of this country. He did the same upon Mainland.
When he could by no means find it, he heard that the supernatural
beings had taken it because he (Raven) used to fool them. He then
stopped searching. When the boy stood up, lightning used to flash
around his knee-joints. He was named Sᴀqaiyū′ł.
One day some one with disheveled hair came in. “Father, I come in to
you.” Then he (Raven) spat upon his face. “Sᴀqaiyū′ł was not like
that.” And when he went out, lightning played around his knee-joints.
He vanished at once. Then he cried; he cried.
Then he put his sister into his armpit and started off with her. And
after Siwa′s had finished her planting at Ramsey island he came, stood
on the inner side of Ramsey island, and begged all kinds of birds to
accompany him. They went after cedar-bark roofing in preparation for a
potlatch. They soon got this out upon the open ground. He then caused
the cedar bark to be left there. [225]
And, when they became hungry, he called all kinds of animals. And,
after they came floating in front of him on their canoes, he came out
wearing black, shabby clothing. He then spoke. They did not understand.
And they sent for Porpoise-woman. And when she came he (Raven) said: “I
am the sides and I am the ends, between which I qᴀlaastī′s.” [226] Then
she said: “How would they get along if I were absent? He wants them to
fight him with abalones and sea eggs.” They then threw these at him.
And he ate. And, since the house was too small, he started to potlatch
outside. All the supernatural beings whom he had invited came by canoe.
Then he made holes in the beaks of all kinds of birds. And Eagle, too,
asked to have his pierced. He became wearied by his importunities and
made them anyhow. That is why his nasal openings now run upward.
[Told by Abraham of the Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o qē′g̣awa-i]
When he first started he decked out the birds. They were made of
different varieties, as they now appear to us, in one house. Then, as
soon as he had dressed up the birds, they went out together. At that
time he refused to adorn two of them. When the house was too full they
said to those who sat next to the walls: “Let your heads be as thin as
the place where you sit.” Those have thin heads.
The two he had refused to adorn went crying to the [various]
supernatural beings and came to Rose Spit, where they heard a drum
sound toward the woods. They went thither. When they came and stood
before Master Carpenter [227] with tear marks on their faces, he asked:
“What causes your tear marks?” They then answered: “Raven [228] decked
out the other birds. He said we were not worth adorning.” “And yet you
are going to be handsomer than all others” [he said], and, having let
them in, he painted them up. He put designs on their skins (feathers).
Those were the Qꜝē′da-kꜝō′xawa. [229]
[Continued by John Sky]
He went thence by canoe, and came to where herring had been spawning.
He then filled the canoe with herring, dipped them out of the place
where the bilge water settles and threw them toward the shore. “Future
people will not see the place where you are.” [230]
[Continued by the chief of Kloo of Those-born-at-Skedans]
And when he went away he came to where a spider crab sat. And he said
to it: “Comrade, do you sit here? Don’t you know that we used to play
together as children?” He then put his wings into its mouth and took
them out again. “A little farther off, spider crab,” he said to it, and
it closed its jaws together. It began at once to move seaward. And he
(Raven) said to it: “Comrade, let me go. When about to let me go you
used to look at me with eyes partly closed [as you are doing] now. Let
me go. It will be better for us to play with each other differently.
Let me go.” By and by the sea water flowed over him. Then it let him
go.
And after he had traveled for a while he pulled off leaves from the
salal-berry bushes, stuck spruce needles into them, and came to where
an old man lay with his back to the fire. And he entered and sat down
on the side opposite him. “Hē,” he said, as if he, too, were cold from
going after something. Then the old man looked over to him and said:
“Have I stretched out my legs, that one keeps saying he is getting
cold?” He then stretched out his legs, and it became low tide. And,
with Eagle, he brought up sea eggs to the woods. [Raven also brought up
a red cod, but Eagle brought up a black cod.]
They then made a camp fire. And Eagle roasted his. [231] It began to
drop fat into the fire. Then Raven roasted his, but it became dry. And
he asked to taste of Eagle’s. “Cousin, why does yours taste like cedar?
Cousin, I will bring you a small bundle of bark from the woods. When a
stump comes to you, rub this [black cod] upon its face.” As soon as he
went off Eagle put some stones into the fire. When they became red-hot,
the stump came toward him. He then picked up a stone with the tongs and
rubbed it upon the stump, and the stump went back into the woods out of
sight. By and by, lo, he came to him with bark on his shoulder. His
face was blackened all over. “Why, cousin, what has happened to your
face?” “Well, cousin, I pulled some bark down upon my face.” “Why,
cousin, it is as if something had burned it.” “No, indeed, cousin, bark
dropped upon me.”
[Continued by John Sky]
On the way from this place he begged for canoe companions. [232] He
begged all kinds of birds to come. Then Blue-jay offered himself to
him, and he said: “No: you are too old to come.” But he insisted. He
then seized him by the top of his head and pulled him into the canoe.
For that reason the top of his head is flattish. And he completed his
begging for comrades.
They all got then into the canoe. And it set off. It went. It went. It
went. It went. They stopped in front of the Halibut people.
Hu-hu-hu-hu-hu, [233] they came down to the beach in crowds. “Raven is
going to war,” they said one to another as they came down to meet him.
And he asked them to go, too, as companions, and they went. They fixed
themselves along the bottom of the canoe like skids [234] and started.
They went. They went. And before daylight they landed at the end of his
(the enemy’s) town. Then his Halibut people lay [in two rows], with
their heads outward, along the path which extended down from the house.
Outside of them the birds also stood in lines. They hid themselves
behind the halibut. After they had been there a while he came out
wearing his dancing hat. When he came out one of the halibut flopped
his tail at him. He fell down. The next one, too, wriggled his tail. So
they continued to do until they brought him in. [235] Then he asked
them why they did this to him. And they said they did it because he
blew too long. They then let him go. And they started back. This was
Southeast-wind, they say. After they had gone along for a while they
set down the halibut at their homes, and the birds also went away.
And after he had traveled about for a while he came to some children
playing and offered to join them. “I say-y-y, playing children, let me
play with you-ou-ou.” “No-o-o; you would eat all of our hair
se-e-e-al.” And he said: “My grandfather has gone after some for me. My
father has gone after some for me.” They then let him play with them.
Then he devoured all of the children’s hair seals, and they were all
crying for them.
He also started away from that place. After he had gone along for a
while he found a flicker’s feather floating near the shore and said to
it: “Become a flicker.” It at once flapped its wings.
And after he had traveled thence for a while he came to the place where
Master Fisherman [236] and his wife lived. He wanted Raven’s flicker;
so he gave it to him. “Things like this are found on an island that I
own.” And he said he would show it to him. And after he said he would
show it to him Master Fisherman baited a halibut hook taken from among
those hanging in bunches on the wall. When he had let it down into the
hole into which they used to vomit sea water he pulled out a halibut,
and his wife split it open and steamed it. When it was cooked the three
ate it.
They went to bed, and next day he took him (Master Fisherman) to see
the flicker island. Then he arrived there and said to Master Fisherman:
“Do not get off.” Then he (Raven) landed. He broke off the ends of
cedar limbs. And he wounded his nose. As he went along he let the blood
run down into his hands. And he threw around the cedar twigs with blood
upon them. “Change to flickers,” he repeated. Then they flew in a
flock. And he brought some in. “Now, get off. There are plenty of
them,” he said to him. Then he landed.
[Continued by the Chief of Kloo.]
And he (Raven) lay down in the canoe and began to drift away with the
wind, and he (Master Fisherman) shouted to him: “Say, you are drifting
away. You are drifting away.” He paid no attention to him. [237] He got
far off. Then he started away [by paddling]. Then he made himself
appear like Master Fisherman, and landed in front of his wife’s
[house]. And he said: “Behold, it was the one always doing such things.
There is not a sign of the things he went to show me.” And after he had
had her as his wife a while he said: “My child’s mother, differently
from my former state, I am hungry.” Then she steamed a fat halibut for
him, and he ate it. After he had remained sitting for a while, he said:
“My child’s mother, differently from my former state, I would like it.”
[238] Then he again drank salt water. And after he had drunk salt water
he baited the halibut hook and let it down into the hole where sea
water was vomited out. The same thing as before happened. He pulled a
halibut out.
And when his wife went after some water, lo, her husband sat near the
creek and said to her: “That was the same one who is always doing such
things. Stop all the holes in the house. As soon as he drifted away
from it (the island) I wished my hair-seal club would swim over to me.”
And to him it swam out. Then it brought him to the land, they say.
Then he ran in with the hair-seal club. And he (Raven) ran squawking
about the house. By and by he knocked him down with his club. Then he
threw him down into the latrine. And after he had lain there a while he
spoke up out of it. [239] Then he took him out and pounded him up
again. He even pounded up his bones. And he went down to the beach at
low tide and rolled a big rock over upon him.
[End of so-called “old man’s story” and beginning of “young man’s” part
[240]]
Then he was nearly covered by the tide. And he changed himself in
different ways. By and by, when only his beak showed above water, his
ten supernatural helpers came to him. Then they rolled the rock off
from him, and he drifted away. The first to smell him among his
supernatural helpers was a Tlingit, who wore a bone in his nose [like
the shamans.]
After he had drifted away for a while, some people came along in a
canoe. “Why does the chief float about upon the water?” And when they
got within a short distance he said: “He has a hard time for going
after a woman.”
And after he had drifted about a while longer, a black whale came along
blowing. And he thought, “I wish it would swallow me.” And, as he
wished, it swallowed him. Then he ate up its insides. After he had
eaten all he thought: “I wish it would drift ashore with me in front of
a town.” And in front of a town it drifted ashore with him.
After they had spent some time in cutting it up, they cut a hole
through right where he was, and he flew out. Then he flew straight up.
And he turned down at the end of the town, pulled off the skin of an
old man living there, threw away his bones, went into his skin, and
lived in his place instead of him. By and by they asked him about the
something that came out of the whale’s belly. Then he said: “When
something similar happened a long time ago they fled from each other in
fear.” At once they fled from each other in fear. And afterward he ate
the whale they were bringing up. This was why he had changed himself.
[Told by Tom Stevens, chief of Those-born-at-House-Point.]
And one time he had Hair-seal as his wife. Then they had a child. And
one day he went after firewood with him. His son was fat, and, pleased
at the sight of him, he wanted to eat him. Then he said to him: “I am
within a little of eating you.” And after they had come home, and had
got through eating, he said to his mother: “Ha ha⁺, mama, my father
said to me: ‘I am within a little of eating you.’” And Raven said:
“Stop the child.” He made him ashamed. After that he devoured him.
[241]
[Continued by the Chief of Kloo.]
And after he had traveled about a while from that place he came to
another town. And he was eating the leavings cut off of the salmon they
brought in. By and by some of the milt [242] hung out of his nose. Then
he said to his cousin [Eagle]: “When I pass in front of the town,
cousin, say: ‘Wā-ā-ā [243], one goes along in front of the town with a
weasel hanging from his nose.’” And when he passed in front of the
village [he said], “Wā-ā-ā, one passes in front of the town with the
milt of a salmon hanging from his nose.” Then he went back to him and
said: “Cousin, say, ‘Weasel, weasel.’” But when he went again he said
the same thing. Then he made him ashamed, and he went right along
[without stopping].
And after he had gone along for a while he met some people coming back
from the hunt with many hair seals. Then he changed himself into a
woman. And he found a long, slender rock and said to it: “Change into a
child,” and it became a human being. “Say, you who are coming, come and
marry me.” Then the canoe was pointed toward her. And she picked up
stones, too, they say. After they had gone along for a while she said:
“The child wants hair seal. He is crying for it.” Then one cut off a
piece for it. Then she wished a mist to fall, and it happened. Then
they put mats over her, under which she ate it. And she put grease on
the stones and threw them overboard. And she kept saying that it was
the hair seal. Then they gave some to her again.
Then they gave her as wife to one of them. Some time after he had
married her they gave her salmon roe to eat. And she saw where they
kept it. Then she went to the place at night. And she ate in it. But
when she lay down afterward she found that her labret was lost. And
when they went [to the box] to get some again in the morning they found
her labret in it. Upon this she touched it quickly with her lips and
said: “Lg̣ᴀ′nsal stā′-is [244] was flapping her wings all night in my
lip as she always does when she wants something that smells bad.” Then
they handed it to her, and she put it back into her lip.
And one day, when she went out with others to defecate, and stood up,
the tail coming from her buttocks was visible a moment. “Ai-ī, what is
that sticking from my son’s wife’s buttocks?” “Why, this is not the
first time a Tlingit woman’s tail stuck out from her buttocks.”
By and by she told her husband they were about to come after her, and
she made them bring together firewood in preparation for it. Then she
changed excrement into people and made them come by canoe. Then they
landed; but when they came in and sat down they began to perspire.
Right there they were melted. And she became ashamed. Then they were
completely melted. And she flew away.
And after he (Raven) had traveled on from that place he came to where
Water-ousel [245] lived. And he (the bird) gave him food. By and by he
drove a stick into his leg, out of which salmon roe [such as has lain
some days after hatching] ran in a stream. He gave it to him to eat.
Then he started from that place. After he had traveled for a while he
came to where Sea-lion lived. And after he had given him some food he
roasted his hand, out of which grease dropped. That he gave him to eat.
He started off, and when he had traveled a while came to where
Hair-seal lived. Then he, too, roasted his hand in the fire, and grease
came out. He gave it to him to eat.
Then he went away and lived in one place for a while. After he had
lived there for a time Water-ousel came in to him. Then he drove
something into his leg, but only made himself faint away. And he (the
bird) was ashamed. While he was in the faint he went off. Then he came
to himself. And after he had continued living there for a while
Sea-lion and Hair-seal came in. [246] Then he roasted his hand, but it
was burned. And they left him. Afterward he came to life again.
[Parts of the young man’s story told by Walter McGregor of the
Qā′-i-ał-lā′nas]
He began to offer his sister in marriage, and when any creature came in
to him he looked at its buttocks. When they were lean he refused it.
After he had done [lit., said] this for a while Sea-lion wanted to many
his sister. Then he looked at his buttocks. They were fat, and he let
him marry his sister. They had two children. G̣ē′noa [247] was the
elder. Iwā′ldjida was the younger. Once Raven went out fishing with his
brother-in-law and thought: “I wish halibut would come to me only.”
Then he only caught halibut. And his brother-in-law, Sea-lion, asked
him: “Say, why do they come to you?” “That is something people are not
brave enough to ask for.” Then he again asked him, and he said to him:
“Well, they like me, because I use a piece of skin cut from my testes
for bait.” And he told him to do the same to his. When he just touched
them with a knife, “Wā-wa-wa-wā′, it hurts,” he said to him. “Don’t you
see you are not brave enough for it?” Then he told him to do as before.
Then he cut off the whole of his testes and ate the fat part of his
brother-in-law. After he had consumed it he put stones in him in its
place, and came to his sister singing a crying song: “Siwa′s’s husband,
my sister’s husband. Siwa′s’s husband, my sister’s husband.” Then his
sister asked him: “What has happened, brother?” He paid no attention to
her. He sang the crying song. “What is it?” she kept saying. By and by
she asked her brother: “What has happened, my brother Raven?” And he
said to her: “Where they always do so, [the enemy] stood at
House-point. With my great brother-in-law I met them. My great
brother-in-law fell without speaking a word. I, however, went around
and around them calling.” Then his sister, too, sang a crying song. She
had G̣ē′noa on her back and held Iwā′ldjida in her hands. Then she sang
the crying song: “G̣ē′noa’s father, Iwā′ldjida’s father. G̣ē′noa’s
father, Iwā′ldjida’s father.” At once they carried him up in a mat. And
Siwa′s said: “Say, chief, why is your brother-in-law so heavy?” Then
Raven said: “You always talk nonsense. This is not the first time a
chief who has been killed is heavy.” The rocks put into him made him
heavy.
After they got him into the house they had Mallard-duck [248] doctor
him, and when he came in, and had gone around the fire for a while, he
said: “Hăn hăn hăn hăn (quacking of duck), his brother-in-law, his
brother-in-law.” And Raven said: “[Speak] differently, great doctor.
[Speak] differently.” Then again he said, “Hăn hăn hăn hăn, his
brother-in-law took out his insides.” Then he kicked him into the fire.
And just before he flew out he said the same thing. So they came to
know that he had killed his brother-in-law.
One time he let Cormorant marry Siwa′s, because he was the best
fisherman. And he went out fishing with him, and Cormorant alone caught
halibut. He (Raven) caught only a small one. Then he went toward the
bow to Cormorant and said to him: “Let me see what is upon your
tongue.” And when he ran his tongue out he pulled it out, and his voice
was gone. That is why the cormorant has no voice.
Then he pulled the halibut round toward himself [so that their heads
lay in his direction] and turned the small one toward him (Cormorant).
[249] Then they went home, and he pulled off the halibut. Cormorant
motioned his wife to the halibut, and his sister asked: “Say, chief,
why does he motion me to the halibut?” Then Raven said: “He is trying
to say he wants the head of a big one.” And she asked her brother
again: “Say, chief, what has happened to your brother-in-law?” “Why,
while I was fishing with him his voice left him.” He wanted to eat all
the halibut. That is why he took it out.
After he had gone on for some distance a sea anemone (?) looked out
from under a rock. He became fascinated at the sight of the corners of
its eyes, which were bluish, and said to it: “Say, cousin, come and let
me kiss you.” And the sea anemone said: “I know your words, Raven,” and
made him angry. Then he threw aside the stones from it and steamed it
[in the ground]. When it was cooked he ate it while it was still hot.
Then his heart was burst with the burning. That is why ravens do not
eat sea anemones.
After he had gone along from there for a while he came to a town.
Having looked into the house [he saw] no people there. Then he entered.
Halibut and slices of smoked hair seal lay on the drying frame. Only
old wedges lay near the fire. But when he started to carry off the
halibut and slices of seal a wedge threw itself at his ankle bone; on
the other side the same thing happened, and he fainted with the pain.
Then he threw them from his shoulders and went out. And he looked into
a house near by. And he entered that, too. There were plenty of hair
seals and halibut there. On the wall was some design drawn with finger
nails. Then he started to carry some out. When he came to the door
something pulled his hair. He saw nothing. After they had pulled his
hair until they made him weak, he went out. These were the Shadow
people, they say.
After he had traveled thence for a while he came to a house in which
the Herring people were dancing. The air (weather or sky) [250] even
shook above them. And when he looked in the Herring people spawned upon
his mustache. Then he ate the fish eggs. They tasted bad, and he threw
away his mustache. [251] Then, having pushed in a young hemlock he had
broken off, he drew it out. The fish eggs were thick upon it, and he
ate them. They tasted good. He started the use [of these limbs].
After he had gone on for a while he came to one who had a fire in his
house. And he did not know how to get his live coals. And [the man] had
bought a deerskin. “Say, cousin, I want to borrow your skin a while.”
And he lent it to him. It had a long tail, they say, and he tied a
bundle of pitch wood to the end of the tail. Then he came in and danced
before him. As he danced his face was turned toward the fire only.
After he had danced for a time he struck his tail into the fire and the
pitch wood burned. Then his tail was burned off. That is why the deer’s
tail is short. Then he went into his own skin and flew away with the
live coals. His beak, too, was burned off. And they pursued him. They
could not catch him and came back. He got the coals neatly.
On traveling thence he found a devilfish’s nose (i.e., mouth) drifted
ashore. And he took it and came to Screech-owl. And he said to him:
“Say, cousin, let me borrow your beak a while,” and he lent it to him.
Then he stuck the devilfish nose he had found in its place and said to
him: “Say, cousin, yours looks nice. You are fit to travel about with
the supernatural beings.”
After he had traveled on for a while his cousin (Eagle) came to him.
And, after they had traveled together for a while they came to an
abundance of berries, which Eagle consumed before he got there. On that
account he was angry with him. And he went quickly to the beach, found
a sharp fish bone, and stuck it into the moss ahead of him (Eagle).
“Run into Eagle’s foot,” he said to the bone. And he said to Eagle:
“Now, cousin, go right on here before me.” And as he went along there
the bone stuck into his foot. “Cousin, let me see it,” and he pretended
to take it out with his teeth, but instead commenced to push it in
farther. “Wā-wā-wā, cousin, you are pushing it in.” “No, cousin, it is
because I am trying to pull it out with my teeth.” By and by he pulled
it out and said to him: “Cousin, wait right here.” Then he examined the
ground before him [to select an easy path]. And he ordered a chasm to
form. It did so. And, breaking off a stalk of łqeā′ma, [252] he laid it
across the gulf and put moss upon it. He made it like a dead, fallen
tree. Then he went back toward Eagle, carried him on his back, and
started over with him upon the dead tree. When he got halfway over he
let him go. “Yauwaiyā′, what I carry on my back is heavy.” He burst
open below. Then he went down to him and ate his berries. He ate all
and started off.
After he had traveled for a while he came to a woman with a good-sized
labret weaving a water-tight basket, and he asked her: “Say, skᴀñ,
[253] have you seen my cousin?” She paid no attention to him, and he
again said to her: “Say, skᴀñ, have you seen my cousin?” Again she paid
no attention to him. “Skᴀñ, I can knock out your labret.” “Don’t. Over
yonder is a qꜝa′ła [254] point, beyond which is a spruce point, beyond
which is a hemlock point, beyond which is an alder point. At that point
in front of the shell of a sqā′djix̣ū [255] on which he is drawing is
your cousin.” Then he started over, and it was as she said. “Say,
cousin, is that you?” [he said], and he pulled him up straight, and
they started off together.
After they had gone on they came to a town. They (the people) were glad
to see them. Then they began giving them food. When they gave them
berries to eat they asked Eagle: “Does the chief eat these?” And Raven
said: “Say that I like them very much.” But Eagle said: “The chief says
he never eats them.” And they only gave them to him (Eagle). And again
they gave him good berries to eat, and he said: “Those, too, the chief
does not like.”[255]
When he was going on from there he came to a town in which the chief’s
son, who was the strongest man, had had his arm pulled out. A shaman
came to try to cure him. The chief’s son was the strongest man. In
trying strength with people of all ages by locking hands with them he
could beat them. By and by, through the smoke hole came a small pale
hand, and [they heard its owner] say: “Gū′sg̣a gᴀ′msiwa” (Tsimshian
words meaning “Let us have a try”). And he put his fingers to it. It
pulled off his arm. They did not know what it was. And he (Raven) alone
knew that one of Gū′g̣ał’s [256] sons had pulled his arm off. Then he
flew to Gū′g̣ał’s town, went to an old man who lived at the end of the
town and asked him: “Say, old man, do you ever gamble?” And he said he
did. “They say they pulled off the arm of a chief’s son. I wonder where
the person who did it belongs.” And he said: “Why, don’t you know? It
was done by the one of Gū′g̣ał’s sons who is always doing those things.
The chief’s son’s arm is in a box behind the screen in his father’s
house.” And he (Raven) said: “Well, although everybody knows those
things, I was asking this.” Then he pulled off his (the old man’s) skin
and entered it. And next day he took a gambling-stick bag and walked
with a cane to the middle of the town. When he sat down he heard
Gū′g̣ał’s sons say: “You are always on hand, old man; we will gamble
with you.” The eldest wagered him his hair ribbon, and they gambled
with him. They lost the ribbon to him. Then it was too late to go home,
and he said: “I will stay right in your house.” And they said to him:
“All right, old man, sleep in our house so that we may gamble with each
other in the morning.” Then he entered, and they seated him near two
good-looking women. They gave him something to eat. “Old man, you are
always ready,” they said to him, and they went to bed. Then he broke
wind. The women laughed at him every time as they whispered together.
By and by, when they were asleep, [257] he flew lightly toward the
screen and felt of the chief’s son’s arm which was in a box. Then he
waited for daylight and flew over it. As he did so the ends of his
claws touched the top of the screen. It sounded like a drum. Then he
lay down quickly. “Alas! it is the one who is always doing such things.
Does the old man lie there as before?” And the women said: “Yes; he
lies here. He has been breaking wind all the time. Now, he is snoring.”
And he asked again: “Is the chief’s son’s arm in the box?” And the
women said: “Yes; it is here.” Then when they were asleep again and day
had begun to break he flew up easily behind the screen and seized the
chief’s son’s arm in his mouth. And when he flew away with it the ends
of his claws touched the top of the screen. When it gave forth a
drumming sound all looked up. He flew through the smoke hole. The chief
said: “Alas! it is he who is always doing such things.” Then he came
flying to the chief’s son’s father’s town and began to act as shaman
around the chief’s son. He washed the arm, which had begun to smell
badly [from decomposition]. Then they handed him a new mat [and he
laid] the chief’s son’s arm in place under it. At once his arm was
restored. They gave many things to him and much food as well.
He started from that place also. After he had gone along for a while he
came to a town. The town people were glad to see him, and he went into
a house. A good looking woman lived in the house. Then they went to
bed, and he went over to the woman. When he came to her she asked him,
“Who are you?” “I am one who came to this place for you.” But the woman
absolutely repulsed him. Then he went away from her. And when the woman
slept he went to her again and put dung inside of her blanket. Then he
cried: “I went to the chief’s daughter, but, finding something terrible
there, changed my mind.” And the woman awoke and said: “A′-a-a a-a′,
don’t tell anybody about it. I will give you a substance that my father
owns but always keeps secret.” And he said: “[Give me] some.” Then she
gave all to him. And the woman said to him: “Don’t lose it. With that
you will have good luck. And when you see anyone, you can adorn him
with it,” she said to him. This is what causes people to be
good-looking.
After that his sister Siwa′s planted Indian tobacco in front of White
inlet. And, while it was yet in the garden, he calcined shells. But
before he pulled the tobacco out he became angry with the calcined
shells and threw them away. Where the calcined shells were the surface
of the rocks is white.
There he went out fishing for his sister. He threw the halibut ashore.
There is high, level land there called “Halibut’s place.” He named
places, too, as he went along. “Your name will be like this; you will
be called so-and-so,” he said as he went. Then he passed over one
place, and it called after him: “What shall my name be?” Then he said
to it in the Ninstints dialect: “Your name will be ‘Salt Stone,’ you
common object.”
Then he set out to spear Bad Weather (Tcꜝī′g̣a). He made a spear with a
detachable point. He used strong gut for cord. And he saw its head
pass. Then he speared it. And it tugged him about in a sitting posture.
He kept hold of the cord and was pulled out to a reef lying in front.
After he had been pulled about there a while the spear point broke.
[The string] struck on the face of a declivity. There the rocks show a
white streak.
When he went away he stuck an eagle’s tail feather [into a certain
place]. That is called “Eagle’s-tail-feather-stuck-in.”
After that he was love-sick for his uncle’s wife. Then he sat there
singing a song, at the same time striking his head upon the rocks for a
drum. There he made a hole. That place is called
“Moving-the-back-part-of-the-head-about-while-singing.”
[Told by Abraham of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o]
One time, when he was going along with his cousin, he came to an island
of ʟꜝkꜝia′o. [258] At once he went out and ate them. After he got
through eating, he went back toward shore with his cousin. And when
they became thirsty he said to his cousin: “Take one stroke in the
water, cousin.” As soon as he did so they came to Standing-water creek,
which was very far away. Where he drank there, there is a water hole of
the shape of his bill.
This is why, when people travel by canoe on the west coast, the country
is easy for them (i.e., they travel about easily). The place where he
and his cousin ate ʟꜝkꜝia′o is called “Pulled-off-with-the-teeth.”
[259]
[Told by Tom Stevens, chief of Those-born-at-House-point]
When he (Raven) first started traveling about, numbers of persons lay
along the ground, acting as if ashamed. Then he pulled them upright as
he ran along. These were the mountains.