[Told by John Sky of Those-born-at-Skedans]
Once there was a chief’s child, they say, a girl, for whom they often
hung out hawk down on the end of a pole. [279] Her father loved her.
She had two brothers; one was large and the other had just begun
growing.
Once people came in front of her father’s town in ten canoes, danced
while coming and stopped in front of the town. Then one of her father’s
slaves inquired: “What are these come for?” “They are come to get the
chief’s child.” And when they said “The woman refuses,” they went away
weeping.
The next day others came dancing on ten canoes. Then again they asked:
“What are these come for?” “They are come to get the chief’s daughter.”
And those, too, they refused, and they went weeping away.
Now, the day after a certain one in a hair-seal canoe, [280] wearing a
broad hat, stood there early in the morning. He had a surf-bird for a
hat. After they had looked at him in his hair-seal canoe for a while,
they asked him: “Why does the canoe come?” He said nothing. They did
not want him. They said to him: “The woman refuses.” A round white
thing was on top of his hat. This was a foamy wave. The foam was
turning round and round rapidly. As soon as they had refused him the
earth changed. Out of the earth water boiled up. Then, when this island
was half covered, the frightened town people thought of giving the
woman up. She had ten servants, they say. And they dressed up one of
these just like her. And they painted her. And they put red cirrus
clouds on her and two clear-sky blankets [281] and sent her down to the
chief. Then he absolutely refused her. He would take none but the
chief’s child. They dressed up still another [slave] with dark mottled
clouds which lie seaward, and they put two marten-skin blankets on her
and had her go down. Her, too, he refused. He refused all ten in the
same way.
Now, all of the town people with their children had gone into her
father’s house. Then they all cried, and, without painting her, let her
go. And the ten servants all went with her. When she stood near the
salt water the canoe came quickly to her of itself. [Then the stranger
gave them his father’s hat covered with surf-birds (tcꜝîgᴀ′ldᴀx̣uañ),
which would keep flying out from it and back again.] Now, when she got
in, the ten servants got in with her. What caused the canoe to move
could not be seen. When the chief’s child had got in they discovered
him floating at the place where he had been before.
And they made holes in the front of the whole house by pulling off
planks. Through these they were looking to see which way his canoe
went. After they had looked for a while [it vanished and] they did not
see in which direction. And they did not see that it had sunk. And the
direction in which the chief’s daughter had vanished was unknown.
At times her father turned to the wall and cried, cried, cried. And her
mother turned to the wall and cried, cried, cried. One day he stopped
crying and said to his head slave: [282] “Find out whither my child
went.” “Wait, I will find out the proper time to go. I will go to see
whither your [child] went.”
One morning, as day began to break and when it was a propitious day for
him, he started the fire, and, while the people of the house whom he
feared to have see him, slept, he took a bath. Now after his skin
became dry he turned toward the wall and brought out the tackle he used
for fishing. He untied it, and he took out blue hellebore, and he put
it into the fire. And after he had watched it burn a while, he took it
out of the fire, and he rubbed it on the stone floor-planks and made a
mark with it on his face.
Then he got ready to start. He was going to search for the chief’s
child. The chief’s child’s mother was with him.
And he was a good hunter. He had a sea-otter spear. When he pushed off
he threw the sea-otter spear into the water, and, throwing its tail
about, it went along forming ripples in its passage, and he went with
it.
By and by the canoe stuck. The same thing happened to the sea-otter
spear, they say. Then he pulled the canoe ashore. The chief’s wife got
off, and he turned the canoe over. Long seaweeds were growing on it.
These were the things that stopped the canoe. He had been moving along
for a whole year. Then he took off his cape and rubbed it on the bottom
of the canoe and on the chief’s wife. And he rubbed it on himself as
well and became clean.
Again he shoved off the canoe. Then he threw the sea-otter spear into
the water again, and it moved on anew. He followed it. After he had
gone on, on, on, on for a long while, the canoe again stuck. Then he
pulled the canoe ashore still again. And he turned it over again. [A
kind of] long seaweed had grown on it, and on the chief’s wife, too,
and on himself. Then, as before, he took the cape off. And he rubbed it
on the canoe and on the chief’s wife as well. Then he rubbed it also on
himself. And after they had become clean he launched the canoe again.
Again he threw the sea-otter spear in, and again they followed it.
After he had been towed along by it for a while he came to floating
charcoal. There was no way for him to pass through this, they say. He
had brought along his fishing-tackle box, and he looked into it. And in
it he used to keep the [old spruce roots] taken off when he repaired
his halibut hooks. When he put these roots into the water, [the
charcoal] divided, and he was towed through. Not far away the canoe
came to another place where it (the passage) had closed together. And
when he put some [roots] into the water, as before, that also parted.
Then he was towed out of it and was brought to the edge of the sky.
Now, after it had shut together four times, he braced the spear under
it. [283] He went under. Then he pulled his spear out and put it into
the canoe. He took the paddle and began paddling.
By and by he could see the smoke of a great town. And he pulled the
canoe ashore some distance to one side of the town, they say. After he
had turned the canoe over he made the chief’s wife sit under it. Then
he walked to the town. When he came to the end of the town it was low
tide. A certain woman, with her infant on her back, had come down to
the uncovered beach. She held a basket in her hand, and she had a
digging stick and moved it before her as if hunting for something.
While putting something into the basket she looked up to where he was
seated. And, after she had looked for a while, she did the same thing
again. And, after she had rolled away the stones, she put sea cucumbers
into the basket. That was Property-woman. [284]
When she again fastened her eyes on the place where he sat, she said:
“I know you.” And then he stood up. And he went down on the beach and
stood near her. Then she said to him: “Do you travel hither expecting
to see the chief’s child?” He said “Yes.” “You see this town. He
thought grease into his son’s wife’s mind [285] because he gave away
his father’s hat as soon as he married the chief’s child. [286] She is
lying over there in a cave. When you have entered pass along by the
right side of the chief’s house and go behind the screen. There you
will hear news.”
Then he started away from Property-woman and went into the cave to the
chief’s child. And as she lay there she was winking her eyes. He took
his coat off and rubbed it upon her. And he tried to make her sit up.
In vain. And he became angry because he was unsuccessful. And, since he
could not succeed, he started off.
He put on his two yellow-cedar blankets and walked about among them
(the people). And they did not see him. Then he went into the chief’s
house and to the right. It had ten tiers of retaining planks. On the
upper one, in the middle of the sides, one sat weaving a chief’s
dancing-blanket. Then from the blanket she was weaving something said:
“To-morrow, too, one of my eyes [will still be] unfinished,
unfinished.” [287]
Then, contrary to the expectations of those in the house, he went round
behind the screen and a wonderful sight met his eyes, they say. A large
lake with several gravel points running into it lay there. The points
were red with cranberries. Canoe songs [288] resounded across it. Near
the stream which flowed out of this large lake they had a fire for
[drinking] salt water. [289]
Then some people came in from picking berries. As she walked past the
last one snuffed with her nose. “I smell a human being” [she said]. And
he said to her, “Say! it is I you are speaking about.” “It was the
yellow cedar-bark blankets of the chief’s child’s ten servants whom
they ate, which I am wearing that I smelt.” That was Mink-woman.[289]
And now he turned himself toward the fire which they had made [to warm]
salt water. When he got near, one among those sitting there in a group
said: “What will happen when they (her family) look for the chief’s
daughter?” “Why, what are you saying? When they look for the chief’s
child and return his father’s hat which he (the son) gave away, he (the
father) will make her sit down (i.e., restore her).”
After he had heard all the news he turned round. He remembered the
chief’s wife, ran back to the canoe and turned it over, but only the
chief’s wife’s bones lay there. Then he drew his coat off and rubbed it
upon her, and she awoke as if from sleep. She had been perspiring. He
put his arm into the canoe and pulled it into the water. After he had
let the chief’s wife in he came to the village. He tied her into the
canoe. He tied himself in the same way as the chief’s wife. He tied
himself as Property-woman had told him to do. They were there tied in
front of the chief’s house. As they floated there one came out of the
chief’s house and said: “Wait; they want the chief’s wife to remain
there. They are going to dance near by.” After she had remained there
for a while a thunderbolt [appeared to] drop in the house, they say.
By and by feathers came out of the smoke hole in a point. After it rose
into the air it broke off. Then it came to them in a point and struck
them, and they both forgot themselves.
They came to themselves lying on the retaining timbers. And then he
untied himself and the chief’s wife as well. When he could walk he
untied her. Her son-in-law sat opposite the door, and they spread out
mats for her below. Then they came down and sat in the middle of the
side. [290] Then one brought food in a small basket. In it were large
clam shells, small clam shells, and two mussel shells. They gave some
to the chief’s wife. They let her eat. After different kinds of food
had been brought out and eaten and all was gone, they brought a basket
to the fire, poured water into it, and put stones into the fire. When
these were red-hot they put them into the basket with wooden tongs.
It boiled. Then the chief said something to a youth who was walking
around the basket. Then he went into a storeroom in one corner and
brought out a whale on the end of a sharpened stick. He put it into the
basket. Now, when he had tried it with a stick and it had become soft,
he put the whale into a dish the shape of a chiton and laid it down
before them.
Now he again said something, and he (the youth) gave her old clam
shells to drink the soup out of. She was unable to drink with these.
Now she got her own basket and took out two large clam shells and two
mussel shells, whereupon the people all stopped in a moment as when
something is dropped. [291] And the chief, too, looked at nothing but
those mussel shells. When his eyes were fastened upon them she noticed
it and stopped.
Then she handed the shells to her husband’s slave and had him give them
to her son-in-law. He made a place for them [on his blanket]. Now,
after he had looked at them for a while, he said something, whereupon
they went to him to get them and put them away behind the screen.
In the evening those in the house went to sleep, and they (the
visitors) also went to sleep.
When day broke a young hair seal was crying in the corner of the house,
they say. At daylight they started off by canoe.
Now the canoe lay on top of the retaining planks. There he fastened the
chief’s wife, and he fastened himself in the stern. The thunderbolt
dropped behind the screens which pointed toward each other. When the
feathers came out from it in a point toward the fire and struck them
they forgot themselves. When they came to themselves they were on the
ocean.
Now he untied himself, went to the chief’s wife, and untied her. And
when they went off it was the middle of summer when the young hair seal
cry. He picked up his paddle and started paddling. After he had made
two strokes he reached his master’s town.
The chief’s wife went in and sat down. She related to her husband how
his daughter was situated. Then the slave also went to his master and
told him what those thought who had had a fire for salt water. He
repeated what they said to him word for word.
At once he spoke to the one who had charge of the fire. Two persons
went through the town summoning the people. Immediately they entered.
The house was full. Then he opened supplies of good food. He fed them.
He fed them all. When the food was all gone he told the town people
what he had in mind. He told the town people that he was going to look
for his daughter. All were well pleased. He told all the chiefs to
start in ten canoes. They agreed.
But the next morning his oldest boy had disappeared. When they began to
get ready the next day the youngest also was gone.
For the chief and the chief’s wife each they drew the figures of
cumulus clouds upon ten clam shells. As many mussel shells were inside
of these. He had ten drawn for the elder [son] and he had ten drawn for
the younger. The town people who were going away all gathered ten
apiece [for the men] and five apiece for the women. And after they had
got through gathering them they waited for the two sons who had gone
off to marry. They got tired of waiting for them because they wanted to
restore their sister. The town people had everything ready and were
awaiting them.
The elder got home at midday. His hair was fastened with cedar limbs.
“Mother, I have brought a wife to you. She stands outside. Go out and
get her.” So he spoke to his mother: “Oh! my child has come.” She
looked outside, and a woman stood there having curly hair parted and
large eyes. This was Mouse-woman.
After the youngest had been away for a while, he, too, came back at
midday. He came in, his hair fastened with a small fern. Hai hi hi hi
hi⁺⁺⁺. [292] “Mother, I bring a wife to you. She stands outside. Go out
and get her.” A wonderful person stood there. She was too powerful to
look at. Something short with curly hair and a copper blanket [stood
there]. “Chief-woman, come in.” She did not wish to enter. “She does
not wish to come in. She positively refuses, my child; your wife
positively refuses.” “Why! she goes by contraries,” he said to her as
he stood up. He went out to his wife, came in with her, and sat down.
Next day, very early, they went off. The town people all started out
together upon the ocean. The elder son’s wife sat up on one of the
seats, and the younger one’s wife concealed herself inside. She (the
former) sat up high to look after those who were starting off. She
always kept her small wooden box with her wherever she turned. When
they were all afloat she hunted in it and took out a bone awl. And she
put it into the water. The water rushed aside as it cut through. In
behind it they placed the canoe. The bone awl began to tow them along.
After they had been towed along, along, along, along, along for a
while, they came in sight of a broad band of smoke from a town. Some
distance from the town the elder brother’s wife told them all to land.
She talked to them. The elder brother had married Mouse-woman so that
they might follow her directions.
They stopped at this place, and she had them cut long sticks. They got
two poles at this place. The younger brother’s wife hid herself, but
the elder brother’s wife commanded the voyagers. The ten canoes were
still, and along the front of the bows and midway of the canoes they
put the sticks. They fastened them to thwarts by winding ropes around
them. [293] That was finished. Then they started for the front of the
town.
They stopped in front of the chief’s house, and one came out of the
chief’s house. “Wait, they direct you to remain still. They are going
to dance in front of you.” After they had remained there for a while,
they forgot themselves. Then they came to themselves lying on top of
the retaining planks. In the place where they woke up they untied
themselves. They also untied the poles that had been fastened upon the
canoes.
On top of the retaining planks they spread out mats. There were crowds
of people there on each side on the ten retaining planks. The chief’s
child was not there, the one they came after. Only her husband sat
there. Then they spread out two mats in front of the place where he
sat. In front of him the ten canoe loads of people laid their clam
shells. They filled the house up to the very roof. Now they laid the
hat on top of all. They gave it back to him.
“Come! send for my father. Tell him to hurry.” Then a youth started on
the run. “Is he coming?” “He is close by.” Whiu-u-u-u (sound of wind).
The house moved. The earth, too, shook. Of all the visitors who sat in
circles not one looked up. But, while they hung their heads, the
younger brother’s wife raised hers up. Then she looked toward the rear
of the house and toward the door. “Hold up your heads. Have you, also,
no power?” she said.
By and by the house shook again, and the ground with it. X̣u-u-u. The
people in the house again hung their heads. Now she said again “Hold
your heads up. Have you, too, no supernatural power?” At the same time
he came in and stood there. Something wonderful came in and stood
there. His large eyelids were too powerful to look at. Where he placed
his foot he stood for awhile. When he took another step the earth and
the house shook. When he took another step and the house and the earth
shook, all of the people hung their heads; but she (the youngest’s
wife) said to them, “Hold your heads up.” When she said it louder the
supernatural power that had entered took hold of his head. “Stop!
mighty supernatural woman that you are.” After that he came in. Nothing
happened. [294] He sat down near his son.
But when he first came in and sat down he laid his hands at once on his
hat.
With his father’s staff he divided the clam shells. He kept the smaller
part for himself. He made his father’s part large. “Did you send for
your wife, chief, my son?” “No, indeed; I have been waiting for you.”
“Send someone for your wife, chief, my son.” Then a youth went to call
her. “Is she coming?” “Yes; she approaches.” By and by the one whom
they were after came in from the cave where she had lain, and stood
there. But she went to her mother first. She did not go down to her
husband.
Then his father began to dance. After he had done so for a while, he
fell down. At once he broke in two in the middle. Out of his buttocks
feathers blew, and out of his trunk as well. One of the servants stood
up out of his buttocks, one out of his trunk, another out of his
buttocks, another out of his trunk. All ten whom he had eaten he
restored. [295] That was why he danced. On account of the hat he had
devoured the servants. He had put grease, too, into the mind of the
chief’s daughter by thinking. On account of the hat they put her in the
cave. By and by he came together. He stopped dancing. He sat down.
Now they put more wood on the fire, made them sit down in a circle, and
began to give them something to eat. The feast went on even until
midnight, when they stopped. They stopped. They went to bed.
When day began to break the young hair seals cried in the very place
where they had cried before. Then they prepared to start from the top
of the retaining timbers, where their canoes were lying.
Then her father-in-law called her. “Noble woman, [296] wait until I
give you directions.” And he whispered to her. He gave her directions
as she sat near him. “Chief-woman, I will come forth from your womb. Do
not be afraid of me.” And to her he gave a round plate of copper, to
which some strings and a chain were fastened. It was named X̣īłūtꜝā′ła
(Property chain (?)). “Have Master Carpenter make my cradle, chief’s
daughter. Let lofty cumulus clouds be around the upper edges,
chief-woman, and around its lower edges short ones. In those days human
servants (i.e., human beings) will gather food through me. When they
see me sitting in the morning the surface birds will gather food while
I am governing the weather (i.e., while I am in sight).” [297]
Her parents (“fathers”) were waiting for her on top of the retaining
timbers, but, below, her father-in-law was giving her directions, to
which she was listening. After he had ceased talking, she got into the
canoe with her father. They fastened the canoes to each other; they all
fastened themselves. After the chief’s child got in, all forgot
themselves. When they came to, they were afloat upon the ocean.
At once they started off. In a short time he came to his village. After
it had lain still for a long time the chief’s daughter became pregnant.
When she began to labor they made a house for her outside. They drove
in a stake, had her take hold of it, and went in. Now he came forth,
and, when she looked at him, she saw something wonderful. Something
flat stuck out from his eyelids. She rose quickly and ran away from him
in fright. “Awaiyā′,” she said, and the town was nearly overturned.
Then she quickly turned back toward him, laid her hands upon him, and
exclaimed as she picked him up: “Oh! my grandfather, it is I.” The town
was as still as when something is suddenly thrown down. She brought him
to the house. Her father put hot stones into a urinal he owned, and
they washed him. [298]
As soon as they went out for [Master Carpenter], he came on the run. He
held in his hand what he had taken off (i.e., cut out) [299] in the
woods. As soon as he came in he put the drawing on it, as the chief’s
daughter told him. He pictured the clouds upon it. There were two rows
of them. He made holes in the cradle for fastening the rope alongside
of his legs.
Then they put him in. They brought out two sky blankets and wrapped
them round him in the cradle. After that was done they launched the
canoe. Five persons and the chief’s daughter went with her son. Then
they started seaward. They went, they went, they went. When they found
by looking about that they were midway between the Haida country and
the mainland they let him down into the water. When they let him go he
turned around to the right four times and became like something flat
thrown down. Then they went away from him, and settled down at the
place where they had been before.
[He was the one who has his place in the middle of the sea. Sometimes
when sickness was about to break out they saw him. Nᴀñʟ̣da′ sʟas [300]
was a reef.]
[What follows is really a second story, but it was told as part of the
same. Its true name is said to be
“He-who-had-Panther-woman-for-his-mother.”]
Here on the Nass lay the town of Gu′nwa. Four slaves of the owner of
the town came down [the inlet] after wood. They cut the wood at a sandy
beach below the town and saw young cedars. They found them for the
chief’s wife. They did not believe their eyes [for joy at finding them
growing so conveniently to the water]. They finished cutting the wood,
loaded it on their canoe, and went up with the tide. At evening they
got back. The town people brought in the wood, and he (the chief)
called them in.
Then, after they had given away food for a while, he reported that they
had seen young cedars. At once the chief’s wife planned to go for the
bark. They went to sleep, and early in the morning she had her
husband’s canoe brought out. People of the town, the chief’s daughters
and young men, all went with her. At once they floated down with the
current. Hu hu hu hu hu, much food,—cranberries and salmon,—[they took
with them]. Then they went down.
When they landed by the young cedars all the women pulled off and
dragged down [the bark] from those [trees] near by. They pulled it off
and dragged it out to her. When they had taken all from those near at
hand they became scattered.
She (the chief’s wife) sat with her back to the sunshine, pulling cedar
bark apart. She was not in the habit of eating much. Her fingers were
slender. She did not care for food.
After the sounds of the voices of women and men had died away inland a
person wearing a bearskin blanket with the hair side out came and stood
near her. He held something like a pole. It had a sharp point. It was
half red, half blue. He was looking at the chief’s wife, but she did
not even glance toward him. He asked the chief’s wife: “How do you act
when your husband calls the people [for a feast]?” “When my husband
calls the people, I empty the whole dish placed in front of the one
sitting next to me into my mouth.”
She had children. One of the two boys she had could not creep.
“How do you act when your husband calls the people again?” “As soon as
my husband calls the people I put food into the dishes and, bending
down, eat out of them.” “How do you act when your husband comes in from
fishing?” “I go down, pull up my dress, swim out to him, and swallow
the two spring salmon which are on top.”
He drove the thing he had in his hand into her forehead, and, when it
stuck out at the back of her head and he had raised her arm, all of her
flesh dropped off. Then he sat down and entered it (her skin). And he
picked up her flesh and buried it in the sand at the foot of the tree.
After he had seated herself in the place of the chief’s wife, they came
down to her in crowds with the cedar bark.
All of them pulled their cedar bark apart. Among the crowds of people
that were there the chief woman did it. “Woman, I am hungry.” “Well,
there is a piece of white food in [my box].” “In mine, too.” “In mine,
too.” This [they said] because they wanted to have her eat.
The one who was quickest broke up the piece of food and placed it in
front of her. She ate all of the little they gave her. While she was
doing it, at which they were very much pleased, they started out. Later
than the usual time for going to sleep they reached home. They
explained that they had started back in the night because the chief’s
wife had begun to eat.
The chief commanded wood to be put on the fire. Then he called the
people. One of her children had nearly cried itself to death when she
reached home. When they handed it to her she pulled her teats out and
put one into her child’s mouth, but it ran away from her. It was
sucking a man. That is why it ran off crying.
The town people came in and sat down in a circle. After they had
roasted the salmon, had broken it up into small pieces, and had placed
some in a dish in front of the one sitting next to her she emptied it
all [into her mouth]. She did not chew it. When she emptied it into her
mouth the town people looked at her instead of eating. They were
astonished at the way in which she handled the food. But it was the
chief’s wife [they thought].
Next day his wife was again hungry, and again he called the people.
While they were in astonishment at her [actions], the elder brother
carried his younger brother along in front of the town. Both went
crying along. He called the people. Then they let her pour the berries
into a dish. To their surprise instead of doing so she bent over the
tray. The youths came back in a crowd with the empty trays. They were
astonished at what she did. It was not the chief’s wife that they saw.
Next day, very early, he (the elder brother) launched one of his
father’s canoes and put his younger brother in the bow. He paddled off
aimlessly out of Nass inlet, away from the town of Gu′nwa. After he had
gone down with the tide for a while a woman leaned halfway out from a
certain house and said: “Come hither.” The house had a front sewed
together with cedar limbs. [301] It was painted.
Then he directed his course toward it. After he had landed she said to
him: “Stop with me. To-morrow you shall go on.” She spread out mats
woven in many colors for them. The chief-woman sat on one side, the
elder brother next to her, and the younger lay on the other side of
him. Then she said to him: “Let your younger brother sit next to me.”
He picked him up and made him sit next to her.
For a long time he had had nothing to eat, since the time when they
were astonished at the actions of his mother. He was going to eat for
the first time with this woman. She turned round. Then she looked into
her box, took a dish out of it with the carving of a mouse on it, and
placed before him a single piece of salmon.
He bent down his head and thought: “After I have gone hungry for so
long this is very little for me to eat. What part will my brother eat?”
She was looking at his face and said to him: “Why, just as it is, the
supernatural beings are never able to pick it up and eat it.” He picked
it up, and his younger brother also picked it up. Yet it was still
there. After they had eaten it for a while they had enough and put [the
dish] back.
After the dry fish was finished she put down a cranberry for them as
well. As soon as he thought about that, too, she looked into his face
again and said to him: “Eat it. The supernatural beings are unable to
consume it.” Then he picked it up with a spoon and ate it. When they
were filled she put it back.
After it became dark she spread out the mat. There the chief-woman lay
down. The elder brother was going to lie next to her, but she said:
“Lay your younger brother next me.” He picked him up and laid him next
her. As soon as he laid him down he lay as still as one killed by a
club. For the first time after he had cried so long he slept.
While he (the elder brother) was asleep he heard a woman laugh, and it
awoke him. To his surprise his younger brother was playing with the
chief-woman. When his younger brother did a certain thing to the chief
woman [she exclaimed]: “Yu-ī′, now see how
He-who-came-to-have-Panther-woman-for-his-mother plays with me.” As
soon as the elder brother understood this he began to cry [from
jealousy]. At the same time day broke.
At daybreak he began to get ready to go somewhere without knowing
whither. Then she made him sit down. “Stop! let me tell you something.”
She brought her box out to the fire, took something blue out of it, and
bit off part for him. “Now, my grandson, if anything has too much power
for you, swallow this and spit it upon yourself.” Then she said to him:
“Right down the inlet lives the one whom you came to see, the one for
whose daughter you came. But your younger brother shall remain with me,
and after a while I will marry him.”
Then he went down with the current alone. He was expecting to meet
Sqä′g̣ał’s daughter. There lay the large town in which lived the woman
he came to marry. After he had walked about in the town for a while it
became dark. Then he entered Sqä′g̣ał’s house. He went in and sat down
close to the door. The chief’s child sat between the screens at the
rear of the house. Around her walked some women with their hair stuck
together in bunches. Her father set them to watch her so that she might
do nothing foolish. When day began to break, instead of going in to
her, he went outside.
He went round the front of the house and followed a narrow trail. At an
open place near water holes human bones were piled up, and a bull pine
stood there. In the branches of this he sat down. After he had been
sitting there for some time red spots from the rising sun appeared on
the open ground. Then the chief’s child came thither. The servant who
came in advance had a bone stuck in her nose. [302] She had a crooked
war club. The one who came behind was dressed in the same way. The
leader had a human scalp in her hands. Their hair was stuck together in
bunches. She was a Tlingit woman. The one behind was a Bellabella.
[303]
She sat down, untied her blanket, and was naked. Then she went into the
water, turned round four times, and came out. Then the Tlingit woman
rubbed her back. The Bellabella woman, too, rubbed her breast. After
they had finished rubbing her she went into the water a second time.
After she had turned round to the right she sat down on dry ground and
turned her back to the sunshine.
When her skin had begun to dry he came out and seized her. The moment
that he seized her he quickly touched noses. [304] One servant picked
up her weapons with the scalp, ready to strike him, and the other one,
too, was ready to strike him with the bone club. But she stopped them.
“Do not kill him. I will marry him.” The human bones lying around
belonged to those who, having become fascinated at the sight of her,
had seized her, and had presently been killed by the servants.
At the same place, beside the bull pine, they lay with each other. The
Tlingit woman sat down at her feet. The Kwakiutl woman sat at her head.
There they kept looking at her. When the sun was set all four went
home. Then she entered her father’s house. As she went in she concealed
her husband under her blankets. Her father had his eyes fixed upon her
and [said]: “My child, what makes you lame?” “Father, a shell made my
foot sore by cutting into it.” Then they went in together behind the
screens.
And in the evening the chief’s child lay behind the screens. Then he
lay with her, and he (her father) heard someone talking with his
daughter in the night. When day broke the chief commanded them to put
wood on the fire, and two slaves put wood on the fire. After it had
begun to burn up he said: “Come! look to see who is talking with my
child.” Then a young man went thither and said: “Someone is lying here
with her.” And her father said: “Alas! I wonder what roaming
supernatural being it is! Perhaps it is
‘He-who-had-Panther-woman-for-his-mother,’ whom I wanted my child to
marry.” “He says he is the one, father [said his daughter].”
Then he spread out a mat next to himself and said: “My child, come and
sit down near the fire with your husband.” Shortly she came down and
sat there with him. They put four hard stones into the fire. When they
became red-hot he put them into a dish standing near the wall with the
tongs. Then he had it set before his son-in-law. A spoon made out of
white rock was stuck into it. She was crying. “Hᴀ hᴀ hᴀ!” she wept, “he
is going to do again as he always does when I try to get married. That
is how he kills them.” Then he said to his wife, “Do not utter a word.”
Now he took the spoon, picked up one of the red-hot stones and
swallowed it. His insides were not affected. He handled all four in the
same way. He finished with them.
This was because his supernatural power was strong. If his supernatural
power had been weak, he would have been killed. Because his
supernatural power was strong he let him marry his daughter.
While he was living with this woman he and his younger brother, who had
become the husband of Mouse-woman, forgot how their mother had begun to
act strangely.
One day he lay abed a long time. He lay until evening. He was there
when they went to sleep. Next day he again lay abed. Again he was there
till they went to sleep. He lay abed two days. “My child” [said his
father-in-law], “why is your husband feeling badly?” She said: “I do
not know.” Then she went over to her husband, sat down at the head of
his bed, and talked a while to him. Then she said to her father: “He
has suddenly become desirous to see his younger brother, whom he left
just above here.” “Now, chief-woman, go with your husband to the common
canoe I own over there in the woods.”
And they went thither. To their surprise they did not find the canoe.
Only the bones of a whale lay there among the salmon-berry bushes. Its
tail bones lay [with the rest]. Then they returned and she said to her
father: “Father, we could not find it. Only a whale’s head lies there.”
Then he said to her: “Chief-woman, my daughter, that was it. Say to it
‘Go seaward, father’s canoe.’”
When she went back to it with her husband she kicked it. “Go seaward,
father’s canoe,” she said to it. Now a whale canoe floated upon the
water. The lines cut on the edges [305] were pictures of geese, which
almost moved their wings. And they carried their stuff down to it. The
canoe was all filled with good food, with cranberries, berries in
cakes, soapberries, and the fat of all kinds of animals, grizzly-bear
fat, mountain-goat fat, deer fat, ground-hog fat, beaver fat—the fat
parts of all mainland animals; and he got into the canoe and pressed it
down with his feet toward the bow. When the canoe was nearly full those
who were loading it went up to the house and laid pieces of whale meat,
with most of the grease taken out, in a basket. When it was full they
took it down. And they laid it on the top.
When they were ready to start, her father came out; [he said]: “My
child, when the creatures seated on both sides call throw cranberries
into their mouths. When they become hungry they keep calling.”
As soon as they moved their wings the canoe started. While they did so
the canoe went along. By and by, when his brother’s wife’s house came
in sight, they shoved off Mouse-woman’s canoe also. They also loaded
her’s with good food. When it was filled they pressed it toward the bow
with their feet. By and by it was filled, and they started off
together.
As soon as the geese along the edges of the elder brother’s canoe began
to call he took out cranberries and put them into their mouths. Along
the edges of the younger one’s canoe sat rows of small human figures.
All had small painted paddles in their hands. With these they paddled.
As soon as they began to move their lips as if hungry he fed them.
When they came near to the place where they had gone to get cedar bark,
the younger brother’s wife and the elder brother’s wife sat upright.
And they said: “Move shoreward.” Now they got off there. They had
sticks in their hands, and they hunted in the sand with them from the
sea inland. By and by they dug out the bones of a human being in front
of a tree at the edges of the grass. The canoes floated on the water in
front of them. Their husbands were looking at them.
Mouse-woman took out her box. Sqäg̣ał’s daughter, too, took out her box.
Sqäg̣ał’s daughter brought out of her box a mat with edges like clouds.
Mouse-woman took out something from her box also and bit off a part.
Now they put the mat over her and began to rattle her bones under it.
Underneath this Mouse-woman spit many times. Then they (i.e.,
Mouse-woman) told Sqäg̣ał’s daughter to hurry: “Quick, hasten your mind,
noble woman.” Then she, too, said: “It is [for you to do so], noble
woman. You had better hurry yourself; it is getting late.” Then she
pulled off the mat. Ah! their mother-in-law got up. He looked at his
mother; both [boys], in fact, [did so].
They had her get into the canoe of the younger and went up with the
tide to Gunwa, their father’s town. The younger brother’s wife hid her
mother-in-law. They were anxious to see how their [supposed] mother
would act when they arrived. When they got near the town, the wife of
the younger ordered the canoes to be brought close together. The town
was thrown into commotion. They reported to each other that the chief’s
son and his younger brother, who had gone away, had both married. The
people who came down to meet them were like warriors going to fight. In
front came his mother putting her belt on as she ran to carry up the
things. She acted differently from the others.
Then the elder brother’s canoe landed first, and Sqäg̣ał’s daughter
stood near the basket. “Come hither, woman. Carry up my basket.” Then
she went to it and was going to carry it with the strings around her
head. Sqäg̣ał’s daughter prevented her. She wished her to carry it the
right way [with the straps around her breast]. When she carried it, the
weight made her stagger as she went up. She got into the house with it.
How huge it was! Afterward they at once carried up the other things.
After they had pulled up the canoe, the younger one’s canoe also came
to the shore. A big basket was in it, the strings on which were just
like a knife. Mouse-woman stood near it. Then she called her
mother-in-law from the place where she was carrying things up. “Come
hither, woman. Carry up my basket.” Then her mother-in-law came to her,
and was about to put the basket strings around her head. But [the
other] forbade her. And she did as she was told.
When she started to carry it up the strings cut her head off. Her head
lay at some distance. At once Mouse-woman took a whetstone out of her
box, quickly got ashore, and put it between her head and her trunk,
which were drawing together. After she had ground herself to pieces
foam was piled up on either side.
Now she let out her mother-in-law. At that time they came down in a
crowd and got her. They did it because they were glad to see her. To
kill her mother-in-law was the purpose for which Mouse-woman let
herself marry the boy. A crowd of people carried the property up. Then
she said to her husband: “Leave me. I married you to restore your
mother to life.” At once she pushed the canoe off and vanished
downstream with the current. There was no trace of her left.
After that the elder brother’s wife lived as a chief’s wife. Then she
became pregnant, Sqäg̣ał’s daughter did. She bore a boy. Again she was
pregnant. She bore another boy. [She bore seven boys.] There was one
girl.
Sqäg̣ał’s children made their town at Qꜝadō′, opposite Metlakahtla.
Their mother and their sister lived with them. All eight went out to a
beaver pond to hunt. When they had at length come to the lake, and had
made a hole in one end of the dam, a stick was carried into the
shoulder of the eldest by the force of the current. He died there.
Then they went away. And at midnight they came behind the house. Then
they sent out the youngest and gave him the following directions:
“Speak to our mother. And also watch your elder brother’s wife. She
must be unfaithful to him. She must be going with another man. That is
why our brother is [dead].”
He went off, entered his mother’s side of the house, laid his hand on
his mother’s head, and said to his mother: “The beaver dam drifted down
upon my elder brother. One piece drifted into his neck. He dropped dead
without speaking a word.” Then she said: “Alas! my child.” “Stop! we do
not want him spoken of before the people. Do not say a word.”
When she had wakened the people in the house by her exclamation, they
asked her: “What made you say that?” and she said, “I dreamed of
something terrible. I dreamed that a beaver dam floated into my eldest
son and he dropped dead without saying a word. That was what made me
cry out.”
After he had lain flat on the floor near his mother, and midnight had
come, he heard some one talking with his elder brother’s wife. When it
was near daylight, they stopped whispering. Then he crept over to them.
And as the man slept he cut off his head.
After they had sat there in the woods for a while day came, and they
went home. They had a real human head in their hands. The youngest
brother put his head above the door. Out of it blood oozed in drops.
The chief’s son [in Metlakahtla] was lost, and they were looking for
him everywhere. They stopped inquiring for him. The town of Metlakahtla
lay there. By and by a north wind began to blow. The sea surface froze,
even to Qꜝadō′. They began to walk to and fro to each other on the ice.
Very early one morning a slave went to the town of Qꜝadō′ for live
coals. “Enter the middle house,” they said to him. And when he went in
blood dropped upon his feet. When he pushed the charcoal into the fire,
he turned his head around from looking at the side opposite the door.
Above the door, to his astonishment, he saw the head of the chief’s son
who had disappeared. He recognized him by the abalone-shell earrings he
wore.
He picked up the live coals and started away with them. When he came to
the ice he threw the coals away. Then he returned. Though he had looked
right at it, he did not believe himself. And he went in again, and
again he put the coals into the fire. After he had looked about the
house for a while he fastened his eyes upon it again. It was really the
chief’s son. Then he went away with the burning coals.
When he was halfway back he also threw those coals away. He thought: “I
must have been mistaken.” Then he went back again. He entered, and he
put [fresh charcoal] into the fire. And as soon as he had done so, he
looked. It was truly he. He saw with his eyes. Then he started off with
the burning coals.
Just outside he threw them away. At once he ran off shouting. “The head
of the chief’s son who disappeared forever is stuck up in this house,”
he shouted out as he ran. As soon as they heard his voice from the town
they did not delay. They put on their armor, shields, helmets. And they
ran to fight with war spears and bows and arrows. At once they fought
with Sqäg̣ał’s children.
She and her mother were the only ones from among her kindred who were
saved. Her brothers, however, they destroyed. They (the two women) came
to live in a branch house in front of a hill behind the town. She lived
there some time with her daughter. Every evening she cried. They went
to bed, and they continued to lie there.
One day she offered her daughter in marriage: “Djīnâ′-â-â, nałgū-ū-ūs
Ga′oax (Tsimshian words).” [306] A large creature came running in at
the side toward the door. “I will marry your daughter.” “What will you
do when you marry my daughter?” “Oh, bother! after I have married your
daughter I will come out at one end of the town and eat them all up
from the end. I will eat them all.” That was Grizzly-bear.
At once she said the same thing again: “Djīnâ′-â-â, djīnâ′-â-â
nałgū-ū-ūs Ga′oax.” Something with crooked legs came in. “I will marry
your daughter.” “After you have married my daughter what will you do
for us?” “I will tip the town over by digging it up with my teeth.”
That was Beaver.
“Djīnâ′-â-â, djīnâ′-â-â nałgū′-ū-ūs Ga′oax.” “What will you do after
you have married my daughter?” “I [will] run into the water at the end
of the town. Then they [will] take me into some canoe, and I [will]
make them quarrel. Then all the townspeople will kill each other.” That
was Deer.
Still another time [she cried]: “Djīnâ′-â-â, djīnâ′-â-â nałgū-ū-ūs
Ga′oax.” [307] Someone came in and stood there. He had a bow for a
staff. Feathers were around it in one place. He held arrows with it in
his hand. He had a quiver on his back. He had dancing leggings. He had
a gable-crowned hat. He did not say a word. “What are you going to do
if you marry my daughter?” He took a heavy step with his right foot.
The earth cracked. “Stop! stop! great chief, you are the one.” Then the
earth closed again. “Indeed, I thought that you had your daughter for
me.”
He took off his hat. He laid aside his quiver. He started off with only
two arrows and his bow. He rolled a grizzly bear down from a steep
place with his foot. There he also rolled down a deer and a beaver.
Again he started off. He brought a post out on his shoulder. He put it
into the ground, and without waiting, pulled it out. He went to the
other side and did the same thing there, also toward the door, and on
the other side. There he let it stay.
Again he went off. He brought out a wall post. In the rear of the house
he stuck it in, in the other corner, on the side toward the door, in
the corner opposite to that.
He went off. He brought out a stringer. He put it up and, after he had
moved it backward and forward a while, he took it over to the other
side. He put it up on the wall posts, too, and on the opposite side.
There he let it stay.
Again he went off. He brought a plank out on his shoulder. He set it up
on edge above the side opposite the door, and he rolled it over. By
doing this again and again he completed half [of the roof]. He did the
same to the other half of the roof. He filled up that, too.
Again he went away. He brought out a wall plank. He stood it up, shoved
it along, and one side of the front was filled. He treated the other
side and the side opposite the door in the same way. He treated both
sides of the house in the same way. [308]
The house was finished. He went away. He brought two white rocks. He
rubbed them against each other and laid them down under the smoke hole.
The fire burned continually. It was never extinguished.
After that his mother-in-law kept cutting up and bringing in mountain
goats and grizzly bears. Afterward she cooked them. He took his quiver
and his bow. He put on his hat, took up his wife, and went away with
her. He was the son of One-who-goes-along-above (i.e., the moon).
After he had lived with her in his father’s house for a while he had a
child by her. She bore a boy. Again she gave birth to a boy. [She gave
birth to eight.] Again she gave birth. She gave birth to [two] girls.
The eldest son was called “Puncher” (X̣ᴀtagī′a). [309] The youngest girl
was called “One-who-sucks-arrow-points-from-wounds.” The next one he
named “One-who-heals-the-place-where-the-arrows-strike.” His
grandfather called the eldest boy to him, took out his bones, and put
stones in in place of them. He filled up all parts of his body with
stones.
One day he gave ten slaves to the eldest. To the next he also gave ten
slaves. He gave ten apiece to all eight. He made a row of houses for
them, all sewed together with cedar limbs. On the house front of the
eldest he put the figure of a thunder-bird. On that of the next one he
put the figure of a sculpin. On that of the next he put the figure of a
rainbow. On that of the next he put the figure of a killer whale. On
that of the next he put the figure of a human being. On that of the
next one he figured stars. On that of the next he put the figure of a
cormorant. On that of the next he put the figure of a sea gull. To the
eldest brother he gave a spear box. Along with it he gave an arrow box.
He gave to all eight of them in the same way. Then he put two
marten-skin blankets around each of their two sisters.
He sat in front of his grandchildren’s town and called for them. Then
they picked up their weapons and practised fighting each other. By and
by one was shot. Then the elder sister went out and sucked the arrow
out of him. The younger sister went thither, spit on her palms, and
rubbed them on him. Immediately he was fighting among the ten. Both [of
the women] walked about among them. They tried particularly to shoot
them. Instead of penetrating, the weapons rebounded from the blankets.
That was why he gave the blankets to them. Thus they turned out good
[warriors], and he had them cease fighting.
One day he began to let his grandchildren’s town down. He pulled apart
the heavy floor planks, looked down, and saw the houses of Metlakahtla
and [the site of] Qꜝadō′ among human beings. At midnight he let down
the house of the eldest. When it struck the ground there was a sound of
rattling planks. From the town of Metlakahtla one cried “Wā-ā-ā-ā-ā,
ghosts are settling down”. So he heard some one cry. He let down two of
them. He let down three.
The youngest received the following directions from his grandfather:
“When you run away because they are too much for you put a wooden wedge
having a drawing on it into the fire for me. Say to it ‘Tell my
grandfather.’”
All that time the Metlakahtla people shouted “Wā-ā-ā-ā-ā, ghosts are
coming down.” Eight had come down. It was wonderful to see smoke
rolling from them in the daylight. In front of the town people walked
about in crowds. They wore feathers in their hair. They longed much to
see them. Then they sent a slave across in a canoe for live coals. They
told him to go into the middle house, which had the figure of a
thunder-bird on it.
He landed in front and shoved his coals into the fire. To his surprise
he recognized Ga′oax there cooking parts of an animal. It was she whose
sons they had killed. From rear to front gambling was in progress.
Those watching the gambling stood about in crowds. He looked on. She
(i.e., Ga′oax) threw a fat piece of meat to him [saying]: “Here is some
ghosts’ food for you to taste.”
He went out. Then he threw away the burning coals and paddled across.
He reached home, but instead of eating the fat he carried it up. He
entered his master’s house and said: “Say! did you kill Ga′oax?” At
once they called all the town people, and they questioned one another:
“Did you kill Ga′oax?” Some said “Yes;” some, “No.” Some thought that
she had got safely into the woods.
While they were still in the house one, full of mischief, [310] bit off
some of the mountain goat meat. They looked to see him drop dead where
he stood. Presently he said: “Why, it passed into me all right. All of
you taste it. Swallow it. This is human beings’ food.”
One among them said: “Well! let us gamble with them. Then you can see
whether Ga′oax got safely into the woods.” With that intention they
went to bed, and next day, early in the morning, the town chief
launched his canoe. The town, the chiefs and the middle-aged, all went.
They went across.
After they had landed there they went into the middle house, and those
who were gambling put away their gambling sticks. At once they began
gambling with these instead. The town chief started to gamble with the
elder brother. But Ga′oax spread out grizzly bear skins around the
inside of the house. She and the young people began to give them food.
The elder brother was left-handed. He had laid the gambling-sticks down
on that side. On the same side lay his bone club. After gambling had
gone on for some time he stopped the town chief, who was handling the
sticks. “You are cheating me” [he said]. And he replied: “No, indeed; I
am not cheating you.” In spite of that he insisted upon it for a long
time. After they had disputed for some time, the town chief threw fine
cedar bark into his face. Then he struck him on the head with his war
club. He killed him.
The house was in an uproar. They picked up their weapons, and the
Metlakahtla people as well. They began to fight. While the fighting
went on the two sisters walked about among them. Although they were
struck with the spears, the latter always broke upon them. After the
fight had gone on for a while one had an arrow point break off in him.
He was wounded badly. When he was about to lie down the elder sister
sucked his wound and sucked it out. Then the other sucked it, spit upon
her hand, and rubbed on the wound. Then he got up again and fought with
them.
The fight went on until the dawn of the next day, and continued then
and the day after. Now they began to drive the people of Qꜝadō′ back.
When that happened the youngest brother ran over to the house, drew
something upon a partly used wooden wedge, said to it: “Carry the news
to my grandfather,” and threw it into the fire. [311]
Then it at once came into the front part of the house and said: “Your
grandchildren are beginning to be hard pressed.” Now he looked down
between the floor planks. To his surprise his grandchildren, who were
fighting for revenge, were being driven back. The eldest brother was
naked. He fought among them with his fists. When he struck one, he did
not get up again. He looked down upon all this. He turned around, went
to get his small, square box and, when he had opened five boxes, one
within the other, he took from the last something [shaped like skeins
of yarn], covered with the sky and tied up with rope. After he had
looked down for a while, he threw it down upon the people of
Metlakahtla. Then their legs only were visible. At these they struck,
and they killed all. These were called Clouds-of-the-Killer. [312]
Although this is the second story of the Skedans series, it was the
first of them that I took down, my informant choosing to tell the Raven
story last, and it is the second Haida story recorded by me. In
consequence, the form in which it appears is rougher than that of most
of the others, and certain points will seem obscure at the first
reading. As noted in the text and translation, there are really two
stories combined under one head. To the first the name properly
belongs, and this may be a real Haida story, but the second,
“He-who-had-Panther-woman-for-his-mother,” is a well-known Tsimshian
tale. Nevertheless, my informant stoutly maintained that the story was
always told in this combined form. Probably, the common episode of the
marriage of two chiefs’ sons to women having supernatural power was the
occasion for placing them together. The name given for Panther-woman,
Sîmn’â′sᴀm, is Tsimshian.