[Told by Walter McGregor of the Sea-lion-town people]
He and his wife were the only two in the town. An eel had destroyed the
town people. A big dog also stayed with them. Her husband went fishing
and always stopped at a fishing ground right in front of the town. In
his absence his wife went digging spruce roots, and the dog always went
with her. When her husband came home she steamed a lot of halibut for
him, putting it in a big tray. And he sat above it. And, when he began
to eat, his wife looked toward the door. She was afraid to look at him.
When her husband went fishing again she did the same thing.
One day, as she bent down to dig roots, something startled her by
touching her buttocks. She looked toward it. Lo! he (the dog) came to
her, and she cried hard. And, when her husband again came from fishing,
she steamed food for him again, set it before him, and turned round
toward the door. Shortly she became pregnant.
One day, while her husband was out fishing, she gave birth. She gave
birth to a dog. A second one came forth and another. It went on this
way until there were nine. The middle one always showed its teeth. That
was the one that was going to be brave. The youngest came forth with
medicine in its mouth. Last of all a bitch came forth. Counting that
one there were ten.
Then her heart was not strong enough to kill them, and she put grass
into the cellar and put them into it together. And, when her husband
came home, she did not look as if anything had happened. And next day,
when her husband went fishing, she again went to dig roots.
As soon as she had gone out from the house, a noise arose inside of it.
They were wrestling with each other there. The bitch was talking. Then
she went back. She peeped in at the door. Upon a pole in the rear of
the house hung their skins. In another place they were playing with one
another. And, when she made a noise with the door, they quickly took
down their clothing. In a short time they were lying near the fire with
their feet drawn together. Then she put them into the cellar again.
And, when her husband came home, he asked her: “My child’s mother, what
made the noise in this town?” “The dog was playing. He was running over
the floor planks.”
Next day her husband again went fishing. Afterward she went after roots
again. No sooner had she got out than a noise arose inside of the
house. At that time she did not return so soon. Then she gathered a
quantity of dry firewood and looked in again. Again the skins hung upon
the pole in the rear of the house. And, when she made a noise with the
door again, they went over quickly and pulled their skins down. They
lay around the fire. And again she put them into the cellar. When
Łᴀguadjî′na came home again he asked her: “My child’s mother, what made
the noise in the town?” “The dog was playing with himself and made a
noise on the floor planks.”
When he went fishing again, the dog lay on the opposite side of the
fire. Then she threw a stone at him and said to him: “Who does not get
wood for the mother of his children?” And he got up. He shook himself
and went out. Then there was a noise behind the house, and she looked
at him between the house planks. One with a big knot of hair which fell
below his buttocks and a striped skin rolled the firewood about. After
the noise had gone on for a while outside, he came in. He shook himself
and lay down again on the opposite side of the fire.
When her husband came home he asked her: “Where did that good firewood
come from?” “Why, that is [from a tree] which fell behind us and which
I rolled out to an open place.”
Next day her husband went fishing again, and she went after roots. Just
before she went out, she put wood on the fire. Soon after she went out
a noise arose in the house. Then she crept quietly thither. She had
shut the door to easily. When she looked in [she saw that] the skins
were again hung in the rear of the house. They were pushing each other
about.
After she had looked for a while they pushed each other toward the
corner, and she ran in quickly. She gathered the skins together quickly
and put them into the fire. At once they burned up. Then they sat in a
row on the other side from her. One among them was a woman.
Then she said to them: “My children, when your father comes home and
eats, do not look toward him. After he is through eating I will let you
eat also. People never look him in the face.”
Then Sawałī′xa ran out. His father was fishing seaward. He said, “Hō
hū′-u-u-u hū. [488]” The more his mother tried to stop him, the more he
shouted. When he (her husband) came home she again steamed food for
him. After she had laid it before him she turned her face from him
toward the door. Before he had eaten Sawałī′xa arose, picked up a fat
piece from the edge of a split fish, and stood around eating it. After
he had finished it, he picked up another. When he had finished that as
well he pushed away the tray.
And he called to his wife: “My child’s mother, bring my cape to me.”
Then she brought it to him, and he put it on. Then he called for the
eldest: “Come here, my child, while I sing a song for you.” Then he
went to him. After he had sung for a while he pulled him closer to his
breast. He was as one who has gone to sleep. “My child is asleep. Let
me lay him down.”
And he called for another. He also went to him, and, after he had sung
for him for a while, he pulled him close to himself. He acted like the
other. “My child is asleep.”
After he had done this for a while, he got through with eight. Then he
called the last one, who had medicine in his mouth. After he had sung
to him for a while and pulled him closer to himself, he spit the
medicine upon his chest. Something sharp, like glass, fell from him and
stuck into the floor planks. Then he brought the back of his cloak
round in front. And, after he had sung for him again and pulled him
closer to himself, he again spat medicine upon his breast. From that
also the needles fell off. [489]
Now he became angry with him, and he was pushing him toward his
whetstone, which stood on edge in the rear of the house pointing toward
the fire. When he touched it, it ground the skin off of his side. He
put the medicine upon his palms and rubbed it upon himself, and it
became well. After they had wrestled for a while he threw his father
down there. It ground away, and he was ground to pieces. He killed his
father quickly.
Then he went to his elder brothers, who were lying about, laid them
together, and spit medicine upon them. They all got up. [Each said] “I
guess I must have been sleeping here.” All got up, and they continued
to live in that house.
Their names are as follows: The eldest was called G̣osg̣aʟ̣ē′kꜝa; [the
next] He-whose-skin-is-of-white-rock, the next one, The-left-handed. He
was a brave fellow. He who was full of mischief was named Sawałī′xa,
and one was called Łg̣añā′ʼo. He who had medicine in his mouth was
called ʟā′ga-na′qatî. [490]
Then they asked their mother: “Say! mother, why is this town empty?”
“My child, a supernatural being at the south end of the island
destroyed your uncles. Since then it has remained this way.” Then they
said to each other: “To-morrow we will go and look at it.” And next day
they went and looked at it. It lived in a cave. In front of it was a
pile of human bones. They looked and went away.
Then they made something with which to kill it. All nine twisted cedar
limbs. Afterward they spliced them. And then they twisted them
together. They made it long. It was also stout. Next day they went to
it. When they arrived they strangled their sister and fastened her on
the end of a pole. They used her as bait. They set the snare in front
of its den. After they had held their sister in front of it for a
while, it came out, and they drew her out before it.
When the snare was even with its middle they pulled it up. They also
pulled in their sister quickly and spit medicine upon her. At once
their sister seized the end of the rope. After they had pulled against
it for a while and began to be pulled down on top of each other the
cord broke, and they fell backward in a heap. Then they went home.
And after they had thought for a while what they could use with which
to catch it they began digging roots. They traveled around upon the
island of Gᴀsqo. [491] Upon it they got roots. And they also twisted
those. When the rope was long, they went to it again. They again used
their sister as bait. Again they put the snare in front of it. When it
put its head through, they slipped the knot down to its middle. Again
they pulled their sister in quickly, again they spat medicine upon her,
and again she seized the end of the rope. After they had been pulled
down many times, as they held this, it broke, and they fell backward in
a heap. Then they went away again.
And they took dry strings lying upon the beach. As they went around the
island they carried them along. After that they spliced them. At once
they twisted them. When it (the rope) became long, they went over there
again. Again they used their sister as bait. When that also broke, they
gave it up. Nothing was left that they could use.
And, after they had lived there for a while, a wren chirped in the
corner of the house. It said “Guda′dixa-i” (“sinews”). [492] Then they
felt strange about what it said, and all made blunt-pointed arrows and
bows. Then they began traveling about upon the island. Each kept coming
in with three or four [wrens]. At once their sister pulled out the
sinews, after which they twisted them together. It was slender.
When this was long they went to it again. They set the snare in front
of it. Again they used their sister as bait. When he again came out
they slipped the knot over him. They pulled their sister away quickly
and spit medicine upon her. At once she was pulling along with them.
All pulled upon it. It stretched out smaller. But when it touched the
face of a rock, that fell over. They were saying: “Think yourself wren
sinews.” [493]
After they had pulled at it for a while, something cracked at the
bottom of the island, and they pulled it up. They cut its belly open.
They cut human bones out. Then they laid the bones together. If one
part were missing, they broke off pieces of old limbs of trees and put
them in instead. Immediately ʟā′ga-na′qatî spit upon it. And they said
to them: “Go to the places where you used to live.” They killed him,
and they went home. That was Supernatural-eel, they say.
And, after they had lived there for a while, their sister became
menstruant for the first time. By and by [they heard] some one talking
to their sister. They did not know who it was that talked. And again
some one talked to their sister. Then they put pitch on the mat. And
again some one was talking with their sister. In the morning they
bathed in the sea. [494] When they came in from it, there were spots of
pitch on the side of him who was mischievous. Then they pushed him from
one to another. They laughed at him. [495]
Then their mother said to them: “I guess they are laughing because the
Djugî′tg̣a’s head is going to be hung up in front of their menstruant
sister.” [496] At once they inquired of an old man who lived at one end
of the town. They asked about the thing their mother spoke of. And they
gave him twisted cedar limbs. They also gave him strong bones to make
gimlets out of and Indian tobacco. He told them where its place was. He
told them that it slept there, and he said it was easy to approach it.
Immediately they borrowed a fast canoe. They borrowed
Fast-rainbow-trout’s [497] canoe. Then he stood in the middle, and,
when they paddled all together, he shot an arrow [forward]. It fell
into the water abreast of the middle of the canoe. Then they also
borrowed Steel-head’s canoe, and, as he shot an arrow, they paddled. It
fell near the stern of the canoe. But still they did not think it was
fast enough.
Then they also borrowed Jellyfish’s canoe. It had a stern at each end.
They could pull it either way. It was not good looking. But they
borrowed it. He said: “I will go along with you.” They burned the
bottom of it. Then they put it into the water. One stood in the middle
and he (the jellyfish) stuck in his tentacles far off. When they used
their paddles he shot an arrow. It fell far back in their wake.
Then they pulled it up and prepared to go in it. Presently, when it was
smooth at sea, they went to the old man. He was Heron, they say. “It is
a fine day” [they said]. And he said to them: “No, brave men, it is a
bad day.”
By and by there was a foggy morning. The mist was falling on the water.
Then he went to them. He sat outside. “Launch your canoe. It is a fine
day. At noon the mist will melt away under the sunshine.” Then he gave
them directions. “When it sleeps phosphorescent light shines in its
eyes. Then go to it. When there is no phosphorescent light in its eyes
do not go to it.”
Then they started off. After they had gone along for a while [they] saw
the phosphorescent light in its eyes. They had blue hellebore and
urine, which they had let rot, in their canoe. They took its hair into
their canoe noiselessly. Presently they cut off its head and put it in.
Jellyfish stuck his tentacles into the land. Their paddles they also
plied together. Under their bow the current flowed so fast as to make
cracks [in the sea]. Into it they poured the blue hellebore and urine.
On the other side the current also cracked itself by its passage. They
treated that in the same way. At once they were in front of the town.
In a short time they had hung its head up in front of their sister.
Long hair hung down from it.
Next day some one came singing out of the ocean. [498] He had a cane.
It was red. He came in front of the town and stood there. “Give me my
son’s head or I will tip over your town,” he said. [499] Then two ran
quickly over to the old man. “Old man, what shall we do? He says he
will upset the town.” “After you have gone to the end of the town,
cover it with hard white stones. Cover it from bottom to top.”
Immediately they ran over and did so. And again he said: “Give me my
son’s head or I will upset the town.” Then Sawałī′xa said: “Tip it
over.” He struck the end of the town with the red thing he held.
Instead of falling it sounded like a drum. He struck it in front and
from above. But it only sounded like a drum. Then he gave it up and
went out to sea. He vanished into the ocean.
Next day he again came singing some songs. After him came a crowd of
red things. Those were fleas, they say. Then they went quickly to the
old man and asked him: “What shall we do?” “Steam urine and pour it out
toward them.” Then they did as he said. “Give me my son’s head.” Then
the fleas came toward the house, and they poured urine around upon
them. After they had killed half of them he again started seaward. He
disappeared into the ocean.
Next day he came again. He carried his staff. Some objects flew in a
crowd after him. Those were sīxasʟtꜝᴀ′lgaña, [500] they say. Again they
inquired of the old man, and he told them to make blunt arrows. And
they did as directed. When he had said “Give me my son’s head,” they
came quickly to the houses. Then they went out to them and shot them.
After they had destroyed half of those also he went off.
The day after this he again sang some songs. Behind him the surface of
the ocean came burning. At this time they again ran over to the old
man. He said to them (lit. “him”): “Now, brave men, nothing at all can
be done. Save yourselves by flight.” At once they fled away with his
head. The land burned after them. When one of them was burned up, he
threw it to another. This went on until only he who had medicine in his
mouth was left. When his side was partly burned he rubbed the medicine
upon it, and it became as it had been before. By and by he threw it
(the head) into the fire. It stopped there and went back.
Afterward he started along. He hunted where his brothers had been
burned. There was not a sign of their bones there. After he had gone on
for a while he called to the one who was mischievous “Sawałī′hū′⁺.”
“Here.” And where it sounded he went. Their bones lay there all
together. Then he spit medicine upon them. They got up. Each said: “I
guess I must have slept a long time.” Then they went seaward toward the
open ground again.
And they rebuilt their house, which was all burned. They restored their
mother and their sister, and again they began living there.
One time [they heard] some one talking to their sister. He was lying
with her in the morning. That was North, they say. When he warmed
himself before the fire he warmed only his side. And the one who was
full of mischief was surprised at it and began making shavings. He
dried them. He whittled up pitchwood among them. He put it with the
rest.
One day, very early, his brother-in-law warmed himself. He stretched
his blanket over the fire. Then he also reached over the fire and threw
the shavings into it. When it blazed up, he threw himself backward. Lo!
his penis struck upon his belly. Then they laughed at him. And he said
to them: “You are laughing at me. You will indeed stand against me.”
[501] And next day he went off.
Then he hung blackly about the head of the Stikine river. Snow fell
from him. Then one went out to look. He was lost. Then another went to
look, and he, too, was lost. It went on in this way until all of them
had disappeared. Only he who had medicine in his mouth was saved. Then
he also went to look.
As he went he saw that his elder brothers had been frozen to death. He,
too, got stuck on freezing ice but spit medicine upon himself, and the
ice fell from him. He made straight for the black place in the sky. And
he arrived. Out of his (North’s) anus ice hung. He wet the points of
his arrows with medicine and shot the ice. He ran away, and ice fell in
the place where he had been. He did the same thing again. Then he went
away.
As he went along he spit medicine upon his elder brothers who had been
frozen in their tracks. At once they walked along with him. All went
along together.
And, after they had gone along for a while, they came to where a
certain person lived. He gave them food, as was usual, and they slept
there that night. Then Sawałī′xa remained awake. The one to whom they
had come in lay in a corner. He got up, tied fine cedar bark upon the
end of a stick which hung above him, and let them breathe on it. Then
he went out with it, and Sawałī′xa went out after him. Near a rill of
water was a piece of cedar full of holes, out of one of which he pulled
a plug. Into it he pushed the cedar bark. Sawałī′xa was looking at him.
And before him he came in, and he pretended to be asleep. Presently he
also came in.
Then he, in turn, put the cedar bark to his breath. And he went out,
and Sawałī′xa pulled out the thing that had been stuck in and pushed
his in. Then he went to bed. The next day, after he had given them some
food, he took a bath. Afterward he became sick. He said that his back
and his head were sick. “I must have done it to myself.” Presently he
was dead. That was Greatest Wizard, they say. Then they went off. They
came to their house.
By and by they started traveling again. They hunted birds. Then one
disappeared. It went on that way until all were gone. He who had
medicine in his mouth let himself be last. He followed the footprints
of his elder brothers. When he saw his elder brothers sitting upon a
broad stump he did not feel how he got there, but he was sitting among
them.
Then they broke their bows and arrows in pieces on top of it, and they
built a fire. And, after they had put them into it, they lay at once on
the level ground below. Then they also put themselves into it and stood
below. [502] It was North who did this to them. Then they went home.
They came to their house.
When they had traveled about a while after that they found a mountain
of ground hogs. They built a house there and made dead falls [503] for
them. When cold weather began to come on they came out. They made
trousers out of ground-hog skins.
And, after they got back there, the next to the youngest could not
catch any ground hogs in his dead falls. He did not kill even one. And,
when they went home, he refused to go. Each gave him two. He refused
them. Each offered to give him five. He also refused those. Then they
left him.
After he had lived there for a while a woman came to him one night and
lay down, and he married her. Then she asked him why he did not succeed
in taking them in dead falls, and he said to her: “I could in no way
get them.” “To-morrow make ten” [she said]. And next day he did as he
was directed. The day after he went out to look at them. Ten ground
hogs were in them.
And, after he had done this for a while, he had many, and early one
morning he went to see them. Then a whitish one went in before him. His
wife told him not to put a dead fall near it. Then he longed for it and
set one in front of it. The very next day it fell on it. And he feared
his wife and hung it on the outside of the house.
But, even from where his wife sat, [she said]: “My mother says, ‘Alas!
my child.’” At once she started off. He tried to hold his wife. He
could not. When she got to the door she said: “Come to life again.”
Immediately they began running off in a crowd. He tried to club them,
and he tried to stop them at the door. He could not accomplish that,
either. Then he went along among them. After he had followed his wife
along he went in at the same place where she went in.
Then he stayed with his wife there again. They brought in all kinds of
things, among them łkꜝiê′nkunᴀn. [504] And, after it began to snow,
they went to bed. After they had lain in bed for a long time day came.
He stood at the door outside and shouted “Daylight⁺.” They jumped up
without the things they used for blankets. “What is it daylight from?
Is it daylight from the łkꜝiê′nkunᴀn?” [505] they asked each other.
They looked at the snow and went to bed again. After he had said this
twice he gave it up and went to bed also.
By and by, when the snow melted, they put on their skins, and they
began bringing in roots. He, also, went with them. Presently one called
out “People are coming,” and they went into the house.
Again they (his brothers) set dead falls. The posts for these dead
falls had figures of ground hogs upon them. They only saw the shadow of
the hands [setting them]. The figures were to call them. One went
thither and was caught. They pulled him out. The ground hog looked out
of the house. He almost went to it. His wife held him back.
By and by he went thither, and it fell on him. Then they brought him
into the house and hung him up. And after they had begun to skin him
and had cut his neck open they struck something hard. And. when they
looked, lo! it was the copper from around the neck of the younger
brother they had left. [506] Then they told each other, and they put
his clothing upon him, and, after they had spit the medicine upon him,
he got up. He got up, saying: “I must have slept a long time.” His
elder brothers were glad to see him. And they started home with him.
Anew they began living in their house.
And, after they had again traveled about for a while, the eldest again
disappeared. Next day another was gone. One went after him, and he,
too, vanished. By and by he who had medicine in his mouth was the only
one left. Then he took his bow and followed his elder brothers’
footprints from the side of the house.
After he had gone up the trail for a while [he came to where] a feather
hung. He found himself in a snare. Suddenly he was hung up in the air.
When he got tired he rubbed medicine upon his neck.
Very early next day one with vertical lines of paint upon his face came
to him upon the trail inland. “My snare is always lucky” [he said].
Then he pulled him down. He heard him talk to the snare.
“Do not let anything pass by you,” he said to it. Then he thought: “I
wish he would carry me face up.” And he seized him by both legs and
carried him face up. And, when he stepped under a fallen tree with him,
he took hold of it. After he had tried to pull him away for a while he
let go. By and by he came to his house with him. He came in and took
him off. His elder brothers were cut up and hung in the rear of the
house.
When they were in bed he gathered together his elder brothers and went
away with them. After he had traveled on for a while he did not see a
sign of them. He had forgotten the medicine he had in his mouth. Then
he went back and spit medicine upon them, and they became alive and
started home with him. And next day they came to their town.
Then they again started off. After they had traveled for a while they
disappeared from the one who had medicine in his mouth. And, after he
had hunted for them a while, he came to some one who was using his head
as a drum. Then he asked him: “Did my elder brothers pass by here?”
“Did my elder brothers pass here?” he also said. “I have a notion to
kill you.” He, too, said the same thing. “I have a notion to cut off
your head.” He, also, said the same thing. That was Greatest Echo, they
say.
In whatever way he spoke he could get no answer. By and by, when he
said he would break wind at him, he became afraid. “Don’t do it, chief;
don’t do it.” When he broke wind at him he disappeared. He killed him,
they say.
After that, when he hunted for his elder brothers again, [he came to] a
large, round stone with a slippery top on which a feather was stuck,
and on the side of which lay the bones of his elder brothers. They died
while they were trying to pull off the feather. Then he again spit
medicine upon his elder brothers, and they got up. Then they went away
with him.
After they had gone along for a while they came to where a woman lived.
She gave them all kinds of good food in the usual way. Her dish had the
figure of a mouse upon it. Then they went to bed in her house. There
were scratchings in her house all night. They could not sleep. And,
while it was still night, they went away. They came to the house where
their mother and their sister always stayed.
Then they started off again, and they gave their mother directions.
“Settle yourself in this house. We shall see you no more.” And they
took their sister away with them.
Then they went toward the head of the Stikine river. And, when they
started to swim across, although ten years had passed since their
sister had begun to menstruate, they told her not to look at them. Then
they took each other by the arm and swam across. He who had medicine in
his mouth was the last to enter the water. At that time their sister
looked toward them and all [except the eldest] became rocks.
And their elder brother sang some songs and looked at them. He put the
following words into the song: “Even ʟā′ga-na′qatî did not swim
across.” [507] They settled in this place. [508]
The names of the heroes of this story, together with the localities in
which the actions are said to have occurred, mark it plainly as
Tlingit. At the same time it is well known and very popular among the
Haida. I have a Masset version of the story as yet unpublished.
Łᴀguadjî′na is a Tlingit name (Łᴀ′ki-tcine′); Łg̣añā′ʻogaña is from the
name of one of the brothers, Łg̣añā′ʻo, and means “Łg̣añā′ʻo’s people” or
“Łg̣añā′ʻo and his brothers.” One episode, telling how a gigantic mouse
was killed, has been omitted.