[Told by Walter McGregor of the Sealion-town people.]
A good carpenter had two children. People went to a reef to hunt, and
he made spears for this. And he fastened them with cords. He used any
sort of strong thing for this purpose. He fastened a point on the
spear. Then they drove the sea lions into a pool of water on top of the
reef. He speared the sea lions. And he pulled in the spear handle and
put another point into it. He killed the sea lions in this way.
And, after he had done this for a while, one day they went thither, let
him off first, and abandoned him. But his youngest brother-in-law
paddled toward him. When he was far off he (the youngest
brother-in-law) tried to take away their paddles. He was fighting to do
so. He saw it. He called after them. They paid no attention to him.
They were unable to kill the sea lions. He only could kill them. That
is why they left him.
Then he cried for his children on top of the island. After he had cried
for a time he lay down near the pond. As he slept there something said
to him: “The chief asks you to come in.” He looked for the cause of it.
He saw not a sign of a thing. He saw something dive into the lake. And,
after he had lain a while longer, something spoke to him as before.
Then he looked through the eyeholes in his marten-skin blanket. He saw
a grebe [540] come to the surface of the pond. After it had swum about
for a while it said: “The chief asks you to come in.” Then it dove.
Then he took a whetstone he had and jumped into the pond. He stood in
front of a big house, and they asked him to come in. He entered, and
they inquired of him: “Why did you kill my servants?” And he said: “I
did it to feed my two children.”
And he saw two small killer whales blowing about in a pool of water in
the corner of the house. Those were the chief’s two children at play.
He saw killer-whale fins hung up in bunches in the four corners.
Then they gave him something to eat. They dragged a sea lion sitting on
the side toward the door to the fire and put hot stones that were in
the fire into its mouth. And they also put halibut into its mouth. When
[the latter] was cooked they gave it to him to eat.
And after he was through eating they brought one of the fins which were
in the corner. And they warmed the lower end of it. And, after they had
bent him over, he put a whetstone on his back. When they struck it on
it fell off. On top of the stone floor planks the fin lay shaking. They
went to get another. After they had warmed that in the same way at the
fire they had him bend over. And he placed the whetstone on his back.
When they struck it upon him that also slipped off. That, too, fell
upon the stone floor planks.
And they got another one. When the same thing happened to that they got
a long one. After they had warmed that, also, for a while they bent him
over. He again placed the whetstone on his back. When they struck that
one on, it also fell to the stone floor planks. After four attempts
they gave it up.
Then the chief said: “Let him out. He refuses the fins. Put him into a
sea lion’s stomach.” And the chief said to him: “After you have floated
about and have struck against land four times, get out. You will have
floated ashore on good ground.” At once they put him into a sea lion’s
stomach, and he tied it together from inside. They threw him out.
And, after he had floated shoreward and had floated against the land
four times, he got out. He had floated ashore upon a nice beach. Then
he again tied up the sea lion’s stomach air-tight and threw it out. The
stomach vanished seaward against the wind.
Then he started toward the town and stayed at the end of it until
evening. And in the evening he looked in at his wife. He saw that his
wife’s hair was burnt short and pitch was upon her face. He also saw
his two children sitting there. Then he tapped on the wall opposite his
wife, and his wife went out. Then he said to his wife: “Bring me my
tools.” Then she gave them to him. And he said: “Do not let anyone know
about me. Conceal it even from my children.”
And, when he started off from there, he took one from among some
children who were playing about and started inland with him. After he
had gone on for some time he came to where a big lake lay. Then he cut
on the lakeward side of a large cedar standing near it. And, after he
had cut it on the back side, it fell across the lake. Then he split it
from the butt end, and, as soon as he had split it, he put a crosspiece
in.
Then he twisted cedar limbs. He spliced them together. When the rope
became long he fastened the child to it. Then he let it down between.
After it struck the bottom, and he had held it for a while it began
jerking, and he pulled it toward himself. The lake was also boiling.
Its hands came out first. And when its head followed them to the
surface, he knocked out the brace quickly. It struggled in it. After he
had struck it several times it died.
Then he pulled it out. He was going to cut it open in front. Lightning
shot about. So he cut it open, beginning at the lower part of its back.
Then he skinned it. Its tail was nice. It was bent over. Then he
lighted a fire and dried it. That was a Wā′sg̣o, they say. When it was
dry he rolled it up and brought it out.
Then he hid it in a forked cedar tree at the end of the town. He put
moss over it. Then he started for the end of the town and made killer
whales out of cedar. He put fins on them and kicked them into the
water. But they only blew bubbles close to the kelps. Then he said: “Go
where you are to be settled.” Those were the porpoises, they say. And
he also worked hemlock into killer whales. When ten of those were also
finished he kicked them into water. After they had been gone for some
time bubbles like steam arose seaward. And he thought they were unable
to do anything. And he said: “Go where your place is to be.” Those were
the white porpoises, [541] they say.
Fine weather continued. All that time the people were fishing.
And the next day, after he had thought what he would use, he made ten
killer whales out of yew wood. The surfaces were variegated, striped
with white. Their bellies were white. The corners of their mouths were
also striped with white. The fin of one of them had a hole in it, and
one fin was bent over toward the tail. While he was making them they
moved. For them he laid a log down [horizontally]. There he placed
them, and he kicked them about. Presently bubbles of air rose far out
at sea. Then he told them to come in, and he pulled them up again. They
had red cod, spring salmon, and halibut in their mouths.
And in the evening he went to his wife. He looked in again. He tapped
opposite his wife, and his wife came out to him. And he said to her:
“When they go out fishing again to-morrow tell your youngest brother to
fasten a feather in his hair.”
The next day they went fishing, and he gave directions to the killer
whales. “Destroy all the people out fishing. Break up their canoes with
your fins. Save only the one who has a feather in his hair.” Then he
kicked them off. After they had been gone for a while bubbles rose
beyond the place where the canoes were anchored. Then the killer whales
came back to the canoes. Bubbles of air rose among them. The killer
whales broke up the canoes with their fins. They chewed up the bodies
of the people. Only the one who had a feather in his hair was left
swimming about. And, when they were destroyed, he got into the broken
canoe, and the killer whales came landward with him in a school. Then
he got off in front of the town.
And he again called the killer whales. Then he gave them directions.
And he said to the one that had a hole in its fin: “You shall be
called: ‘Hole-in-his-fin.’” And he said to the one with the fin bent
back: “You shall be called: ‘Fin-turned-back.’” Then he said: “Go to
Na-iku′n. Settle down there. That land is good. You shall be called
‘Strait people.’” [542]
And he went to his wife with the things the killer whales had caught in
their mouths. His two children were glad to see him.
And, after he had stayed at the town for a while, he went out while
they slept and put on his wā′sg̣o skin. Then with his hands he merely
reached for something at the end of the town. He got half a spring
salmon.
And his mother-in-law always hated him. She always got up very early.
He laid it down for her in front of the house. Then his mother-in-law
went out very early. She found half a spring salmon. She was glad to
have it.
The same night he put on his wā′sg̣o skin. He let the water come up even
with his elbow. He took out half a halibut. Then he laid it down for
his mother-in-law, and in the morning she found it. The town people had
become hungry.
And in the night he again entered his wā′sg̣o skin and plunged his whole
arm into the water. He seized a whole spring salmon. Then he again left
it for the woman, and she found it in the morning.
That night he again entered his wā′sg̣o skin. And he let the water come
up as far as his shoulders. Then he took a whale jaw and put it down
for his mother-in-law. And she found that also.
Then his mother-in-law began acting like a shaman. And they fasted with
her for four nights. He was with them. His mother-in-law was going to
get power from him.
In the night he put on the wā′sg̣o skin. He swam seaward. He killed a
whale. A spear stuck out of the nostrils of the wā′sg̣o. [543] He killed
the whale with that. Then he put it between his ears and swam landward
with it. And he laid it in front of the house, because she said a whale
would float ashore.
And again, while they slept, he swam out in the wā′sg̣o skin. And he
took two whales. He swam landward with them. He put one between his
ears, and he also put one near his tail. Swimming landward, he placed
those also in front of the house.
The next night he swam far out to sea with the wā′sg̣o skin on, and he
took ten whales. He had them on each side of his head between his ears.
He also had some lying crosswise near his tail. And he piled them upon
himself and had one in his mouth. Then he came shoreward.
While he was still out at sea daylight came. When he reached shore his
mother-in-law came down to him wearing a dancing hat. Then he stood up
out of the wā′sg̣o skin and said to her: “Why is your face hard? Does
some supernatural power come through you by my help?” And he made her
die of shame. The wā′sg̣o skin went off of itself. Then he gathered his
ten whales and told no one to cut them. What he received from the sale
of the whales made him rich. He potlatched ten times for his youngest
brother-in-law. He kept him like a chief’s son.