[Told by Jackson, late chief of Skidegate.]
A certain woman of the upper class, whose father was a chief, was
squeamish about stepping on the dung of grizzly bears. They went with
her to pick berries, and then she started back. At that time her basket
strap broke. Now her basket upset. It upset four times.
In the evening, when her basket upset for the last time, two
good-looking fellows came to her and asked her to go with them. The two
persons begged her to go, and they said to her: “A little way inland
are berries.”
Then she went back with them. And she said: “Where are they?” They said
to the woman: “A little farther inland.” Now it was evening. And they
led her into a big town. Now they led her into a big house in the
middle of the town which had a painting on the front. A woman who was
half rock sat in the corner of the house.
When they gave her something to eat [this woman said]: “When you eat
it, eat only the shadow. [699] Only eat the cranberries they give you
to eat. Drink nothing but water. Do not eat the black, round things
they give you to eat. I have been eating them. That is why I am here. I
am half rock. When you go to defecate dig deeply into the ground. Cover
it over.”
Now she went to defecate as directed. And, when she went to defecate,
she laid copper bracelets on top and copper wire. She finished. Now,
after she was gone, a man went and looked at the place. He saw copper
wire and bracelets. Then the man shouted. A crowd of people looked at
it. Truly that was why she did not want to step on dung. Now she became
used to [her surroundings].
Now all in the town went out to fish for salmon. Afterward the woman
went after wood. Those who went after salmon came back making a noise.
Then the woman put wood on the fire. Those who had gone after salmon
came in. Now those who went after salmon shook themselves. The fire was
quenched. Next day they again went after salmon. Then the half-rock
woman said to her: “Take knots.” The woman did so. Now they came back
again with noise. She put knots on the fire. They came in. Again they
began shaking themselves. Then the fire was not quenched. Now her
husband’s mind was good toward her.
Then the woman began to dislike the place. Now they went out again to
get salmon. Then she told the woman who was half rock that she wanted
to go away. And she thought that that was good.
Then she gave her a comb. She also gave her some hairs. She also gave
her some hair oil. She also gave her a whetstone. While they were out
after salmon she started off.
Now she heard them pursuing her. They came near her. Then she stuck the
comb into the ground. And she looked back. She saw great masses of
fallen trees. Now those behind her had trouble in getting through.
While they were getting through with difficulty she got a long distance
away.
Again they got near her. She also laid the hair on the ground. Again
she looked back. There was a great amount of brush there. Now they
again had trouble behind that. Again she got a long distance away from
them.
Now the pursuers again came near her. She also poured out the hair oil.
And she looked back. There was a large lake there. They had to skirt
its edges. Again the woman ran hard.
Now they came near her again. She stuck the whetstone [into the
ground]. And the woman looked back. There was a great cliff there. They
could not climb over it. And she came out of the woods near the sea.
There one sat in a canoe seaward from her. The woman wanted to get in
with him. The chief wore a large hat. Upon the hat birds flew around in
a flock. His name was Sag̣adila′ʻo. “Let me get in with you. My father
will give you ten coppers,” said the woman, trying to persuade the
chief.
Now the chief struck the edge of his canoe with his club. It came in
front of the woman. The woman got in. He struck the edges of his canoe.
Now it floated out at sea again.
Then the grizzly bears came out in a crowd. Close to them the wolves
also came out in a crowd. He struck the edges of his canoe. The canoe
bit off the heads of the grizzly bears. It also bit off the heads of
the wolves. He destroyed them all.
Now he let the woman look into his hair. She picked frogs out of his
hair. She was afraid to kill them with her teeth. So she bit upon her
finger-nails. [700]
Now he went home with his canoe full of hair seal. He came to his wife,
who was in front of the house. And his wife came to meet him. His wife
was glad that he had married another wife. The woman’s name (i.e., his
first wife’s name) was Ła′g̣ał-djat. Now he brought her to the house.
He went to hunt again next day, and he gave the following directions to
his [new] wife: “When she eats do not steal a look at her. One always
makes her choke by doing so.” But still she stole a look at her when
she ate. And she saw her swallow a whole hair seal. She saw her spit
out the bones toward the door. Then she caused her to choke by looking
at her. For that she killed the woman. Ła′g̣ał-djat did it.
While her corpse was still lying in the house, Sag̣adila′ʻo came home.
Sag̣adila′ʻo saw his wife’s dead body. Now Sag̣adila′ʻo also killed his
older wife. He cut her in two. Then he put a whetstone between the two
parts. They ground themselves into nothing. Then he awoke the woman. He
married her again.
Now she had a child by him. It was a boy. He kept putting his feet on
his (the boy’s) feet. By pulling he made him grow up. Now he came to
maturity. He made him a small canoe like his own, and he also made a
club for him like his own. When he played with it in the salt-water
ponds it picked up small bull-heads with its teeth.
Then the woman came to dislike the place. And she went to her own place
with her boy. So he came to his own country. And her son married his
uncle’s daughter. Then he began to hunt. The name of the town was
Qꜝadō′. [701]
Now, after he had been hunting for some time, a white sea otter came
swimming about in front of the town. And he launched his canoe. He shot
it in the tip of the tail. Then his wife skinned it, and he told her
not to let any blood get on it. So she did not leave any blood on it.
Now his wife asked for it. He gave it to his wife. The woman washed it
in the sea water. She put it into the sea. Then it slipped off seaward
from her. She took a step after it. It again slipped down from her. She
took another step after it.
Now she got stuck between the two dorsal fins of a killer whale. It
swam away with her. Then her husband launched his canoe. He went after
the killer whale. He paddled hard after it. Now he went far off into
the Nass after it. Then his wife disappeared under the water in front
of Killer-whale-always-blowing. [702]
Then he went back. And he came to Qꜝadō′. He kept blue hellebore until
it had rotted. He also saved urine. And he also saved the blood of
those menstruating for the first time. And he saved the blood of [any]
menstruant women. He put them into a box.
Then he started off. He [came to the place] where his wife had passed
in. Then he took twisted cedar limbs, a gimlet, and a whetstone. Where
his wife had passed in he came to a kelp with two heads. He went into
the water there upon the kelp. Marten remained upon the water behind
him.
Now he came upon a broad trail. He started along. He came to Lᴀ′mas.
[703] Then he came to some women digging wild-clover roots. The women
said: “I smell Nanasî′mgît.” One of the women said so. Then the other
one said: “I also smell him.” Now he went to one of them and opened her
eyes. “My eyes are opened. My eyes are opened.” She said that because
she felt happy. Then he opened the eyes of the other. Then, for the
first time, he learned his name.
Now the women asked him what he came for. “I am looking for my wife
whom they carried away from me.” “They passed right by here with your
wife. Isnē′g̣ał’s [704] son married your wife. The one who married her
is named ‘Gîtgidᴀ′mtcꜝēx.’ When you come to the town be on the watch. A
supernatural heron lives at the end of the town. He is always watching.
He is always repairing a canoe.”
Then he started. He came to the end of the town. Now the heron
discovered him. And the heron cried out. So he put the twisted cedar
limbs, the gimlet, and the whetstone into his hands. And he put him
into his armpit.
Now the town people came to see what terrible thing had happened. They
asked him: “Old man, why do you say that?” “My sight deceived me. That
is why I shouted.” And they went away from him.
Then he let him out from his armpit. [He said]: “The one who married
your wife lives in the middle house in the town, and to-morrow two
slaves are going for dead hemlocks standing behind the house. One of
the slaves is named Raven. One is named Crow. They are going to steam
the fin to put it on your wife.”
In the evening he started from him to the town. He looked into the
house where his wife was, in which there were retaining timbers. [705]
And he saw his wife sitting near her husband. He returned to the old
man. And he spent the night in his house.
Next day he went behind the town. He came to where the dead hemlocks
stood. He sat down there. Now two slaves came there. Then he went
inside of the dead hemlock. Then they started to chop down the
firewood. And he bit off the end of the stone wedge. They began to cry.
One of the slaves said: “My master will talk to me as he usually does.”
Now Gunanasî′mgît came out of the firewood. He took the end of the
stone wedge out of his mouth. It became as it had been before. Then he
cut down their firewood for them. He chopped it up for them.
Then they said to him: “When evening comes they are going to steam your
wife’s fin in the ground. We are going out after water. Now, when
evening approaches, stand in front of the house. After we have gone
back and forth with water for a while, we will let you in. After we
have brought water a while we will let ourselves fall with the water
into the bottom of the house excavation. While we turn the water into
steam in the fire, pick up your wife.”
As soon as evening came he stood in front of the house. At once they
let him in. They went for water. Now the stones became red hot. Then
they had her fins ready. They had a stone box in readiness on the side
toward the door.
Now they went after water again, and the last to come in fell down with
the water. A big stream ran into the fire. Then a great steam arose.
And he ran over for his wife. He took her up in his arms. Then he ran
back with her.
[The house pole had three heads. Their voices sounded an alarm. They
say they were always watching.] [706]
Then they found out that she was gone, and they went after her, all the
people in the town. Fast-rainbow-trout pursued him above. Marten
pursued him below. [707] The two slaves ran in advance. Now they almost
caught him, when one slave let himself fall. He let his belly swell up.
Then Mouse [708] gnawed through his belly.
Again they pursued him. When they had nearly caught him again the other
slave let himself fall. Then Weasel [709] burst his belly with his
teeth.
Now he came to the place where he had gone down. He entered his canoe.
The one left to take care of the canoe had become an old man. Now he
fled. And the killer whales came in a crowd to his stern. They pursued
him. Then they almost upset him. And then he spilled out the blue
hellebore. They sank down from him. Now they again came near him, and
he again spilled some out. Now he came with her to Qꜝadō′.
Then he came to the house with his wife. And he kept his wife in the
bottom of a box. There were five boxes fitting one inside the other.
Day broke. Now he watched his wife closely. One day, when he looked for
his wife, she was gone from the box. There was a hole in the bottom of
the box.
This is part of the famous Tsimshian story of Gunaqanē′semgyet or
Tsag·atilâ′o (see Boas in Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen
Küste Amerikas, pp. 294–300). The same episodes occur in one or two of
my Masset stories, and in the story of
He-who-got-supernatural-power-from-his-little-finger of the present
series, and it is noteworthy that in all Haida versions the adventure
with the killer whale occupies a disproportionately large space. That
is also the section which is always taken for artistic representation.