[Told by Jimmy Sterling of the Stᴀ′stas]
The people of these towns used to visit back and forth. They also
gambled together. From one of these several brothers went to hunt
beaver at the beaver lakes where they were in the habit of getting
them. They counted the days. [710]
When they came there and began to destroy the dam this was carried over
by the current, and they floated down in it. They barely saved
themselves far below. Now they knew that some regulation had been
broken. But still they continued to live where they were. And there,
too, they did not kill a single thing. Then they went away. Now they
were certain that the wife of one of them was indeed going with some
one else. [711]
They camped at night near the town, and just before daylight the eldest
went to the town. He went to his wife. Some one lay with his wife, and
he cut off his head. Then he awoke his wife, and he put the head above
the door. At once he went out.
At once she began to dig a hole for the body, which was left in her
bed. Then her child was crying. At that time they asked her why it
cried. And she said it cried because it had defecated in bed, and she
was wiping it. Right there she buried [the body].
When day came she lay as she used to. Then her husband came in with his
younger brother. He acted as if he knew nothing about having killed
anyone. It was the son of the town chief on the other side.
When day came the chief’s son was missing. They visited each other
across the ice upon the river. They hunted about the town in which he
was missing. And they also hunted for him where he had been killed.
Then they let a slave look for him secretly. They sent him after fire.
And he took his live coals and went away. When he went out blood
dropped upon his feet. And he did not look for the cause. When he came
to the middle of the river he let himself fall with his live coals.
Then he returned. He reentered the house where he had got the live
coals. Again he pushed charcoal into the fire on the side toward the
door. And when he went out he looked. He saw the head stuck up on the
side toward the door. When he got back he told them he had seen his
head.
At once they ran thither. Then they began to fight. And, after the
fight had gone on for a while, all the people of the town where the
person had been unfaithful to her husband were destroyed. They also
burned the town.
One woman, who was behind the screens when the town burned, escaped to
the woods with her mother. Then the town was entirely burned. Only the
woman and her mother were saved.
At once they traveled far inland aimlessly. While they were traveling
about aimlessly they came to a high mountain, and she called aimlessly
concerning her child. “Who will marry my daughter?” she shouted loud
and long. By and by Grouse [712] came flying to her. “Why not I?” he
said to her. “What can you do?” Then he said: “When summer comes, and I
drum on the tops of the trees, they can hear my voice everywhere.” Then
she told him he was not good, and he flew away from her.
By and by she spoke as she had spoken before: “Who will marry my
child?” Then Sparrow [713] flew to her. And she asked him: “What can
you do?” And he answered her: “I will make summer and winter succeed
each other by my singing, and they will hear my voice everywhere.” Then
she said to him: “You are not good.” And he flew from her.
When she called for her again, Kꜝū′djix̣u [714] came flying to her. Then
she asked him what he could do, and he told her that when it was summer
they always liked to listen to his singing. Then she told him he was
not good, and he flew from her.
All kinds of birds, which she called for her daughter, wanted to marry
her daughter. She kept asking them what they could do, and she refused
them.
After that she again called for her daughter. She said: “Who will marry
my daughter?” And Deer came to her. “Why not I?” “What can you do?”
“After I have traveled about I scatter earth with my horns.” Then she
refused him.
When she called again Black-bear also came to her. She asked him: “What
can you do?” “I know how to catch fish. When I get angry with anything
I strike it with my paws.” “You are not good.” Then he also left her.
When she again called Grizzly-bear also came to her. “Why not I?” “What
can you do?” “I am powerful. When I become angry with any sort of thing
I tear it in pieces.” And she said that he, too, was not good.
When she shouted again Beaver came to her, and she asked him what he
could do. Then he told her he could fell trees, and he knew how to make
a house in a lake. Then she said to him also: “You are not good,” and
he, too, left her.
All the time she was asking for her daughter, all the forest animals
wanted to marry her daughter. Meanwhile she kept asking them what they
could do. All that time she refused them.
After that she again asked for her daughter: “Who will marry my
daughter?” Then a handsome man came and stood near her. “Why not I”
“What can you do?” “I will help you. I hear that they burned your
uncle’s town.” Then she thought he was good.
Immediately he took them up on either side. He said: “Let neither of
you look out.” Then he tried to climb a lofty mountain with them. After
he had climbed for a while with them, the mother looked out. She made
him slide back. Again they stood below.
After that he again told them not to look out. And again he started up
with them. Again the mother looked out, and they stood below. Every
time he went up she looked out and made him slide back. After he had
tried many times, he pulled a limb out of a tree and pushed her in in
its place. “Future people will hear your voice” [he said], and he left
her, whereupon her voice sounded behind him. She is the creaking caused
by limbs rubbing together, they say.
Then he went off with her (the daughter). And he brought her to his
father’s house. She had married the son of
Supernatural-being-of-the-shining-heavens. [715] When he came in to his
father with her, his father was very glad to see his wife.
After he had lived with her for a while, she had a child by him. Again
she brought forth. Now she began to have children by him. She bore five
boys and she bore one girl.
After she had reared them for a while, and they got to be of some
height, their grandfather taught them to gamble. After they had gambled
for a while, they fought together, and their sister put a belt on and
tried to stop them by seizing their weapons. He kept making them fight
together all the time they were growing up.
After they had been there for a while, their grandfather let them
return home. Then their grandfather brought out a box, and, after he
had opened a nest of five boxes, he gave them the innermost one. He
directed them: “When you come to the place where your uncle’s town used
to stand, cover up your faces and pull off the cover from this box.
Even if you hear a great noise near you while you lie with your faces
covered over, do not look out. After the noise has ceased, look in that
direction. And, when a fight becomes too hard for you, pull off the box
cover,” he said to them.
Anew they started down. The five and their sister went down. But their
mother still remained with her husband. Then they came to the place
where the town had been. Then they lay under something, and they pulled
the cover from the box. Although something sounded near them they did
not look out. When the noise ceased, they looked in the direction
whence it had proceeded. Six houses stood in a line.
Then they started fires in all of these and began to live there. And
those who had burned the town saw people. Then they said: “In the place
on the other side where you burned up the town there is another town
with smoke coming out of all the houses. Let us go over and look at
it.” Then one went over and looked at it. In truth, people were living
there.
After they had lived on either side for a while, one went over to
gamble. All that time they were whittling. The youngest was
left-handed. His grandfather had given him a small wedge. He took good
care of it. He also had a knife. And to his sister her grandfather had
given medicine. When her brothers were killed, he had told her to spit
medicine upon them.
His elder brothers gambled, but he whittled near the fire. They kept
asking him to gamble. All that time he said: “I have nothing to stake.”
“Stake against me the stone wedge you own,” they said to him, and they
laughed at him.
By and by he started gambling. At once his sister put on her belt. For
she knew he would fight. He was the one who always started the fights
when they lived with their grandfather. After he had gambled for a
while, lo! he began to fight with the one he was gambling against. He
had staked his stone wedge. Then he killed the one he fought with.
At once they ran apart. Those on the other side came to fight in a
great crowd. After they had fought with them for a while and were tired
out, they went to get the box and pulled off the cover. Then the town
on the other side burned. They also destroyed the people. They burned
their town completely. When they killed her brothers she spit medicine
upon them, and they got up. She always had medicine in her mouth.
When the fight was over they at once started down the valley of Nass
river. After they had traveled for a while, they came to a town at the
mouth of the river. After they had been there for a while, they began
to make war toward the Tlingit country. They destroyed some people, and
they returned. That was the beginning of their wars.
By and by they went to war regularly. Every time people pursued them
they pulled the box cover off, a strong wind arose, and the water
burned. This was how they destroyed people.
After they had done this for a while, they went to the Stikine to make
war. When they pursued them that time, and a crowd of canoes was very
near them, they pulled off the box cover, but nothing happened. When
they had started out to war, they took a box like the right one. They
left the one by means of which they destroyed people.
Then all were destroyed there. Their bodies were thrown into the sea.
The youngest, who used to make people grieve by his deeds, they took to
the shore, pushed a stick through his anus, and stuck him up at the end
of the town upon a point. In the evening his voice sounded, but still
he was dead. This time they went to war they disappeared for a long
time.
As soon as they had gone, their sister saw that they had forgotten the
box. By means of that they used to destroy many people. They had
disappeared.
Then they brought out the box, and his sister, along with their wives,
went after them. After they had gone on for a while, [they came to
where] cedar bark grew, and they pulled it off; and they forgot they
had gone out to give assistance. And, after they had gone on for a
while longer, they remembered they had come out to help them. That is
why women talk themselves into forgetfulness.
After that they went back. But now they went straight along. Then
people came out from the town to kill them. And, when they got close to
them, they pulled off the box cover, a strong wind arose, and the sea
burned. So she destroyed the people. Then they went away, and she
pulled her brother off from where he was stuck in the ground, spit
medicine upon him, and brought him to life. At that time he went away
with them. There was no way of knowing where to look for the other
brothers.
After they had returned he who was left-handed went far inland.
Something also took away the box from them. After he had gone on for a
while, he came to a lake far inland. After having sat near it for a
while, he saw something come out of it. It made a noise, and its voice
sounded loud. It always came to the surface at one spot.
He had a stone ax with him. He chopped down a cedar and split it
between its two heads. Then he put a crosspiece in it and tied a
twisted cedar rope to it. [716] And he pushed it out to the place where
it (the creature) came out. After he had looked at it for a while, he
pulled the crosspiece out with the twisted cedar rope, and something
was caught in it. He pulled it ashore.
Then he began to skin it. Every time he tried, the Forest-people [717]
[said] he had better not do it. By and by he cut it open upon the
breast and skinned it. And he dried it. This was Loon, they say.
Then he put it on. When he dived under water with it on, he saw all the
things far out under water. He came up, got out of it, put it into his
armpit, and came out with it toward the sea.
After he had gone along for a while, he came to a town. After he had
been there for a while, he married a woman of the place. When they had
lived there for a while, they went up the Nass for eulachon. He also
went with his father-in-law. On the way they camped for a while. They
were very hungry.
Then he went behind the place where they were camping, entered his loon
skin, and went under water with it on. Under water were two hair seals.
He took one and brought it up. Then he stowed it away.
Very early next day he went after firewood. Then he brought it in and
took it up to the camp. His father-in-law was very glad on account of
it, and he called the people for it.
After that he again went after firewood, took his loon skin out from
between the two tree tops where he kept it, and put it on. Then he saw
a halibut swimming along and threw it ashore; and he brought it in.
Again his father-in-law called the people for it. Every time he went
for firewood he brought in hair seal or halibut. Each time his
father-in-law called the people for them. By and by they went away.
At that time some copper stuck out toward the sea from a cliff on Mount
Qātcꜝig̣ᴀ′n. [718] Every time they went by there was a crowd of people
below. All that time they wanted to get it, and tried to bring it down
with their arrows. When they did the same thing below it this time,
they (the hero and his people) were also among them.
At that time a slave owned by his father-in-law shot at the copper with
his sling. Then he struck his master’s wife with the sling. And the
slave became ashamed. That is why slaves are ashamed when they make
mistakes.
But he (the hero) hit it with the sling. And when it came down his
mother-in-law became frightened and said something about having it go
to the north. Thither it at once went. That is why there is much copper
to the north. If she had not been frightened, there would have been
very much copper in the Nass.
Afterward they set out and camped again. And from there his wife, the
slave, and himself went after something. When they moved on they always
wore their best clothes. Then he left his good clothes in the canoe in
order to get something. When he came back the slave had put on his
clothing and was sitting near his wife on the broad thwart in the
middle of the canoe. Then he did not want to make him ashamed, so he
got in at the stern and paddled them away. Because this chief’s son did
so to them chiefs’ sons now do not like to make people ashamed.
Here he again hid his skin in the fork of a tree. Then he again went
for something. And he put it on and saw spring salmon swimming about at
the other side of the river. He took one and brought it ashore. He
brought it to the camp. His father-in-law also called the people for
that.
Again he went for something, entered his loon skin, and brought out
two. He also brought those to camp. His father-in-law also invited the
people for those. Every time the slave went with him and saw how he
used the skin.
After he had done so at this place for a time he began to gamble. After
he had lost for a while he stopped and went to the house. His wife was
gone from the house. [719] Then he went to where he kept his loon skin,
and that too had disappeared.
Then he went down to the river. He looked into the water and saw his
wife wearing the loon skin lying with her arm round an old log in the
river. After she had put this [skin] on she thought she saw a spring
salmon. She seized it. But [instead] she seized an old log lying under
water. There she was drowned.
Then he pulled out his wife’s body and started inland in shame right
opposite. She alone knew what her husband did. And, after he was gone,
the slave began doing the same thing. Before he had done it for a long
time, in going out to a spring salmon which was swimming about, he
disappeared for ever.
This is why women always spoil things by meddling with them and by
talking; [why] slaves, too, are always ashamed when they make mistakes.
This is another story of the rival towns so popular among Tsimshian and
Haida alike. Compare the story of A-slender-one-who-was-given-away and
notes to same.