Chapter VI: Part 6

On the next day, very, very early in the morning, he started off. After he had gone along for some time he came to some persons who burst into singing sweet songs and danced. They then asked him: “Tell us, what are you doing hereabout?” “I am gathering woman’s medicine.” “Well, what do you call woman’s medicine? Is woman’s medicine each other’s medicine?” “Yes; it is each other’s medicine.” Those women chewed gum as they sang. Then one of these gave him a piece. “This is woman’s medicine.” And one of them gave him directions: “Now, when you enter the house, pass round to the right. Chew the gum as you go in. And when your uncle’s wife asks it of you, by no means give it to her. Ask of her the thing her husband owns. When it is in your hands give the gum to her.” And he went away from the singers. When he entered the gum stuck out red from his mouth. Then his uncle’s wife said to him: “I say, Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i, come, give me the gum.” He paid no attention to her. He then sat down beside his mother, and to his mother he said: “Tell her to give me the thing my uncle owns. I will then give her the gum.” Then his mother went to her. She told it her. And to her she gave something white and round. He then handed her the gum. While his uncle’s wife chewed it and swallowed the juice he saw that her mind was changed.

Some time after that his fathers [204] went by on the sea. And he said to a dog sitting near the door: “Nᴀñki′lsʟas-łîña′-i says he desires the place where his fathers now are to dry up and leave them.” And immediately it went out and said so. The tide left them high and dry, and they were in great numbers. They made a scraping sound in their efforts to move. He then said to his mother: “I say, go and pour water upon my fathers.” She then went down to them, and she did not look upon her husband. She poured it only upon Fin-turned-back. And he went to his mother and told her to pour water upon his father. She acted as if she did not hear his voice. They were going to the supernatural beings of Da′osgên [205] to buy a whale, they say.

Then he came in and said to the dog again: “Go and say, ‘Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i says he desires the tide to come in to his parents.’” He then went out quickly and said it. X̣ū-ū-ū-ū-ū (noise of the waves coming in), and they at once were moving along far off on the water.

And, after they had been gone a while, they returned to that place. And again he said to the dog: “Go and say, ‘Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i says he wishes his parents to leave something for him.’” He then went out quickly and said so. Something black was sent to one end of the town. He went thither. A whale floated there.

After he had made a house of hemlock boughs he shot all kinds of birds there. By and by a bufflehead came and ate of the whale. He then wanted it. And he aimed just above the top of its head. When it flew it struck its head. He then skinned it and entered [the skin]. And he wished for a heavy swell, and it became rough, and he walked toward the water. And when a wave came toward him he quickly dived under it. After he had done the same thing repeatedly he flopped up from the water, took the skin off, and dried it in his branch house. He thus came to own it, they say. He kept it in the fork of a tree.

After he had shot there all kinds of birds something blue and slender came and ate of it. It flew down from above. It ate sitting upon it. He then shot it. He shot [only] through its wings. He (Raven) was sad. And on the next day, early in the morning, he entered his branch house. After he had sat there for a while it again came down from above, making a noise as it came. And after it stood upon it and had begun to eat he shot it. The arrow again passed quickly through its wings. His mind was sad.

And on the next day, very early in the morning, he again went into the branch house. It came by and by and ate. And he now shot over it. As it started to fly it was struck in the head. He then went down to get it. He brought it into the branch house.

When he had skinned it, he entered it. He then flew up. After he had flown for a while he turned quickly and came down. He then ran his beak into a rocky point at the end of the town. At the same time he cried out: “G̣ao” (Raven’s croak). Though the rock was strong, he split it by his voice. After he had dried it in the branch house he put it where he kept the bufflehead.

He then started off, they say. He went in and sat down by the side of his mother. By and by his aunt said to her husband: “Why do you remain seated so long? Go and hunt,” she said to him. And they brought out a war spear and a box of arrows, and they put pitch on [the cord wound round the arrow point] for him. And at midnight he went off in a canoe, and his place was vacant in the morning.

He (Raven) then went out and stood up out of himself (i.e., changed himself). He put on two sky blankets and painted his face. And, as soon as he entered, his uncle’s wife turned her head. He went around behind the screens. And, after some time had passed, it thundered on the underground side of the island.

And her husband came back and asked his wife: “My child’s mother, what noise was that, sounding like the one that is heard when I go to bed with you?” And she laughed and said: “Why, I guess I am the same with Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i, your nephew.”

On the next day, early in the morning, Great-breakers sat in the place where the fire was. On the top of the chief’s hat (dadjî′ñ skîl) that he wore a round fleck of foam swirled rapidly. Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i began to look around. And he went out, got his two skins, put on his two sky blankets, and came in. His uncle had his hair tied in two braids. Something on his head began turning around very rapidly.

Then a strong current of sea water poured from the corner of the house. And he put his mother in his armpit, quickly entered his bufflehead skin, and swam about in the current. He dived many times and again swam about. And when the sea water came up to the roof of the house he floated out with it through the smoke hole.

He then quickly entered the raven’s skin. He at once flew up. He then ran his beak into the sky. And his tail was afloat on the water. Then he kicked against the water. “Enough. You, too, belong to me.” There it stopped (lit., “came to a point”). It began to melt downward.

And he looked down. The smoke of his uncle’s house looked pleasing. He then became angry with him, at the sight, and started to fly down. After he had flown for a while he ran his beak into it from above, crying as he did so, “G̣ao.” “Oh, you shall own the title of Chief-of-chiefs (Kî′lsʟekun)” [said his uncle].

He then became what he had been before. He entered with his mother. From that time he often set out to hunt birds. When he came in one day he said to his mother: “Mother, Qî′ñgi [206] says he is coming to adopt me.” And his uncle said to her: “Qꜝā′la īdjā′xᴀn, [207] Flood-tide-woman, stop that child from talking. We are, indeed, fit to be adopted.”

After this had happened many times they saw something wonderful, they say. People came dancing on ten canoes. He then went out, put on two sky blankets, and walked around on the retaining planks. Said his uncle: “What he brought on by his talking has happened. I wonder how we are going to supply people and food.”

And, after he had walked about for a while, he kicked upon the ground in the front part of the house on the right side. There the ground cracked open. Out of it one threw up a drum from his shoulder. They came pouring out. He went to the other side as well. There he also kicked. “Earth, even, become people” [he said]. Thence, too, one threw up a drum from his shoulder. And he did the same thing to the ground in one of the rear corners. Out of that, too, some one threw up a drum from his shoulder. He did as before on the other side. And they danced in four lines toward the beach. Out of his uncle’s house Tsimshian, Haida, Kwakiutl, Tlingit [came] singing different songs. [208] Yet his uncle said [sarcastically]: “We shall indeed have lots to eat.” They sat down in lines, and around the door was a crowd to serve the food.

Then Nᴀñkî′lsʟas-łîña′-i said: “Now go to my sister Sî′ndjugwañ to get food for me.” [209] And a crowd of young men went to get it. They came back with silver salmon and cranberries. And [he said]: “Go to Yał-kīñā′ñg̣o, [210] too, to beg some for me.” Her house was also full of silver salmon, cranberries, and sockeye salmon. They also brought some from the woman at the head of Skidegate creek, [211] and they brought some from the woman at the head of Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o creek. It mounted up level with the roof. The distribution of food was still going on when daylight came. On the next day, too, and on the next day [it went on]. At the end of ten days they went off in a crowd. These [days] were ten winters, they say.

And he went off with his father Qî′ñgi. Soon after they arrived at his village he invited the people to come. He called them for a feast. He (Nᴀñkî′lsʟas) did not eat the smallest bit. And on the next day he called them in to a feast for his son. Again he did not eat. Two big-bellied fellows had come in. People took up cranberries by the box, and when one of these opened his mouth they emptied a boxful into it. They also emptied boxes into the mouth of the other.

On the next day his father invited them again, and they (the big-bellies) came in and stood there. And again cranberries were emptied into their mouths. Then Nᴀñkî′lsʟas went quickly toward the end of the town. As he was going along he came to open ground where cranberries were being blown out. He stopped up this hole with moss, and he did the same to another. After he had entered he questioned the big-bellied ones, who stood near the door: “I say, tell me the reason why you eat [so much].” “Don’t ask it, chief. We are always afflicted in this way.” “Yes; tell me. When my father calls in the people, and you are going to eat, if you do not tell me I will make you always full.” “Well, chief, sit close to me while I tell you. Early in the morning take a bath, and when you lie down [after it] scratch yourself over your heart, and when scabs have formed on the next day swallow them.”

He did at once as he was told. After he had sat still for a while [he said]: “Father, I have become hungry.” Upon this his father sent to call the people. [The big-bellied persons] again came in and stood there. Again was [food] emptied into their mouths. It did them no good. And he again became hungry. He again called them in. Day after day, for many days, he called them in. One day he went out [to defecate]. They saw him eating the cranberries that had floated ashore upon the beach [from peoples’ dung]. Thereupon they shut the door upon him.

He now started off. By and by he came [back] and sat behind his father’s house. “Father, please let me in.” They did not want him. “Father, please let me in. I will put grizzly bears upon you. I will put mountain goats upon you.” [212] He offered him all the mainland animals. “No, chief, my son, they might wake me up by walking over me.”

He then began to sing a certain song. He beat time by striking his head against the house. The house began to fall over. And at that time he nearly let him in, they say. And when he went away they snatched off from him the black bear and marten [skins] he wore.

That time he went away for a long period. By and by they saw him floating on the sea in front of the town in a hair-seal canoe. [213] He wore his uncle’s hat. On top of it the foam was swirling around as he floated. As soon as they saw he had become changed in some unknown manner the town people all entered Qîñgi’s house. And after they had talked over what they should do for a while he dressed himself up. The town people put themselves between the joints of his tall hat. After Nᴀñkî′lsʟas had remained there a while the sea water continued to increase. And Qîñgi, too, grew up. Then he became angry and broke the hat by pulling it downward. Half the people of his town were lost.

After he had been gone for a while he came and stopped in front of the town. “Nᴀñkî′lsʟas is in front on a canoe.” And his father said: “Go and get him that I may see his face.” They then spread out mats, and his comrades came in and sat there. His father continually gave him food. His father was glad to see him.

After food had been given out for a long time and evening was come, his father sat down near the door. By and by he said: “My son, chief’s child, let one of your companions tell me a story.” He then asked the one who sat next to him: “Don’t you know a story?” [214] “No,” they all said, and he turned in the other direction also. “Don’t you know one story?” “No; we do not.” He then said to his father: “They do not know any stories.” And his father, Qîñgi, said, “Ītꜝē′i, let one of your companions relate to me ‘Raven traveling,’” by which he made Nᴀñkî′lsʟas so ashamed that he hung his head.

By and by, lo, a small, dark person, who sat on the right side, threw himself backward where he sat. “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the village of the master of stories, Qîñgi.” When he said this the people in the house were [startled], as if something were thrown down violently. “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings came to look at a ten-jointed łqeā′ma [215] growing in front of the village of the master of stories, Qîñgi. There they were destroyed.” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings came and looked at a rainbow [216] (a story name) moving up and down in front of the village of the master of stories, Qîñgi. There they were destroyed [said the next].” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings once came to look at Greatest-sea-gull and Greatest-white-crested-cormorant throw a whale’s tail back and forth on a reef that first came up in front of Qîñgi’s town. There they were destroyed.” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings came to see Harlequin-duck and Blue-jay run a race with each other on the property of the master of stories, Qîñgi. There they were destroyed.” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings once came to look at the lower section of a wooden rattle lying around which used to sing of itself. [217] There they were lost.” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings once came to look at an inlet, which broke suddenly through white rocks at the end of Qîñgi’s town, out of which Djila′qons came knitting. There they were destroyed.” “Ya-yā′-ō-ō-ō-ō-ō, the supernatural beings once came to see Tā′dᴀlᴀt-g̣ā′dᴀla and Marten run a race with each other in front of the village of the master of stories, Qîñgi. There they were destroyed.” [What the other three said has been forgotten. [218]]

Then Nᴀñkî′lsʟas started off afoot. After he had traveled for a while he came to the town of Ku′ndji. In front of it many canoes floated. They were fishing for flounders. [219] They used for bait salmon roe that had been put up in boxes. He then desired some, and changed himself into a flounder. And he went out. After he had been stealing the salmon roe for a while they pulled out his beak.

Those people, who then sat gambling in rows in the town, looked at the beak one after another. They handed it back and forth for the purpose. Nᴀñkî′lsʟas looked at it, and said: “It is made of salmon roe.” He then went toward the woods and called Screech-owl. And he pulled its beak out, put it upon himself, and put some common thing into [the owl] in its stead.

By and by they went out again to fish and again he went out. And after he had jerked off many pieces of salmon roe a hook entered one of his lips. They then pulled him to the surface and came ashore, and [the owner] gave it to his child, and they ran a stick through it [to put it over the fire]. And when his back became too warm he thought: “I wish something would make them run over toward the end of the town.” After some time had passed the whole town (i.e., the people of the town) suddenly moved. And right before the child, who sat alone near by, he put on his feather clothing and flew out through the smoke hole. The child then called to its mother: “My food flew away, mother.”

He did not go away from the town, they say. On another day they prepared some food in the morning. Crow invited the people to a feast of cakes made of the inner bark of the hemlock and cranberries mixed together. Among them they called him (Raven). And he refused. “No; you only call each other for mussels.” Afterward he sent Eagle out to see what they did call each other for. And after he had gone thither he said to him: “They call each other for cakes of hemlock bark and cranberries.” “Now, cousin, be my messenger.” Eagle then said: “The chief is coming.” “No; we call each other for mussels.”

Before they had begun eating he ran into the woods. After he had made rotten trees into ten canoes he put in spruce cones, standing them up along the middle. Grass tops he put into their hands for spears. They then came around the point, and he walked near them with his blanket wrapped tightly around him. Terrible to behold, they came around the point, men standing in lines along the middle of the canoes. Leaving their food, the people fled at once. He then went into the house and ate the cakes. He ate. He ate. Where the canoes landed they were washed about by the waves.

He then started off. He traveled about. On the way he got his sister neatly, they say. He then left his sister with his wife. And he started off by canoe. He begged Snowbird [220] to go along with him, and took him for company. He also took along a spear. And short objects [221] lay one upon another on a certain reef. Then, when they came near to it, the bird became different. [222] He took him back. And he begged Blue-jay also to go, and he started with him. But when they got near he, too, flapped his wings helplessly in the canoe. And, after he had tried all creatures in vain, he made a drawing on a toadstool with a stick, placed it in the stern, and said to it: “Bestir yourself and reverse the stroke” [to stop the canoe]. He then started off with him. But when he got near it shook its head [so strong was the influence].

He then speared a big one and a small one and took them back. And when he came home he called his wife and placed the thing he had gone for upon her. And he put one upon his sister as well. Then Sīwa′s (his sister) cried, and he said to her: “But yours will be safe.” [223]

After he left that place he married Cloud-woman. And, as Cloud-woman had predicted, a multitude of salmon came up for him. But, when they were on the point of moving and he went through the middle passage of the smokehouse, salmon bones stuck in his hair, and he used bad language that made his wife angry. [224] She then said to the dog salmon: “Swim away.” From all the places where they lay they began to swim off. And a box of salmon roe on which his sister sat was the only food left in the house.

They then moved the camp empty-handed. And he made himself sick. He went along in the bow beside the salmon roe. After he had gone along for a while his sister smelt something, and he said it was a scab he had pulled off with his finger nails. After she had spoken about it many times as they went along he threw Sīwa′s’s box empty ashore.

And after they had gone along for a while they built a camp fire. He then put yellow cedar upon the fire. After it had given forth sparks for a while one flew between Sīwa′s’s legs. He then told her a remedy: “Now, go around in the woods exclaiming, ‘I call for medicine.’ When something says ‘Yes,’ go over to it and sit down where a short red thing sticks up.” And after he had spoken to her, and she had called about for a while, something said “Yes.” And after she had looked for it [she saw] something red sticking up. Then she sat down there. Lo, she discovered her brother lying on the ground under her.

He then became ashamed, and drew something with the tip of his finger. Right there a child cried. And he took it out [of the ground]. And he put boards round it as people were going to do in the future. Then the child became old enough to play. And he went around after [the child]. One time when it went out to play it vanished forever.

Then he started to search for it. He put on his feather clothing and flew over the whole of this country. He did the same upon Mainland. When he could by no means find it, he heard that the supernatural beings had taken it because he (Raven) used to fool them. He then stopped searching. When the boy stood up, lightning used to flash around his knee-joints. He was named Sᴀqaiyū′ł.

One day some one with disheveled hair came in. “Father, I come in to you.” Then he (Raven) spat upon his face. “Sᴀqaiyū′ł was not like that.” And when he went out, lightning played around his knee-joints. He vanished at once. Then he cried; he cried.

Then he put his sister into his armpit and started off with her. And after Siwa′s had finished her planting at Ramsey island he came, stood on the inner side of Ramsey island, and begged all kinds of birds to accompany him. They went after cedar-bark roofing in preparation for a potlatch. They soon got this out upon the open ground. He then caused the cedar bark to be left there. [225]

And, when they became hungry, he called all kinds of animals. And, after they came floating in front of him on their canoes, he came out wearing black, shabby clothing. He then spoke. They did not understand. And they sent for Porpoise-woman. And when she came he (Raven) said: “I am the sides and I am the ends, between which I qᴀlaastī′s.” [226] Then she said: “How would they get along if I were absent? He wants them to fight him with abalones and sea eggs.” They then threw these at him. And he ate. And, since the house was too small, he started to potlatch outside. All the supernatural beings whom he had invited came by canoe.

Then he made holes in the beaks of all kinds of birds. And Eagle, too, asked to have his pierced. He became wearied by his importunities and made them anyhow. That is why his nasal openings now run upward.

[Told by Abraham of the Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o qē′g̣awa-i]

When he first started he decked out the birds. They were made of different varieties, as they now appear to us, in one house. Then, as soon as he had dressed up the birds, they went out together. At that time he refused to adorn two of them. When the house was too full they said to those who sat next to the walls: “Let your heads be as thin as the place where you sit.” Those have thin heads.

The two he had refused to adorn went crying to the [various] supernatural beings and came to Rose Spit, where they heard a drum sound toward the woods. They went thither. When they came and stood before Master Carpenter [227] with tear marks on their faces, he asked: “What causes your tear marks?” They then answered: “Raven [228] decked out the other birds. He said we were not worth adorning.” “And yet you are going to be handsomer than all others” [he said], and, having let them in, he painted them up. He put designs on their skins (feathers). Those were the Qꜝē′da-kꜝō′xawa. [229]

[Continued by John Sky]

He went thence by canoe, and came to where herring had been spawning. He then filled the canoe with herring, dipped them out of the place where the bilge water settles and threw them toward the shore. “Future people will not see the place where you are.” [230]

[Continued by the chief of Kloo of Those-born-at-Skedans]

And when he went away he came to where a spider crab sat. And he said to it: “Comrade, do you sit here? Don’t you know that we used to play together as children?” He then put his wings into its mouth and took them out again. “A little farther off, spider crab,” he said to it, and it closed its jaws together. It began at once to move seaward. And he (Raven) said to it: “Comrade, let me go. When about to let me go you used to look at me with eyes partly closed [as you are doing] now. Let me go. It will be better for us to play with each other differently. Let me go.” By and by the sea water flowed over him. Then it let him go.

And after he had traveled for a while he pulled off leaves from the salal-berry bushes, stuck spruce needles into them, and came to where an old man lay with his back to the fire. And he entered and sat down on the side opposite him. “Hē,” he said, as if he, too, were cold from going after something. Then the old man looked over to him and said: “Have I stretched out my legs, that one keeps saying he is getting cold?” He then stretched out his legs, and it became low tide. And, with Eagle, he brought up sea eggs to the woods. [Raven also brought up a red cod, but Eagle brought up a black cod.]

They then made a camp fire. And Eagle roasted his. [231] It began to drop fat into the fire. Then Raven roasted his, but it became dry. And he asked to taste of Eagle’s. “Cousin, why does yours taste like cedar? Cousin, I will bring you a small bundle of bark from the woods. When a stump comes to you, rub this [black cod] upon its face.” As soon as he went off Eagle put some stones into the fire. When they became red-hot, the stump came toward him. He then picked up a stone with the tongs and rubbed it upon the stump, and the stump went back into the woods out of sight. By and by, lo, he came to him with bark on his shoulder. His face was blackened all over. “Why, cousin, what has happened to your face?” “Well, cousin, I pulled some bark down upon my face.” “Why, cousin, it is as if something had burned it.” “No, indeed, cousin, bark dropped upon me.”

[Continued by John Sky]

On the way from this place he begged for canoe companions. [232] He begged all kinds of birds to come. Then Blue-jay offered himself to him, and he said: “No: you are too old to come.” But he insisted. He then seized him by the top of his head and pulled him into the canoe. For that reason the top of his head is flattish. And he completed his begging for comrades.

They all got then into the canoe. And it set off. It went. It went. It went. It went. They stopped in front of the Halibut people. Hu-hu-hu-hu-hu, [233] they came down to the beach in crowds. “Raven is going to war,” they said one to another as they came down to meet him. And he asked them to go, too, as companions, and they went. They fixed themselves along the bottom of the canoe like skids [234] and started. They went. They went. And before daylight they landed at the end of his (the enemy’s) town. Then his Halibut people lay [in two rows], with their heads outward, along the path which extended down from the house. Outside of them the birds also stood in lines. They hid themselves behind the halibut. After they had been there a while he came out wearing his dancing hat. When he came out one of the halibut flopped his tail at him. He fell down. The next one, too, wriggled his tail. So they continued to do until they brought him in. [235] Then he asked them why they did this to him. And they said they did it because he blew too long. They then let him go. And they started back. This was Southeast-wind, they say. After they had gone along for a while they set down the halibut at their homes, and the birds also went away.

And after he had traveled about for a while he came to some children playing and offered to join them. “I say-y-y, playing children, let me play with you-ou-ou.” “No-o-o; you would eat all of our hair se-e-e-al.” And he said: “My grandfather has gone after some for me. My father has gone after some for me.” They then let him play with them. Then he devoured all of the children’s hair seals, and they were all crying for them.

He also started away from that place. After he had gone along for a while he found a flicker’s feather floating near the shore and said to it: “Become a flicker.” It at once flapped its wings.

And after he had traveled thence for a while he came to the place where Master Fisherman [236] and his wife lived. He wanted Raven’s flicker; so he gave it to him. “Things like this are found on an island that I own.” And he said he would show it to him. And after he said he would show it to him Master Fisherman baited a halibut hook taken from among those hanging in bunches on the wall. When he had let it down into the hole into which they used to vomit sea water he pulled out a halibut, and his wife split it open and steamed it. When it was cooked the three ate it.

They went to bed, and next day he took him (Master Fisherman) to see the flicker island. Then he arrived there and said to Master Fisherman: “Do not get off.” Then he (Raven) landed. He broke off the ends of cedar limbs. And he wounded his nose. As he went along he let the blood run down into his hands. And he threw around the cedar twigs with blood upon them. “Change to flickers,” he repeated. Then they flew in a flock. And he brought some in. “Now, get off. There are plenty of them,” he said to him. Then he landed.

[Continued by the Chief of Kloo.]

And he (Raven) lay down in the canoe and began to drift away with the wind, and he (Master Fisherman) shouted to him: “Say, you are drifting away. You are drifting away.” He paid no attention to him. [237] He got far off. Then he started away [by paddling]. Then he made himself appear like Master Fisherman, and landed in front of his wife’s [house]. And he said: “Behold, it was the one always doing such things. There is not a sign of the things he went to show me.” And after he had had her as his wife a while he said: “My child’s mother, differently from my former state, I am hungry.” Then she steamed a fat halibut for him, and he ate it. After he had remained sitting for a while, he said: “My child’s mother, differently from my former state, I would like it.” [238] Then he again drank salt water. And after he had drunk salt water he baited the halibut hook and let it down into the hole where sea water was vomited out. The same thing as before happened. He pulled a halibut out.

And when his wife went after some water, lo, her husband sat near the creek and said to her: “That was the same one who is always doing such things. Stop all the holes in the house. As soon as he drifted away from it (the island) I wished my hair-seal club would swim over to me.” And to him it swam out. Then it brought him to the land, they say.

Then he ran in with the hair-seal club. And he (Raven) ran squawking about the house. By and by he knocked him down with his club. Then he threw him down into the latrine. And after he had lain there a while he spoke up out of it. [239] Then he took him out and pounded him up again. He even pounded up his bones. And he went down to the beach at low tide and rolled a big rock over upon him.

[End of so-called “old man’s story” and beginning of “young man’s” part [240]]

Then he was nearly covered by the tide. And he changed himself in different ways. By and by, when only his beak showed above water, his ten supernatural helpers came to him. Then they rolled the rock off from him, and he drifted away. The first to smell him among his supernatural helpers was a Tlingit, who wore a bone in his nose [like the shamans.]

After he had drifted away for a while, some people came along in a canoe. “Why does the chief float about upon the water?” And when they got within a short distance he said: “He has a hard time for going after a woman.”

And after he had drifted about a while longer, a black whale came along blowing. And he thought, “I wish it would swallow me.” And, as he wished, it swallowed him. Then he ate up its insides. After he had eaten all he thought: “I wish it would drift ashore with me in front of a town.” And in front of a town it drifted ashore with him.

After they had spent some time in cutting it up, they cut a hole through right where he was, and he flew out. Then he flew straight up. And he turned down at the end of the town, pulled off the skin of an old man living there, threw away his bones, went into his skin, and lived in his place instead of him. By and by they asked him about the something that came out of the whale’s belly. Then he said: “When something similar happened a long time ago they fled from each other in fear.” At once they fled from each other in fear. And afterward he ate the whale they were bringing up. This was why he had changed himself.

[Told by Tom Stevens, chief of Those-born-at-House-Point.]

And one time he had Hair-seal as his wife. Then they had a child. And one day he went after firewood with him. His son was fat, and, pleased at the sight of him, he wanted to eat him. Then he said to him: “I am within a little of eating you.” And after they had come home, and had got through eating, he said to his mother: “Ha ha⁺, mama, my father said to me: ‘I am within a little of eating you.’” And Raven said: “Stop the child.” He made him ashamed. After that he devoured him. [241]

[Continued by the Chief of Kloo.]

And after he had traveled about a while from that place he came to another town. And he was eating the leavings cut off of the salmon they brought in. By and by some of the milt [242] hung out of his nose. Then he said to his cousin [Eagle]: “When I pass in front of the town, cousin, say: ‘Wā-ā-ā [243], one goes along in front of the town with a weasel hanging from his nose.’” And when he passed in front of the village [he said], “Wā-ā-ā, one passes in front of the town with the milt of a salmon hanging from his nose.” Then he went back to him and said: “Cousin, say, ‘Weasel, weasel.’” But when he went again he said the same thing. Then he made him ashamed, and he went right along [without stopping].

And after he had gone along for a while he met some people coming back from the hunt with many hair seals. Then he changed himself into a woman. And he found a long, slender rock and said to it: “Change into a child,” and it became a human being. “Say, you who are coming, come and marry me.” Then the canoe was pointed toward her. And she picked up stones, too, they say. After they had gone along for a while she said: “The child wants hair seal. He is crying for it.” Then one cut off a piece for it. Then she wished a mist to fall, and it happened. Then they put mats over her, under which she ate it. And she put grease on the stones and threw them overboard. And she kept saying that it was the hair seal. Then they gave some to her again.

Then they gave her as wife to one of them. Some time after he had married her they gave her salmon roe to eat. And she saw where they kept it. Then she went to the place at night. And she ate in it. But when she lay down afterward she found that her labret was lost. And when they went [to the box] to get some again in the morning they found her labret in it. Upon this she touched it quickly with her lips and said: “Lg̣ᴀ′nsal stā′-is [244] was flapping her wings all night in my lip as she always does when she wants something that smells bad.” Then they handed it to her, and she put it back into her lip.

And one day, when she went out with others to defecate, and stood up, the tail coming from her buttocks was visible a moment. “Ai-ī, what is that sticking from my son’s wife’s buttocks?” “Why, this is not the first time a Tlingit woman’s tail stuck out from her buttocks.”

By and by she told her husband they were about to come after her, and she made them bring together firewood in preparation for it. Then she changed excrement into people and made them come by canoe. Then they landed; but when they came in and sat down they began to perspire. Right there they were melted. And she became ashamed. Then they were completely melted. And she flew away.

And after he (Raven) had traveled on from that place he came to where Water-ousel [245] lived. And he (the bird) gave him food. By and by he drove a stick into his leg, out of which salmon roe [such as has lain some days after hatching] ran in a stream. He gave it to him to eat. Then he started from that place. After he had traveled for a while he came to where Sea-lion lived. And after he had given him some food he roasted his hand, out of which grease dropped. That he gave him to eat. He started off, and when he had traveled a while came to where Hair-seal lived. Then he, too, roasted his hand in the fire, and grease came out. He gave it to him to eat.

Then he went away and lived in one place for a while. After he had lived there for a time Water-ousel came in to him. Then he drove something into his leg, but only made himself faint away. And he (the bird) was ashamed. While he was in the faint he went off. Then he came to himself. And after he had continued living there for a while Sea-lion and Hair-seal came in. [246] Then he roasted his hand, but it was burned. And they left him. Afterward he came to life again.

[Parts of the young man’s story told by Walter McGregor of the Qā′-i-ał-lā′nas]

He began to offer his sister in marriage, and when any creature came in to him he looked at its buttocks. When they were lean he refused it. After he had done [lit., said] this for a while Sea-lion wanted to many his sister. Then he looked at his buttocks. They were fat, and he let him marry his sister. They had two children. G̣ē′noa [247] was the elder. Iwā′ldjida was the younger. Once Raven went out fishing with his brother-in-law and thought: “I wish halibut would come to me only.” Then he only caught halibut. And his brother-in-law, Sea-lion, asked him: “Say, why do they come to you?” “That is something people are not brave enough to ask for.” Then he again asked him, and he said to him: “Well, they like me, because I use a piece of skin cut from my testes for bait.” And he told him to do the same to his. When he just touched them with a knife, “Wā-wa-wa-wā′, it hurts,” he said to him. “Don’t you see you are not brave enough for it?” Then he told him to do as before. Then he cut off the whole of his testes and ate the fat part of his brother-in-law. After he had consumed it he put stones in him in its place, and came to his sister singing a crying song: “Siwa′s’s husband, my sister’s husband. Siwa′s’s husband, my sister’s husband.” Then his sister asked him: “What has happened, brother?” He paid no attention to her. He sang the crying song. “What is it?” she kept saying. By and by she asked her brother: “What has happened, my brother Raven?” And he said to her: “Where they always do so, [the enemy] stood at House-point. With my great brother-in-law I met them. My great brother-in-law fell without speaking a word. I, however, went around and around them calling.” Then his sister, too, sang a crying song. She had G̣ē′noa on her back and held Iwā′ldjida in her hands. Then she sang the crying song: “G̣ē′noa’s father, Iwā′ldjida’s father. G̣ē′noa’s father, Iwā′ldjida’s father.” At once they carried him up in a mat. And Siwa′s said: “Say, chief, why is your brother-in-law so heavy?” Then Raven said: “You always talk nonsense. This is not the first time a chief who has been killed is heavy.” The rocks put into him made him heavy.

After they got him into the house they had Mallard-duck [248] doctor him, and when he came in, and had gone around the fire for a while, he said: “Hăn hăn hăn hăn (quacking of duck), his brother-in-law, his brother-in-law.” And Raven said: “[Speak] differently, great doctor. [Speak] differently.” Then again he said, “Hăn hăn hăn hăn, his brother-in-law took out his insides.” Then he kicked him into the fire. And just before he flew out he said the same thing. So they came to know that he had killed his brother-in-law.

One time he let Cormorant marry Siwa′s, because he was the best fisherman. And he went out fishing with him, and Cormorant alone caught halibut. He (Raven) caught only a small one. Then he went toward the bow to Cormorant and said to him: “Let me see what is upon your tongue.” And when he ran his tongue out he pulled it out, and his voice was gone. That is why the cormorant has no voice.

Then he pulled the halibut round toward himself [so that their heads lay in his direction] and turned the small one toward him (Cormorant). [249] Then they went home, and he pulled off the halibut. Cormorant motioned his wife to the halibut, and his sister asked: “Say, chief, why does he motion me to the halibut?” Then Raven said: “He is trying to say he wants the head of a big one.” And she asked her brother again: “Say, chief, what has happened to your brother-in-law?” “Why, while I was fishing with him his voice left him.” He wanted to eat all the halibut. That is why he took it out.

After he had gone on for some distance a sea anemone (?) looked out from under a rock. He became fascinated at the sight of the corners of its eyes, which were bluish, and said to it: “Say, cousin, come and let me kiss you.” And the sea anemone said: “I know your words, Raven,” and made him angry. Then he threw aside the stones from it and steamed it [in the ground]. When it was cooked he ate it while it was still hot. Then his heart was burst with the burning. That is why ravens do not eat sea anemones.

After he had gone along from there for a while he came to a town. Having looked into the house [he saw] no people there. Then he entered. Halibut and slices of smoked hair seal lay on the drying frame. Only old wedges lay near the fire. But when he started to carry off the halibut and slices of seal a wedge threw itself at his ankle bone; on the other side the same thing happened, and he fainted with the pain. Then he threw them from his shoulders and went out. And he looked into a house near by. And he entered that, too. There were plenty of hair seals and halibut there. On the wall was some design drawn with finger nails. Then he started to carry some out. When he came to the door something pulled his hair. He saw nothing. After they had pulled his hair until they made him weak, he went out. These were the Shadow people, they say.

After he had traveled thence for a while he came to a house in which the Herring people were dancing. The air (weather or sky) [250] even shook above them. And when he looked in the Herring people spawned upon his mustache. Then he ate the fish eggs. They tasted bad, and he threw away his mustache. [251] Then, having pushed in a young hemlock he had broken off, he drew it out. The fish eggs were thick upon it, and he ate them. They tasted good. He started the use [of these limbs].

After he had gone on for a while he came to one who had a fire in his house. And he did not know how to get his live coals. And [the man] had bought a deerskin. “Say, cousin, I want to borrow your skin a while.” And he lent it to him. It had a long tail, they say, and he tied a bundle of pitch wood to the end of the tail. Then he came in and danced before him. As he danced his face was turned toward the fire only. After he had danced for a time he struck his tail into the fire and the pitch wood burned. Then his tail was burned off. That is why the deer’s tail is short. Then he went into his own skin and flew away with the live coals. His beak, too, was burned off. And they pursued him. They could not catch him and came back. He got the coals neatly.

On traveling thence he found a devilfish’s nose (i.e., mouth) drifted ashore. And he took it and came to Screech-owl. And he said to him: “Say, cousin, let me borrow your beak a while,” and he lent it to him. Then he stuck the devilfish nose he had found in its place and said to him: “Say, cousin, yours looks nice. You are fit to travel about with the supernatural beings.”

After he had traveled on for a while his cousin (Eagle) came to him. And, after they had traveled together for a while they came to an abundance of berries, which Eagle consumed before he got there. On that account he was angry with him. And he went quickly to the beach, found a sharp fish bone, and stuck it into the moss ahead of him (Eagle). “Run into Eagle’s foot,” he said to the bone. And he said to Eagle: “Now, cousin, go right on here before me.” And as he went along there the bone stuck into his foot. “Cousin, let me see it,” and he pretended to take it out with his teeth, but instead commenced to push it in farther. “Wā-wā-wā, cousin, you are pushing it in.” “No, cousin, it is because I am trying to pull it out with my teeth.” By and by he pulled it out and said to him: “Cousin, wait right here.” Then he examined the ground before him [to select an easy path]. And he ordered a chasm to form. It did so. And, breaking off a stalk of łqeā′ma, [252] he laid it across the gulf and put moss upon it. He made it like a dead, fallen tree. Then he went back toward Eagle, carried him on his back, and started over with him upon the dead tree. When he got halfway over he let him go. “Yauwaiyā′, what I carry on my back is heavy.” He burst open below. Then he went down to him and ate his berries. He ate all and started off.

After he had traveled for a while he came to a woman with a good-sized labret weaving a water-tight basket, and he asked her: “Say, skᴀñ, [253] have you seen my cousin?” She paid no attention to him, and he again said to her: “Say, skᴀñ, have you seen my cousin?” Again she paid no attention to him. “Skᴀñ, I can knock out your labret.” “Don’t. Over yonder is a qꜝa′ła [254] point, beyond which is a spruce point, beyond which is a hemlock point, beyond which is an alder point. At that point in front of the shell of a sqā′djix̣ū [255] on which he is drawing is your cousin.” Then he started over, and it was as she said. “Say, cousin, is that you?” [he said], and he pulled him up straight, and they started off together.

After they had gone on they came to a town. They (the people) were glad to see them. Then they began giving them food. When they gave them berries to eat they asked Eagle: “Does the chief eat these?” And Raven said: “Say that I like them very much.” But Eagle said: “The chief says he never eats them.” And they only gave them to him (Eagle). And again they gave him good berries to eat, and he said: “Those, too, the chief does not like.”[255]