Chapter VIII: Part 8

They stopped at this place, and she had them cut long sticks. They got two poles at this place. The younger brother’s wife hid herself, but the elder brother’s wife commanded the voyagers. The ten canoes were still, and along the front of the bows and midway of the canoes they put the sticks. They fastened them to thwarts by winding ropes around them. [293] That was finished. Then they started for the front of the town.

They stopped in front of the chief’s house, and one came out of the chief’s house. “Wait, they direct you to remain still. They are going to dance in front of you.” After they had remained there for a while, they forgot themselves. Then they came to themselves lying on top of the retaining planks. In the place where they woke up they untied themselves. They also untied the poles that had been fastened upon the canoes.

On top of the retaining planks they spread out mats. There were crowds of people there on each side on the ten retaining planks. The chief’s child was not there, the one they came after. Only her husband sat there. Then they spread out two mats in front of the place where he sat. In front of him the ten canoe loads of people laid their clam shells. They filled the house up to the very roof. Now they laid the hat on top of all. They gave it back to him.

“Come! send for my father. Tell him to hurry.” Then a youth started on the run. “Is he coming?” “He is close by.” Whiu-u-u-u (sound of wind). The house moved. The earth, too, shook. Of all the visitors who sat in circles not one looked up. But, while they hung their heads, the younger brother’s wife raised hers up. Then she looked toward the rear of the house and toward the door. “Hold up your heads. Have you, also, no power?” she said.

By and by the house shook again, and the ground with it. X̣u-u-u. The people in the house again hung their heads. Now she said again “Hold your heads up. Have you, too, no supernatural power?” At the same time he came in and stood there. Something wonderful came in and stood there. His large eyelids were too powerful to look at. Where he placed his foot he stood for awhile. When he took another step the earth and the house shook. When he took another step and the house and the earth shook, all of the people hung their heads; but she (the youngest’s wife) said to them, “Hold your heads up.” When she said it louder the supernatural power that had entered took hold of his head. “Stop! mighty supernatural woman that you are.” After that he came in. Nothing happened. [294] He sat down near his son.

But when he first came in and sat down he laid his hands at once on his hat.

With his father’s staff he divided the clam shells. He kept the smaller part for himself. He made his father’s part large. “Did you send for your wife, chief, my son?” “No, indeed; I have been waiting for you.” “Send someone for your wife, chief, my son.” Then a youth went to call her. “Is she coming?” “Yes; she approaches.” By and by the one whom they were after came in from the cave where she had lain, and stood there. But she went to her mother first. She did not go down to her husband.

Then his father began to dance. After he had done so for a while, he fell down. At once he broke in two in the middle. Out of his buttocks feathers blew, and out of his trunk as well. One of the servants stood up out of his buttocks, one out of his trunk, another out of his buttocks, another out of his trunk. All ten whom he had eaten he restored. [295] That was why he danced. On account of the hat he had devoured the servants. He had put grease, too, into the mind of the chief’s daughter by thinking. On account of the hat they put her in the cave. By and by he came together. He stopped dancing. He sat down.

Now they put more wood on the fire, made them sit down in a circle, and began to give them something to eat. The feast went on even until midnight, when they stopped. They stopped. They went to bed.

When day began to break the young hair seals cried in the very place where they had cried before. Then they prepared to start from the top of the retaining timbers, where their canoes were lying.

Then her father-in-law called her. “Noble woman, [296] wait until I give you directions.” And he whispered to her. He gave her directions as she sat near him. “Chief-woman, I will come forth from your womb. Do not be afraid of me.” And to her he gave a round plate of copper, to which some strings and a chain were fastened. It was named X̣īłūtꜝā′ła (Property chain (?)). “Have Master Carpenter make my cradle, chief’s daughter. Let lofty cumulus clouds be around the upper edges, chief-woman, and around its lower edges short ones. In those days human servants (i.e., human beings) will gather food through me. When they see me sitting in the morning the surface birds will gather food while I am governing the weather (i.e., while I am in sight).” [297]

Her parents (“fathers”) were waiting for her on top of the retaining timbers, but, below, her father-in-law was giving her directions, to which she was listening. After he had ceased talking, she got into the canoe with her father. They fastened the canoes to each other; they all fastened themselves. After the chief’s child got in, all forgot themselves. When they came to, they were afloat upon the ocean.

At once they started off. In a short time he came to his village. After it had lain still for a long time the chief’s daughter became pregnant. When she began to labor they made a house for her outside. They drove in a stake, had her take hold of it, and went in. Now he came forth, and, when she looked at him, she saw something wonderful. Something flat stuck out from his eyelids. She rose quickly and ran away from him in fright. “Awaiyā′,” she said, and the town was nearly overturned.

Then she quickly turned back toward him, laid her hands upon him, and exclaimed as she picked him up: “Oh! my grandfather, it is I.” The town was as still as when something is suddenly thrown down. She brought him to the house. Her father put hot stones into a urinal he owned, and they washed him. [298]

As soon as they went out for [Master Carpenter], he came on the run. He held in his hand what he had taken off (i.e., cut out) [299] in the woods. As soon as he came in he put the drawing on it, as the chief’s daughter told him. He pictured the clouds upon it. There were two rows of them. He made holes in the cradle for fastening the rope alongside of his legs.

Then they put him in. They brought out two sky blankets and wrapped them round him in the cradle. After that was done they launched the canoe. Five persons and the chief’s daughter went with her son. Then they started seaward. They went, they went, they went. When they found by looking about that they were midway between the Haida country and the mainland they let him down into the water. When they let him go he turned around to the right four times and became like something flat thrown down. Then they went away from him, and settled down at the place where they had been before.

[He was the one who has his place in the middle of the sea. Sometimes when sickness was about to break out they saw him. Nᴀñʟ̣da′ sʟas [300] was a reef.]

[What follows is really a second story, but it was told as part of the same. Its true name is said to be “He-who-had-Panther-woman-for-his-mother.”]

Here on the Nass lay the town of Gu′nwa. Four slaves of the owner of the town came down [the inlet] after wood. They cut the wood at a sandy beach below the town and saw young cedars. They found them for the chief’s wife. They did not believe their eyes [for joy at finding them growing so conveniently to the water]. They finished cutting the wood, loaded it on their canoe, and went up with the tide. At evening they got back. The town people brought in the wood, and he (the chief) called them in.

Then, after they had given away food for a while, he reported that they had seen young cedars. At once the chief’s wife planned to go for the bark. They went to sleep, and early in the morning she had her husband’s canoe brought out. People of the town, the chief’s daughters and young men, all went with her. At once they floated down with the current. Hu hu hu hu hu, much food,—cranberries and salmon,—[they took with them]. Then they went down.

When they landed by the young cedars all the women pulled off and dragged down [the bark] from those [trees] near by. They pulled it off and dragged it out to her. When they had taken all from those near at hand they became scattered.

She (the chief’s wife) sat with her back to the sunshine, pulling cedar bark apart. She was not in the habit of eating much. Her fingers were slender. She did not care for food.

After the sounds of the voices of women and men had died away inland a person wearing a bearskin blanket with the hair side out came and stood near her. He held something like a pole. It had a sharp point. It was half red, half blue. He was looking at the chief’s wife, but she did not even glance toward him. He asked the chief’s wife: “How do you act when your husband calls the people [for a feast]?” “When my husband calls the people, I empty the whole dish placed in front of the one sitting next to me into my mouth.”

She had children. One of the two boys she had could not creep.

“How do you act when your husband calls the people again?” “As soon as my husband calls the people I put food into the dishes and, bending down, eat out of them.” “How do you act when your husband comes in from fishing?” “I go down, pull up my dress, swim out to him, and swallow the two spring salmon which are on top.”

He drove the thing he had in his hand into her forehead, and, when it stuck out at the back of her head and he had raised her arm, all of her flesh dropped off. Then he sat down and entered it (her skin). And he picked up her flesh and buried it in the sand at the foot of the tree. After he had seated herself in the place of the chief’s wife, they came down to her in crowds with the cedar bark.

All of them pulled their cedar bark apart. Among the crowds of people that were there the chief woman did it. “Woman, I am hungry.” “Well, there is a piece of white food in [my box].” “In mine, too.” “In mine, too.” This [they said] because they wanted to have her eat.

The one who was quickest broke up the piece of food and placed it in front of her. She ate all of the little they gave her. While she was doing it, at which they were very much pleased, they started out. Later than the usual time for going to sleep they reached home. They explained that they had started back in the night because the chief’s wife had begun to eat.

The chief commanded wood to be put on the fire. Then he called the people. One of her children had nearly cried itself to death when she reached home. When they handed it to her she pulled her teats out and put one into her child’s mouth, but it ran away from her. It was sucking a man. That is why it ran off crying.

The town people came in and sat down in a circle. After they had roasted the salmon, had broken it up into small pieces, and had placed some in a dish in front of the one sitting next to her she emptied it all [into her mouth]. She did not chew it. When she emptied it into her mouth the town people looked at her instead of eating. They were astonished at the way in which she handled the food. But it was the chief’s wife [they thought].

Next day his wife was again hungry, and again he called the people. While they were in astonishment at her [actions], the elder brother carried his younger brother along in front of the town. Both went crying along. He called the people. Then they let her pour the berries into a dish. To their surprise instead of doing so she bent over the tray. The youths came back in a crowd with the empty trays. They were astonished at what she did. It was not the chief’s wife that they saw.

Next day, very early, he (the elder brother) launched one of his father’s canoes and put his younger brother in the bow. He paddled off aimlessly out of Nass inlet, away from the town of Gu′nwa. After he had gone down with the tide for a while a woman leaned halfway out from a certain house and said: “Come hither.” The house had a front sewed together with cedar limbs. [301] It was painted.

Then he directed his course toward it. After he had landed she said to him: “Stop with me. To-morrow you shall go on.” She spread out mats woven in many colors for them. The chief-woman sat on one side, the elder brother next to her, and the younger lay on the other side of him. Then she said to him: “Let your younger brother sit next to me.” He picked him up and made him sit next to her.

For a long time he had had nothing to eat, since the time when they were astonished at the actions of his mother. He was going to eat for the first time with this woman. She turned round. Then she looked into her box, took a dish out of it with the carving of a mouse on it, and placed before him a single piece of salmon.

He bent down his head and thought: “After I have gone hungry for so long this is very little for me to eat. What part will my brother eat?” She was looking at his face and said to him: “Why, just as it is, the supernatural beings are never able to pick it up and eat it.” He picked it up, and his younger brother also picked it up. Yet it was still there. After they had eaten it for a while they had enough and put [the dish] back.

After the dry fish was finished she put down a cranberry for them as well. As soon as he thought about that, too, she looked into his face again and said to him: “Eat it. The supernatural beings are unable to consume it.” Then he picked it up with a spoon and ate it. When they were filled she put it back.

After it became dark she spread out the mat. There the chief-woman lay down. The elder brother was going to lie next to her, but she said: “Lay your younger brother next me.” He picked him up and laid him next her. As soon as he laid him down he lay as still as one killed by a club. For the first time after he had cried so long he slept.

While he (the elder brother) was asleep he heard a woman laugh, and it awoke him. To his surprise his younger brother was playing with the chief-woman. When his younger brother did a certain thing to the chief woman [she exclaimed]: “Yu-ī′, now see how He-who-came-to-have-Panther-woman-for-his-mother plays with me.” As soon as the elder brother understood this he began to cry [from jealousy]. At the same time day broke.

At daybreak he began to get ready to go somewhere without knowing whither. Then she made him sit down. “Stop! let me tell you something.” She brought her box out to the fire, took something blue out of it, and bit off part for him. “Now, my grandson, if anything has too much power for you, swallow this and spit it upon yourself.” Then she said to him: “Right down the inlet lives the one whom you came to see, the one for whose daughter you came. But your younger brother shall remain with me, and after a while I will marry him.”

Then he went down with the current alone. He was expecting to meet Sqä′g̣ał’s daughter. There lay the large town in which lived the woman he came to marry. After he had walked about in the town for a while it became dark. Then he entered Sqä′g̣ał’s house. He went in and sat down close to the door. The chief’s child sat between the screens at the rear of the house. Around her walked some women with their hair stuck together in bunches. Her father set them to watch her so that she might do nothing foolish. When day began to break, instead of going in to her, he went outside.

He went round the front of the house and followed a narrow trail. At an open place near water holes human bones were piled up, and a bull pine stood there. In the branches of this he sat down. After he had been sitting there for some time red spots from the rising sun appeared on the open ground. Then the chief’s child came thither. The servant who came in advance had a bone stuck in her nose. [302] She had a crooked war club. The one who came behind was dressed in the same way. The leader had a human scalp in her hands. Their hair was stuck together in bunches. She was a Tlingit woman. The one behind was a Bellabella. [303]

She sat down, untied her blanket, and was naked. Then she went into the water, turned round four times, and came out. Then the Tlingit woman rubbed her back. The Bellabella woman, too, rubbed her breast. After they had finished rubbing her she went into the water a second time. After she had turned round to the right she sat down on dry ground and turned her back to the sunshine.

When her skin had begun to dry he came out and seized her. The moment that he seized her he quickly touched noses. [304] One servant picked up her weapons with the scalp, ready to strike him, and the other one, too, was ready to strike him with the bone club. But she stopped them. “Do not kill him. I will marry him.” The human bones lying around belonged to those who, having become fascinated at the sight of her, had seized her, and had presently been killed by the servants.

At the same place, beside the bull pine, they lay with each other. The Tlingit woman sat down at her feet. The Kwakiutl woman sat at her head. There they kept looking at her. When the sun was set all four went home. Then she entered her father’s house. As she went in she concealed her husband under her blankets. Her father had his eyes fixed upon her and [said]: “My child, what makes you lame?” “Father, a shell made my foot sore by cutting into it.” Then they went in together behind the screens.

And in the evening the chief’s child lay behind the screens. Then he lay with her, and he (her father) heard someone talking with his daughter in the night. When day broke the chief commanded them to put wood on the fire, and two slaves put wood on the fire. After it had begun to burn up he said: “Come! look to see who is talking with my child.” Then a young man went thither and said: “Someone is lying here with her.” And her father said: “Alas! I wonder what roaming supernatural being it is! Perhaps it is ‘He-who-had-Panther-woman-for-his-mother,’ whom I wanted my child to marry.” “He says he is the one, father [said his daughter].”

Then he spread out a mat next to himself and said: “My child, come and sit down near the fire with your husband.” Shortly she came down and sat there with him. They put four hard stones into the fire. When they became red-hot he put them into a dish standing near the wall with the tongs. Then he had it set before his son-in-law. A spoon made out of white rock was stuck into it. She was crying. “Hᴀ hᴀ hᴀ!” she wept, “he is going to do again as he always does when I try to get married. That is how he kills them.” Then he said to his wife, “Do not utter a word.”

Now he took the spoon, picked up one of the red-hot stones and swallowed it. His insides were not affected. He handled all four in the same way. He finished with them.

This was because his supernatural power was strong. If his supernatural power had been weak, he would have been killed. Because his supernatural power was strong he let him marry his daughter.

While he was living with this woman he and his younger brother, who had become the husband of Mouse-woman, forgot how their mother had begun to act strangely.

One day he lay abed a long time. He lay until evening. He was there when they went to sleep. Next day he again lay abed. Again he was there till they went to sleep. He lay abed two days. “My child” [said his father-in-law], “why is your husband feeling badly?” She said: “I do not know.” Then she went over to her husband, sat down at the head of his bed, and talked a while to him. Then she said to her father: “He has suddenly become desirous to see his younger brother, whom he left just above here.” “Now, chief-woman, go with your husband to the common canoe I own over there in the woods.”

And they went thither. To their surprise they did not find the canoe. Only the bones of a whale lay there among the salmon-berry bushes. Its tail bones lay [with the rest]. Then they returned and she said to her father: “Father, we could not find it. Only a whale’s head lies there.” Then he said to her: “Chief-woman, my daughter, that was it. Say to it ‘Go seaward, father’s canoe.’”

When she went back to it with her husband she kicked it. “Go seaward, father’s canoe,” she said to it. Now a whale canoe floated upon the water. The lines cut on the edges [305] were pictures of geese, which almost moved their wings. And they carried their stuff down to it. The canoe was all filled with good food, with cranberries, berries in cakes, soapberries, and the fat of all kinds of animals, grizzly-bear fat, mountain-goat fat, deer fat, ground-hog fat, beaver fat—the fat parts of all mainland animals; and he got into the canoe and pressed it down with his feet toward the bow. When the canoe was nearly full those who were loading it went up to the house and laid pieces of whale meat, with most of the grease taken out, in a basket. When it was full they took it down. And they laid it on the top.

When they were ready to start, her father came out; [he said]: “My child, when the creatures seated on both sides call throw cranberries into their mouths. When they become hungry they keep calling.”

As soon as they moved their wings the canoe started. While they did so the canoe went along. By and by, when his brother’s wife’s house came in sight, they shoved off Mouse-woman’s canoe also. They also loaded her’s with good food. When it was filled they pressed it toward the bow with their feet. By and by it was filled, and they started off together.

As soon as the geese along the edges of the elder brother’s canoe began to call he took out cranberries and put them into their mouths. Along the edges of the younger one’s canoe sat rows of small human figures. All had small painted paddles in their hands. With these they paddled. As soon as they began to move their lips as if hungry he fed them.

When they came near to the place where they had gone to get cedar bark, the younger brother’s wife and the elder brother’s wife sat upright. And they said: “Move shoreward.” Now they got off there. They had sticks in their hands, and they hunted in the sand with them from the sea inland. By and by they dug out the bones of a human being in front of a tree at the edges of the grass. The canoes floated on the water in front of them. Their husbands were looking at them.

Mouse-woman took out her box. Sqäg̣ał’s daughter, too, took out her box. Sqäg̣ał’s daughter brought out of her box a mat with edges like clouds. Mouse-woman took out something from her box also and bit off a part. Now they put the mat over her and began to rattle her bones under it. Underneath this Mouse-woman spit many times. Then they (i.e., Mouse-woman) told Sqäg̣ał’s daughter to hurry: “Quick, hasten your mind, noble woman.” Then she, too, said: “It is [for you to do so], noble woman. You had better hurry yourself; it is getting late.” Then she pulled off the mat. Ah! their mother-in-law got up. He looked at his mother; both [boys], in fact, [did so].

They had her get into the canoe of the younger and went up with the tide to Gunwa, their father’s town. The younger brother’s wife hid her mother-in-law. They were anxious to see how their [supposed] mother would act when they arrived. When they got near the town, the wife of the younger ordered the canoes to be brought close together. The town was thrown into commotion. They reported to each other that the chief’s son and his younger brother, who had gone away, had both married. The people who came down to meet them were like warriors going to fight. In front came his mother putting her belt on as she ran to carry up the things. She acted differently from the others.

Then the elder brother’s canoe landed first, and Sqäg̣ał’s daughter stood near the basket. “Come hither, woman. Carry up my basket.” Then she went to it and was going to carry it with the strings around her head. Sqäg̣ał’s daughter prevented her. She wished her to carry it the right way [with the straps around her breast]. When she carried it, the weight made her stagger as she went up. She got into the house with it. How huge it was! Afterward they at once carried up the other things.

After they had pulled up the canoe, the younger one’s canoe also came to the shore. A big basket was in it, the strings on which were just like a knife. Mouse-woman stood near it. Then she called her mother-in-law from the place where she was carrying things up. “Come hither, woman. Carry up my basket.” Then her mother-in-law came to her, and was about to put the basket strings around her head. But [the other] forbade her. And she did as she was told.

When she started to carry it up the strings cut her head off. Her head lay at some distance. At once Mouse-woman took a whetstone out of her box, quickly got ashore, and put it between her head and her trunk, which were drawing together. After she had ground herself to pieces foam was piled up on either side.

Now she let out her mother-in-law. At that time they came down in a crowd and got her. They did it because they were glad to see her. To kill her mother-in-law was the purpose for which Mouse-woman let herself marry the boy. A crowd of people carried the property up. Then she said to her husband: “Leave me. I married you to restore your mother to life.” At once she pushed the canoe off and vanished downstream with the current. There was no trace of her left.

After that the elder brother’s wife lived as a chief’s wife. Then she became pregnant, Sqäg̣ał’s daughter did. She bore a boy. Again she was pregnant. She bore another boy. [She bore seven boys.] There was one girl.

Sqäg̣ał’s children made their town at Qꜝadō′, opposite Metlakahtla. Their mother and their sister lived with them. All eight went out to a beaver pond to hunt. When they had at length come to the lake, and had made a hole in one end of the dam, a stick was carried into the shoulder of the eldest by the force of the current. He died there.

Then they went away. And at midnight they came behind the house. Then they sent out the youngest and gave him the following directions: “Speak to our mother. And also watch your elder brother’s wife. She must be unfaithful to him. She must be going with another man. That is why our brother is [dead].”

He went off, entered his mother’s side of the house, laid his hand on his mother’s head, and said to his mother: “The beaver dam drifted down upon my elder brother. One piece drifted into his neck. He dropped dead without speaking a word.” Then she said: “Alas! my child.” “Stop! we do not want him spoken of before the people. Do not say a word.”

When she had wakened the people in the house by her exclamation, they asked her: “What made you say that?” and she said, “I dreamed of something terrible. I dreamed that a beaver dam floated into my eldest son and he dropped dead without saying a word. That was what made me cry out.”

After he had lain flat on the floor near his mother, and midnight had come, he heard some one talking with his elder brother’s wife. When it was near daylight, they stopped whispering. Then he crept over to them. And as the man slept he cut off his head.

After they had sat there in the woods for a while day came, and they went home. They had a real human head in their hands. The youngest brother put his head above the door. Out of it blood oozed in drops.

The chief’s son [in Metlakahtla] was lost, and they were looking for him everywhere. They stopped inquiring for him. The town of Metlakahtla lay there. By and by a north wind began to blow. The sea surface froze, even to Qꜝadō′. They began to walk to and fro to each other on the ice.

Very early one morning a slave went to the town of Qꜝadō′ for live coals. “Enter the middle house,” they said to him. And when he went in blood dropped upon his feet. When he pushed the charcoal into the fire, he turned his head around from looking at the side opposite the door. Above the door, to his astonishment, he saw the head of the chief’s son who had disappeared. He recognized him by the abalone-shell earrings he wore.

He picked up the live coals and started away with them. When he came to the ice he threw the coals away. Then he returned. Though he had looked right at it, he did not believe himself. And he went in again, and again he put the coals into the fire. After he had looked about the house for a while he fastened his eyes upon it again. It was really the chief’s son. Then he went away with the burning coals.

When he was halfway back he also threw those coals away. He thought: “I must have been mistaken.” Then he went back again. He entered, and he put [fresh charcoal] into the fire. And as soon as he had done so, he looked. It was truly he. He saw with his eyes. Then he started off with the burning coals.

Just outside he threw them away. At once he ran off shouting. “The head of the chief’s son who disappeared forever is stuck up in this house,” he shouted out as he ran. As soon as they heard his voice from the town they did not delay. They put on their armor, shields, helmets. And they ran to fight with war spears and bows and arrows. At once they fought with Sqäg̣ał’s children.

She and her mother were the only ones from among her kindred who were saved. Her brothers, however, they destroyed. They (the two women) came to live in a branch house in front of a hill behind the town. She lived there some time with her daughter. Every evening she cried. They went to bed, and they continued to lie there.

One day she offered her daughter in marriage: “Djīnâ′-â-â, nałgū-ū-ūs Ga′oax (Tsimshian words).” [306] A large creature came running in at the side toward the door. “I will marry your daughter.” “What will you do when you marry my daughter?” “Oh, bother! after I have married your daughter I will come out at one end of the town and eat them all up from the end. I will eat them all.” That was Grizzly-bear.

At once she said the same thing again: “Djīnâ′-â-â, djīnâ′-â-â nałgū-ū-ūs Ga′oax.” Something with crooked legs came in. “I will marry your daughter.” “After you have married my daughter what will you do for us?” “I will tip the town over by digging it up with my teeth.” That was Beaver.

“Djīnâ′-â-â, djīnâ′-â-â nałgū′-ū-ūs Ga′oax.” “What will you do after you have married my daughter?” “I [will] run into the water at the end of the town. Then they [will] take me into some canoe, and I [will] make them quarrel. Then all the townspeople will kill each other.” That was Deer.

Still another time [she cried]: “Djīnâ′-â-â, djīnâ′-â-â nałgū-ū-ūs Ga′oax.” [307] Someone came in and stood there. He had a bow for a staff. Feathers were around it in one place. He held arrows with it in his hand. He had a quiver on his back. He had dancing leggings. He had a gable-crowned hat. He did not say a word. “What are you going to do if you marry my daughter?” He took a heavy step with his right foot. The earth cracked. “Stop! stop! great chief, you are the one.” Then the earth closed again. “Indeed, I thought that you had your daughter for me.”

He took off his hat. He laid aside his quiver. He started off with only two arrows and his bow. He rolled a grizzly bear down from a steep place with his foot. There he also rolled down a deer and a beaver. Again he started off. He brought a post out on his shoulder. He put it into the ground, and without waiting, pulled it out. He went to the other side and did the same thing there, also toward the door, and on the other side. There he let it stay.

Again he went off. He brought out a wall post. In the rear of the house he stuck it in, in the other corner, on the side toward the door, in the corner opposite to that.

He went off. He brought out a stringer. He put it up and, after he had moved it backward and forward a while, he took it over to the other side. He put it up on the wall posts, too, and on the opposite side. There he let it stay.

Again he went off. He brought a plank out on his shoulder. He set it up on edge above the side opposite the door, and he rolled it over. By doing this again and again he completed half [of the roof]. He did the same to the other half of the roof. He filled up that, too.

Again he went away. He brought out a wall plank. He stood it up, shoved it along, and one side of the front was filled. He treated the other side and the side opposite the door in the same way. He treated both sides of the house in the same way. [308]

The house was finished. He went away. He brought two white rocks. He rubbed them against each other and laid them down under the smoke hole. The fire burned continually. It was never extinguished.

After that his mother-in-law kept cutting up and bringing in mountain goats and grizzly bears. Afterward she cooked them. He took his quiver and his bow. He put on his hat, took up his wife, and went away with her. He was the son of One-who-goes-along-above (i.e., the moon).

After he had lived with her in his father’s house for a while he had a child by her. She bore a boy. Again she gave birth to a boy. [She gave birth to eight.] Again she gave birth. She gave birth to [two] girls. The eldest son was called “Puncher” (X̣ᴀtagī′a). [309] The youngest girl was called “One-who-sucks-arrow-points-from-wounds.” The next one he named “One-who-heals-the-place-where-the-arrows-strike.” His grandfather called the eldest boy to him, took out his bones, and put stones in in place of them. He filled up all parts of his body with stones.

One day he gave ten slaves to the eldest. To the next he also gave ten slaves. He gave ten apiece to all eight. He made a row of houses for them, all sewed together with cedar limbs. On the house front of the eldest he put the figure of a thunder-bird. On that of the next one he put the figure of a sculpin. On that of the next he put the figure of a rainbow. On that of the next he put the figure of a killer whale. On that of the next he put the figure of a human being. On that of the next one he figured stars. On that of the next he put the figure of a cormorant. On that of the next he put the figure of a sea gull. To the eldest brother he gave a spear box. Along with it he gave an arrow box. He gave to all eight of them in the same way. Then he put two marten-skin blankets around each of their two sisters.

He sat in front of his grandchildren’s town and called for them. Then they picked up their weapons and practised fighting each other. By and by one was shot. Then the elder sister went out and sucked the arrow out of him. The younger sister went thither, spit on her palms, and rubbed them on him. Immediately he was fighting among the ten. Both [of the women] walked about among them. They tried particularly to shoot them. Instead of penetrating, the weapons rebounded from the blankets. That was why he gave the blankets to them. Thus they turned out good [warriors], and he had them cease fighting.

One day he began to let his grandchildren’s town down. He pulled apart the heavy floor planks, looked down, and saw the houses of Metlakahtla and [the site of] Qꜝadō′ among human beings. At midnight he let down the house of the eldest. When it struck the ground there was a sound of rattling planks. From the town of Metlakahtla one cried “Wā-ā-ā-ā-ā, ghosts are settling down”. So he heard some one cry. He let down two of them. He let down three.

The youngest received the following directions from his grandfather: “When you run away because they are too much for you put a wooden wedge having a drawing on it into the fire for me. Say to it ‘Tell my grandfather.’”

All that time the Metlakahtla people shouted “Wā-ā-ā-ā-ā, ghosts are coming down.” Eight had come down. It was wonderful to see smoke rolling from them in the daylight. In front of the town people walked about in crowds. They wore feathers in their hair. They longed much to see them. Then they sent a slave across in a canoe for live coals. They told him to go into the middle house, which had the figure of a thunder-bird on it.

He landed in front and shoved his coals into the fire. To his surprise he recognized Ga′oax there cooking parts of an animal. It was she whose sons they had killed. From rear to front gambling was in progress. Those watching the gambling stood about in crowds. He looked on. She (i.e., Ga′oax) threw a fat piece of meat to him [saying]: “Here is some ghosts’ food for you to taste.”

He went out. Then he threw away the burning coals and paddled across. He reached home, but instead of eating the fat he carried it up. He entered his master’s house and said: “Say! did you kill Ga′oax?” At once they called all the town people, and they questioned one another: “Did you kill Ga′oax?” Some said “Yes;” some, “No.” Some thought that she had got safely into the woods.

While they were still in the house one, full of mischief, [310] bit off some of the mountain goat meat. They looked to see him drop dead where he stood. Presently he said: “Why, it passed into me all right. All of you taste it. Swallow it. This is human beings’ food.”

One among them said: “Well! let us gamble with them. Then you can see whether Ga′oax got safely into the woods.” With that intention they went to bed, and next day, early in the morning, the town chief launched his canoe. The town, the chiefs and the middle-aged, all went. They went across.

After they had landed there they went into the middle house, and those who were gambling put away their gambling sticks. At once they began gambling with these instead. The town chief started to gamble with the elder brother. But Ga′oax spread out grizzly bear skins around the inside of the house. She and the young people began to give them food.

The elder brother was left-handed. He had laid the gambling-sticks down on that side. On the same side lay his bone club. After gambling had gone on for some time he stopped the town chief, who was handling the sticks. “You are cheating me” [he said]. And he replied: “No, indeed; I am not cheating you.” In spite of that he insisted upon it for a long time. After they had disputed for some time, the town chief threw fine cedar bark into his face. Then he struck him on the head with his war club. He killed him.

The house was in an uproar. They picked up their weapons, and the Metlakahtla people as well. They began to fight. While the fighting went on the two sisters walked about among them. Although they were struck with the spears, the latter always broke upon them. After the fight had gone on for a while one had an arrow point break off in him. He was wounded badly. When he was about to lie down the elder sister sucked his wound and sucked it out. Then the other sucked it, spit upon her hand, and rubbed on the wound. Then he got up again and fought with them.

The fight went on until the dawn of the next day, and continued then and the day after. Now they began to drive the people of Qꜝadō′ back. When that happened the youngest brother ran over to the house, drew something upon a partly used wooden wedge, said to it: “Carry the news to my grandfather,” and threw it into the fire. [311]

Then it at once came into the front part of the house and said: “Your grandchildren are beginning to be hard pressed.” Now he looked down between the floor planks. To his surprise his grandchildren, who were fighting for revenge, were being driven back. The eldest brother was naked. He fought among them with his fists. When he struck one, he did not get up again. He looked down upon all this. He turned around, went to get his small, square box and, when he had opened five boxes, one within the other, he took from the last something [shaped like skeins of yarn], covered with the sky and tied up with rope. After he had looked down for a while, he threw it down upon the people of Metlakahtla. Then their legs only were visible. At these they struck, and they killed all. These were called Clouds-of-the-Killer. [312]

Although this is the second story of the Skedans series, it was the first of them that I took down, my informant choosing to tell the Raven story last, and it is the second Haida story recorded by me. In consequence, the form in which it appears is rougher than that of most of the others, and certain points will seem obscure at the first reading. As noted in the text and translation, there are really two stories combined under one head. To the first the name properly belongs, and this may be a real Haida story, but the second, “He-who-had-Panther-woman-for-his-mother,” is a well-known Tsimshian tale. Nevertheless, my informant stoutly maintained that the story was always told in this combined form. Probably, the common episode of the marriage of two chiefs’ sons to women having supernatural power was the occasion for placing them together. The name given for Panther-woman, Sîmn’â′sᴀm, is Tsimshian.

THE ONE ABANDONED FOR EATING THE FLIPPER OF A HAIR SEAL

[Told by John Sky of Those-born-at-Skedans]

He was a chief’s son. He was always in the back part of his father’s house whittling. He did not care to eat anything. [His father] owned the town of Metlakahtla. [313] He was “town-mother.” [314]

Then someone in the town killed a hair seal. Then they cooked it and called the people in for it. And the father of the boy who sat up whittling went thither. All the town people went in for it. There they ate.

As soon as they had stopped they carried some over to the chief’s wife. When they brought it in a flipper lay upon the top. Now, he who sat up whittling looked down. Then he came down and called to his mother: “Come, give me a wash basin. Let me wash my hands.” Then he said “Come, push that over to me,” and he ate it. He ate it all and pushed [the dish] back.

Now he (the chief) came in and said to his wife “My child’s mother, come let me eat the hair-seal flipper I sent home.” “My child has eaten that,” she said to her husband. From the high place where he was whittling he heard what his mother said.

After she had said this to her husband, he did not say a word. Presently he said “Well, say that I want them to move from this place to-morrow.” At once a slave went out and said, “To-morrow the chief says he is going to abandon his son.”

Then evening came and he (the boy) went to the wife of one of his ten uncles with whom he was in love. As he lay with her, she gave him the following directions: “When they are ready to start, I will get off to defecate, and dig around with your feet in the place where I sit. I will leave something for you there.”

His younger brother was just big enough to sit up. He also had a dog.

When morning came the noise of their departure was heard. Then, when they were ready to go, he brought out his younger brother. He also took his dog, which he treated like his child. When they were ready to start, his uncle’s wife got off to defecate. She sat down behind the sea-weeds which were drifted ashore. As soon as she got in again, they started off.

After the crowd of canoes had gone round the point, he went to [the place where his uncle’s wife had sat]. Only a broken stick lay there. Then he dug around. He dug up a small box. It had ropes round it. He laid the box down near his younger brother, gathered planks together, and made a house. He made it just large enough. When it was finished, he again sat down near his younger brother and untied the strings of the box. In it was a grease-box and two mussel-shells fastened together by a string, which he untied. To his astonishment he found burning coals within.

He looked into the grease-box. It was half full of grease. Cranberries were also in it, and ten salmon were on the bottom of the box. He did not eat one of them. He kept them all winter for his younger brother. But he whittled continually.

Then only one salmon was left with a small amount of grease and cranberries. His mind was greatly troubled. There was nothing for his younger brother to eat. He used to give part to the dog. That is why his food was nearly gone. The last bits of the salmon, grease, and cranberries were nearly gone. By and by a small piece [of fish] was left, and he gave it to his younger brother along with all of the grease.

In the evening he went to bed and wept, wept, wept. He kept thinking all night of how nothing was left for his younger brother to eat. Presently his dog went out. It barked behind the house. From where he lay by his younger brother he rose quickly and at once seized his bow. While still in the house he wet the arrows with his mouth, prepared his bow ready to shoot when outside, and stepped lightly in that direction.

It was barking at something in the space between the roots of a cedar bent over toward the sea. After he had gone toward it for a while he saw nothing near it. It was barking at something in the ground. When he stood over it [he found] that it was barking at something in a pool of water. To his surprise a salmon lay in it. He speared it with an arrow. He twisted its neck off.

He took it up, laid it down on a piece of board near the house, cut it open, and steamed its head, its backbone, its milt, and its heart (?). [315] He gave its backbone and its head to his younger brother to eat. To the dog he gave its milt and its heart (?) to eat. He, however, ate nothing.

They went to bed and at daybreak the dog was barking there again. Again he went thither with his bow and [found] it barking at something in the water. Two salmon lay there. Then he speared them with an arrow. And after he had taken them to the house he steamed the two backbones, the two heads, the milt of both, and he gave them to his younger brother and the dog. He, however, again ate nothing.

Next day it was barking there again. Then he got his bow. He wet the arrows with his lips just outside. He went over and [found] three lying there. Every morning there was one more. Finally ten lay there, and he speared them and pulled them out. He dragged them out in a bunch and cut them open. He threw the gills away. Those he had obtained the day before he split a second time. This is why it happens that mainland chiefs cut fish open [instead of letting the women do it]. He was the one who started [that custom].

When it barked there the next day he stopped taking his bow. He only took the arrows. Again there was one more. Next day there was also one more. In this way the number reached twenty. Those he had cut open for the first time the day before he cut open farther. Then he split planks and hung them up there. He fixed a place overhead. Some food entered his belly for the first time since they left him, for his younger brother now had enough to eat.

The next day the dog barked there again. He went thither. There was one more than before. The day after one more was added. In that way the number reached thirty.

Next day the dog barked there. He went thither, and again there was one added. The day after one more was added, and the number increased to forty.