Part 14
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]
When he was going on from there he came to a town in which the chief’s son, who was the strongest man, had had his arm pulled out. A shaman came to try to cure him. The chief’s son was the strongest man. In trying strength with people of all ages by locking hands with them he could beat them. By and by, through the smoke hole came a small pale hand, and [they heard its owner] say: “Gū′sg̣a gᴀ′msiwa” (Tsimshian words meaning “Let us have a try”). And he put his fingers to it. It pulled off his arm. They did not know what it was. And he (Raven) alone knew that one of Gū′g̣ał’s [256] sons had pulled his arm off. Then he flew to Gū′g̣ał’s town, went to an old man who lived at the end of the town and asked him: “Say, old man, do you ever gamble?” And he said he did. “They say they pulled off the arm of a chief’s son. I wonder where the person who did it belongs.” And he said: “Why, don’t you know? It was done by the one of Gū′g̣ał’s sons who is always doing those things. The chief’s son’s arm is in a box behind the screen in his father’s house.” And he (Raven) said: “Well, although everybody knows those things, I was asking this.” Then he pulled off his (the old man’s) skin and entered it. And next day he took a gambling-stick bag and walked with a cane to the middle of the town. When he sat down he heard Gū′g̣ał’s sons say: “You are always on hand, old man; we will gamble with you.” The eldest wagered him his hair ribbon, and they gambled with him. They lost the ribbon to him. Then it was too late to go home, and he said: “I will stay right in your house.” And they said to him: “All right, old man, sleep in our house so that we may gamble with each other in the morning.” Then he entered, and they seated him near two good-looking women. They gave him something to eat. “Old man, you are always ready,” they said to him, and they went to bed. Then he broke wind. The women laughed at him every time as they whispered together. By and by, when they were asleep, [257] he flew lightly toward the screen and felt of the chief’s son’s arm which was in a box. Then he waited for daylight and flew over it. As he did so the ends of his claws touched the top of the screen. It sounded like a drum. Then he lay down quickly. “Alas! it is the one who is always doing such things. Does the old man lie there as before?” And the women said: “Yes; he lies here. He has been breaking wind all the time. Now, he is snoring.” And he asked again: “Is the chief’s son’s arm in the box?” And the women said: “Yes; it is here.” Then when they were asleep again and day had begun to break he flew up easily behind the screen and seized the chief’s son’s arm in his mouth. And when he flew away with it the ends of his claws touched the top of the screen. When it gave forth a drumming sound all looked up. He flew through the smoke hole. The chief said: “Alas! it is he who is always doing such things.” Then he came flying to the chief’s son’s father’s town and began to act as shaman around the chief’s son. He washed the arm, which had begun to smell badly [from decomposition]. Then they handed him a new mat [and he laid] the chief’s son’s arm in place under it. At once his arm was restored. They gave many things to him and much food as well.
He started from that place also. After he had gone along for a while he came to a town. The town people were glad to see him, and he went into a house. A good looking woman lived in the house. Then they went to bed, and he went over to the woman. When he came to her she asked him, “Who are you?” “I am one who came to this place for you.” But the woman absolutely repulsed him. Then he went away from her. And when the woman slept he went to her again and put dung inside of her blanket. Then he cried: “I went to the chief’s daughter, but, finding something terrible there, changed my mind.” And the woman awoke and said: “A′-a-a a-a′, don’t tell anybody about it. I will give you a substance that my father owns but always keeps secret.” And he said: “[Give me] some.” Then she gave all to him. And the woman said to him: “Don’t lose it. With that you will have good luck. And when you see anyone, you can adorn him with it,” she said to him. This is what causes people to be good-looking.
After that his sister Siwa′s planted Indian tobacco in front of White inlet. And, while it was yet in the garden, he calcined shells. But before he pulled the tobacco out he became angry with the calcined shells and threw them away. Where the calcined shells were the surface of the rocks is white.
There he went out fishing for his sister. He threw the halibut ashore. There is high, level land there called “Halibut’s place.” He named places, too, as he went along. “Your name will be like this; you will be called so-and-so,” he said as he went. Then he passed over one place, and it called after him: “What shall my name be?” Then he said to it in the Ninstints dialect: “Your name will be ‘Salt Stone,’ you common object.”
Then he set out to spear Bad Weather (Tcꜝī′g̣a). He made a spear with a detachable point. He used strong gut for cord. And he saw its head pass. Then he speared it. And it tugged him about in a sitting posture. He kept hold of the cord and was pulled out to a reef lying in front. After he had been pulled about there a while the spear point broke. [The string] struck on the face of a declivity. There the rocks show a white streak.
When he went away he stuck an eagle’s tail feather [into a certain place]. That is called “Eagle’s-tail-feather-stuck-in.”
After that he was love-sick for his uncle’s wife. Then he sat there singing a song, at the same time striking his head upon the rocks for a drum. There he made a hole. That place is called “Moving-the-back-part-of-the-head-about-while-singing.”
[Told by Abraham of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o]
One time, when he was going along with his cousin, he came to an island of ʟꜝkꜝia′o. [258] At once he went out and ate them. After he got through eating, he went back toward shore with his cousin. And when they became thirsty he said to his cousin: “Take one stroke in the water, cousin.” As soon as he did so they came to Standing-water creek, which was very far away. Where he drank there, there is a water hole of the shape of his bill.
This is why, when people travel by canoe on the west coast, the country is easy for them (i.e., they travel about easily). The place where he and his cousin ate ʟꜝkꜝia′o is called “Pulled-off-with-the-teeth.” [259]
[Told by Tom Stevens, chief of Those-born-at-House-point]
When he (Raven) first started traveling about, numbers of persons lay along the ground, acting as if ashamed. Then he pulled them upright as he ran along. These were the mountains.
Another version
[Told to Prof. Franz Boas by Charlie Edenshaw, chief of the Stᴀ′stas]
Nenk·îlsʟasʟiñgai’s [260] mother was Gēʟîk·ᴇdzā′t (“Flood-tide-woman”). His father was ʟg̣ang̣ag·îñ (“Dorsal-fin”), [261] whose sister’s son was called ʟg̣anxē′la (“Hole-in-dorsal fin”). He was born in Naēku′n. Now, Nenk·îlsʟasʟiñgai was crying all the time. The people tried to quiet him, and they gave him various things to play with, but he was not satisfied. There was a young girl, Qalgaitsadas (“Ice-woman”). [262] She also tried to quiet him. She took him in her arms, and he at once ceased crying. He touched her breasts and was quiet. After a little while she returned him to his mother. At once he began to cry again, but when she took him again he quieted down when he touched her breast.
The boy was growing up very rapidly. Now he was able to walk. ʟg̣anxē′la was his mother’s lover. When his father, ʟg̣ang̣ag·îñ, found this out he became jealous, and he sent his wife back to her uncle, Nenk·îlsʟas. Then she took her boy on her back and went to her uncle’s house. About noon she felt hungry. She was going to start a fire, but she did not succeed. She turned the fire drill until her hands were sore, but she did not succeed in making a fire. Then Nenk·îlsʟasʟiñgai went into the woods, where he took two large sticks. He struck the ends together, and at once there was a great fire. His mother was surprised to see it, but she did not make any remark.
In the evening they lay down and slept. Early the next morning they proceeded on their journey. In the evening the mother tried again to start a fire, but she did not succeed. Then the boy went to the woods and started the fire in the same manner as on the preceding day.
Finally they reached the house of Nenk·îlsʟas, which was located in ʟg̣aē′xa. [263] A large pole was standing in front of his house. Nenk·îlsʟas’s slaves were outside the house when Gēʟîk·ᴇdzā′t was approaching, carrying her child. They entered the house and told Nenk·îlsʟas that she was approaching. He remarked: “She is always acting foolishly, therefore she has been sent back.” He told his slaves to call her into the house. She entered and remained sitting near the doorway. She did not go to the rear of the house. Her uncle gave her food. The boy was defecating in the house all the time. His excrements were very thin and spread over the floor, so that the house smelled very badly.
The boy was staying with his mother. In the night, when everybody was asleep, he arose from the side of his mother, left the house, taking bow and arrows, and shot woodpeckers (sʟō′ts’ada). He gave them to his mother and asked her to make a blanket of their skins. His mother dried these skins and sewed them up. Then he began to shoot whales, which he took to a little river near ʟgaē′xa, named Xagusiua′s. [264] Then Raven came right down from the sky, intending to eat the whales. The boy tried to shoot it, but he was unable to kill it. Raven flew away, but soon returned. Again the boy tried to shoot it, but did not hit it. Finally, however, he succeeded in killing Raven. He hid its skin between the branches of a large tree.
One day the boy said to his uncle: “My fathers are going to come from Naēku′n to look for my mother.” Then his uncle remarked: “I am afraid that boy is going to cause us trouble. Stop your talking.” But Nenk·îlsʟasʟiñgai repeated his former statement. The following day he said again: “My fathers are going to come from Naēku′n to see me.” Again his uncle begged him to be silent, but he did not obey.