Part 23
When he came in he brought out a urinal. And he threw some white, hard rock from a box on which his head rested into the fire. After he had looked at it a while, and it had become red-hot, he put it into the urinal. Then he put the end of a sharp-pointed thing, half blue, half red,[405] into this and held part of the clothing he wore over his nose.
Then he called for him. “This way, my son; come and sit near me.” Then he went to him, and he pressed on his nose with the stick and pressed it down. Now he took off the sea-bass, bullhead, and tomcod spines from him. After he had finished doing it he fixed him up. Then he brought out a comb and combed him from the top of his head. And he looked down. Lo! land-otter fur was piled up below. He did the same thing on the other side of him. Nᴀñkî′lsʟas pressed something upon his nose with his fingers because Supernatural-being-who-went-naked had the gā′gix̣īt smell.
Then he combed his hair. He made it long, and he made two knots of hair at his neck. He fastened them with a ribbon. He fixed him up with the blue part [of his stick]. After he had been at it for a while he poured water into a wash basin he owned and said to Supernatural-being-who-went-naked: “Now, grandson, look at yourself.” [413]
Then he looked at himself. He had put on [a painting of] red mottled [clouds] spotted with black, such as lie out on the sea. [414] He looked at it and said “This is bad.” Then he wiped it off and put it into his armpit. And, after he had put paint upon him for a while, he looked at himself again. He had put on his face a red, striped [cloud], such as lie toward the north.[414] And he did not like that. Now he put more paint on him. He put broad stripes upon his face, like those on the breast of a mallard. But he said that was good. He fixed him up, because he had restored his town to life. And he gave him two sky blankets.
Then Nᴀñkî′lsʟas said to Supernatural-being-who-went-naked: “Now you better go. The one your mind is troubled about lives near by. When the servants come for water throw yourself into the water and make yourself appear like one through whom worthless things come. The ones coming first will not want to touch you; the last one will take good care of you.”
Then he started and sat down by a water hole near Kaisun, [415] on the west coast. After he had sat there a while they came after water. Then they landed. They picked up the bucket. They came near him. And, when they got near him, he made himself like those into whom worthless things come and threw himself into the water. And he lay floating about in it.
Then the one who came first threw herself backward. “Yuwai′yᴀ, something is floating about in her water (i.e., the chief-woman’s).” Then the middle one said: “Throw him out with a stick.” Now the last one, who was lame, said: “Handle him carefully. After he has drunk whale soup he will become stronger.”
Then they broke off the stalk of a salmon-berry bush and took him out carefully. Now they got the water, and, after they had taken it down to the canoe, they remembered him. The lame one brought him in with a stick and put him in the bailing hole.
And after they had landed they carried up the water. They steamed the whale. Again they forgot about him. Then she who was lame thought of him and said: “We have forgotten about a crooked thing which floated about in the chief-woman’s drinking water.”
Then the daughter of The-one-in-the-sea said: “Hurry and get him.” And the lame one went and got him. She brought him up with a stick. He was bent across the salmon-berry stalk. Then they had him sit on the side toward the door. He warmed his hands at the fire. Then they handed him whale soup, but, while he was reaching for it and was moving it toward his mouth, he spilled it all. Then they all laughed at him and gave him some more. The same thing happened to that.
The chief-woman lived at Tcꜝī′da. [416] And next day they went fishing with a net. They pulled in a whale. And they cut it up.
While they were away he warmed himself on the side of the house toward the door a while and said: “Chief-woman, you [let me get something].” Then she said to him: “Go and get what you are talking about.” But he crept over to her. He touched the chief-woman. Then she seized him on each side of his head near his ears and knocked him against the floor planks, holding him by the hair. And she said to him: “Go and sit on the side toward the door, you common thing.” And he crept over there. Again he sat near the door.
After he had sat there for a while the chief-woman said to him, making the sound of throwing out saliva between her teeth: “Gîtgît, [417] the slave they say I am without, go and get firewood.” Then he crept out and came out of his skin outside. Then he seized with both hands a spruce, good for burning and covered with dead limbs mingled with green ones, which stood upon a knoll, and he pulled it up, roots and all. Then he threw it down from the knoll. It was broken in pieces below. Then he collected the pieces. And he carried up the bark, crept in, and put it into the fire. He piled [the wood] there, end up [in the usual way].
The servants had pulled in a whale. They were happy. Then, after he had tried to communicate with the lame one for a while, he told her about himself. “I have firewood for you back here. Go and get it. I am Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. Do not tell any one about me.”
Then the slaves were told to get firewood, and they brought it in. And [the chief-woman] again made a noise with her lips. “I guess it must have been Gîtgît who chopped down this firewood,” she [418] said to him.
One day he crept out. He got out of his skin. Then he stopped making himself old. He determined to marry the chief-woman.
Then he put upon his face the painting that Nᴀñkî′lsʟas had placed there first. He put on his two sky blankets. And, after he had stood there for a while, one of the servants came out. As soon as she had looked at him, although still at a distance, she came toward him with her arms stretched out. “No, no, no,” he said to her, and she went in from him crying.
Then she said: “Come! look at Supernatural-being-who-went-naked who stands just outside.” And another went out to him. He also refused her. He refused ten. Then she who was lame went to him. But he put his arm around her, and they stood there together.
By and by he entered and married the chief-woman. He stayed with her for some time. Every evening there was a star at the rear of the house. He thought nothing about it. One day something passing under his pillow said: “Supernatural-being-who-went-naked, does the eating of black cod stick you here?” [419] After some time had passed without his having thought anything about this, it said the same thing again.
One morning, as he still lay in bed with his wife, he asked to set a net. And his wife said to him: “Wait until I explain to you. You have not strength enough to let it out farther. They never let out more than one.” [420]
Then he took the net which was hung in a corner and went to the point. Whales swam about in the water. He let out two [meshes]. Two were in it. And he could not pull it in. The other [meshes] were also pulled into the water. All five were pulled in. Then he went away. And where he lay he breathed hard [from the exertion].
Then his wife asked him: “Were the meshes of the net pulled out?” “Yes,” said he. Instead [of being angry] his wife laughed at him. “That is all right, for I will go to my father and get it.” [421]
The day after she went to her father by canoe. All of the servants went along with the chief-woman. Supernatural-being-who-went-naked also went. They started. After they had gone along for a while, they came in sight of the town. Then they landed, and her father came down to meet her. And he asked his daughter: “Why do you come, chief-woman, my daughter?” “Why, father, we came after the net.” “It is there in the house, chief-woman, my daughter.”
And he was glad to see Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. Then they went in, and four hard white stones were put into the fire. When they became red hot, they brought a tray made of white rock out from the corner. They put them into it and placed it in front of him.
Then his wife cried, “Hᴀn! hᴀn! every time I try to be happy (i.e., to be married) you use this sort of weapon.” Then he told his wife not to say a word. And, after he had swallowed his medicine, he picked up one with a spoon and swallowed it. It even went through the floor planks. He did the same with all four.
Then they gave him a wash basin. After his wife had also washed her hands, they brought out five black cod. And she told her husband not to eat them. “It is something different,” she said to him. Then they put these in front of him, and, after he had sat there for a while, she said: “He says that is not what it is.” Then [the servant] put it back and they threw them out.
Then they put some more in front of him. Those, too, he did not eat. And she said: “He says that that is also something different, father.” Then they threw away the steaming box and brought another out, and they brought out five more black cod. Then she said to her husband: “They are black cod.” They cut them crosswise and steamed them. When they were cooked, they put them into a dish. And before they had taken these, she picked one up. “Take care of the head and bones of this.” And she gave him another. She gave him those parts of all five black cod.
And she said to her husband: “Do not let them go. He will take them out from inside your clothing so that you will not feel it.” And she asked him many times: “Have you the heads still?” “Yes, here they are.” Next day they started off. Again she asked her husband: “Have you the heads?” “Yes, here they are.” “Have you the black-cod heads?” “Yes, here they are.” “Have you the black-cod heads?” “No-o-o I wonder why He-who-has-spines-for-earrings turned round smiling.” [422]
Hu hu hu hu hu, great quantities of black cod were put into the canoe. Then they landed and unloaded the black cod. And it was evening, and they went to bed.
After many nights had passed, the something which had spoken under his pillow before he again heard going along and saying: “Supernatural-being-who-went-naked, does the black cod stick you here? Because you made Nᴀñkî′lsʟas’ town alive, he restored your younger brothers to life by letting himself be born from your mother. He sat early in the morning between rocks with white and black bands. [423] Being in love with part of you, he has also come to you.” And he looked out. Lo! he saw the tail of a marten pass in through the star. [424]
Then he went thither. To his surprise there lay a woman asleep with Nᴀñkî′lsʟas with the upper part of her blanket fallen away leaving her uncovered. Then he pressed upon her with his hands and she said to him: “I used to want you, but lo! you got around late.”
And after that he sat down near the fire feeling unhappy. Then his wife asked him: “Why are you so sad?” “I am sad because I left my mother not far from here,” he said, deceiving her. Then he started. He put black cod into his canoe and started off. Then he came into Skidegate channel and reached his [younger] brothers’ town. Lo! his eight younger brothers came down to meet him.
Then they went in. And his younger brothers only cared to have Nᴀñkî′lsʟas for an elder brother. They did not care about Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. Before they even gave food, Supernatural-being-who-went-naked began to give them something to eat.
Nᴀñkî′lsʟas had a bedstead in the rear of the house. Clouds were over his head. They could not see his face. She (the wife of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked) cut the black cod crosswise and steamed them. Then they told Nᴀñkî′lsʟas to sit near the fire and put down a wash basin for him. And the cloud upon his face crossed [the room]. He sat there washing his hands. Then they set black cod before him. They saw only his hands.
His younger brothers ate with him, but Supernatural-being-who-went-naked sat with his wife on the side of the house toward the door. Nᴀñkî′lsʟas did not walk down. The clouds rose. He was fastened to them. Then the clouds rested with him behind the place where the wash basin was.
Now, when they were through, the cloud rose with him, and his body was again to be seen on the bedstead. Then he (Nᴀñkî′lsʟas) called to his sister. After she had gone to him and he had talked with her for a while, she went out. She brought in cranberries. The tray had the figure of a gā′gix̣īt upon it. After he had sat eating for a while he stopped, and his younger brothers ate the rest.
Then she again put stones into the fire. Then they laid the wash basin down again, and the clouds again rose with him. Again he came down there and sat down, and they put black cod in front of him. Then he ate with his younger brothers. At that time they did not see his face. Then the wife of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked was sad.
They say that Nᴀñkî′lsʟas was in love with Gā′gix̣īt woman in order to restore the brothers of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. In order to restore the town of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked to life he had let himself be born from the mother of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. Then the clouds rose. Again he sat up high.
Again [Nᴀñkî′lsʟas] called to his sister: “Sister, come to me,” and his sister said: “Hū hū, always, when you send me after a thing, you are going to give me something. By and by you take it away from me again.”
Upon that he threw something down to her. It fell with a noise like that of a drum. At once she went to get it. She covered it up with her blanket. Then the wife of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked recognized the thing she used to let her daughter have. [425]
Then she cried: “Han-a han-a, I thought that I let only my daughter have that.” Then her mother-in-law said to her: “Stop, chief-woman; wherever the supernatural beings are settled they always wear it as a crest. Chief-woman, it belonged to your husband’s sister and her brother (Nᴀñkî′lsʟas). He is simply fooling her with the thing you are talking about.” At once she stopped crying. She really saw it. But still she believed what her mother-in-law said.
On the next day his brother’s wife again gave them black cod to eat. When he sat up again he called to his sister. After he had talked to her for a while she came down and sat near Supernatural-being-who-went-naked, who sat with his wife. And she said: “He wants something that he says your husband owns.” Then he did not know what [Nᴀñkî′lsʟas] referred to.
By and by he thought of the skin of the wā′sg̣o he had killed. Then he ran toward the mouth of the inlet. And he pulled himself up to the two cedar tops, between which he kept it, and pulled off the wā′sg̣o’s tail. Then he started back with it. He returned at once.
Then he said to his wife: “This must be the thing they speak about.” Then she called her sister-in-law and gave the wā′sg̣o tail to Nᴀñkî′lsʟas. After he had looked at it for a while he put it on top of his hat. It looked nice there. [426]
At that time they again steamed black cod. And lo! the clouds again arose. Then his younger brothers ate the black cod. Then his mind was sick. Now she turned around and began weaving. After she had done this for a while, lo! her brother-in-law had put himself around her. He looked out at her from her clothing. She looked toward the rear of the house for her brother-in-law. The form of Nᴀñkî′lsʟas still sat up there. Then they lay there together. [427]
But still she told her husband, Supernatural-being-who-went-naked, not to be in love with anyone. “Do not go with anyone, or I will go down to my father.”
Then her husband began getting water in a water-tight basket in which floated a hawk feather. Every time he came back she pulled out the feather. Globular drops of water fell off, and she drank. One time he lay with one he was in love with. And, when he came home, his wife pulled out the feather. The water adhered to it.
Immediately she became angry. Her labret moved as if some one had shaken it. Then she hunted in her box. At the same time her tears fell as if something were poured out. Taking something out of it she put it into her mouth. It was a white powder. She spit it upon her hands and rubbed it on the soles of her feet. Then her husband, who sat near her, took some that fell about. He at once rubbed it upon the soles of his feet. She did this because she was going to leave him.
Then she went down to the beach, and he followed her and went away with her on the surface of the sea. She did not look at him. Then she said to Supernatural-being-who-went-naked: “You better go back from me before I look at you.” And he said: “What kind of look is this dangerous look?” Then she looked toward him, and he went right under water. There was not a sign of him. And she entered her father’s house.
Then she said to her father: “Father, I made him fall in by looking. I looked toward him. Come! try to fish him out.” Then her father pulled apart the stone floor planks. He fished for him between them. Then he pulled him out, with nothing but his joints holding together. Then he spit medicine upon him, and he got up and went toward his place.
And, after he arrived there, they sent for Master Carpenter. Then he had a mountain placed upon ten canoes. And his younger brothers were settled there one after the other. Then he put a sky blanket upon his sister and seated her on the mainland. And he seated his mother on the Haida country. [428]
Now, he put on a dancing blanket and dancing leggings and started along on land near his younger brothers [who were going along in their canoe]. He bent over as he ran, and farther off he stood up straight. In that way Supernatural-being-who-went-naked became the Swamp-robin. [429] And his younger brothers lay still on the water out at sea. People sometimes become shamans [by getting power] out of that canoe.
Like the preceding this seems to be a strictly Haida story, although the gā′gix̣īt idea was also popular among the Tlingit of Alaska. This fact, together with its length and complication and the insight it gives into the mythology of the Haida people, render it one of the most interesting of all. One of the myths obtained by me at Masset bore this same name, but resembled it only in the concluding portion, the first part being like that of He-who-got-supernatural-power-from-his-little-finger.
HE-WHO-WAS-BORN-FROM-HIS-MOTHER’S-SIDE
[Told by John Sky of Those-born-at-Skedans]
She was a chief’s child. She was a woman. [430] When she went out, they braced the hanging door open for her, and she went out frequently. [431] One day, when she came in, the stick slipped off, and the edge of the door touched her upon the side and made her sore there. By and by a hole appeared there, and, when the town people came to know that, her father gave orders to abandon her. Next day they left her.
Then she went down to the saltwater and washed her [sore]. There she put medicine upon it. One day, when she was washing, some bloody looking matter stuck out. And she was unable to pull it out. Then she again put medicine upon it and crept up to the house.
Next day she crept down to the water again, and, while she was washing it, she again pulled at it with her finger nails. Lo, she pulled it out. Then she laid it upon a stone, and, after she had put medicine on herself, picked it up and moved toward the house. Then she bent pieces of cedar bark, placed it in them, and put it side of the house outside.
Now she went to bed. While her back was turned to the fire a child cried. Then she rose quickly and, without standing up, ran out. And something inside the thing she had bent together was crying. She looked. A child lay in it. And, after she had taken it out, she washed it. Then she reared it. She had it as a companion.
And very soon he began to creep. Before he had eaten anything he began to walk. One day he started to cry. He said: “Ha ʟ̣” [432] Then she made a bow for him. She used a young hemlock limb. When it was finished, she gave it to him. After he had looked at it he put it into the fire. She made them for him out of all kinds of wood. Each time he did the same thing.
By and by she made one for him out of real yew. Wā-ā-ā-ā-ā′, it looked red. It was pretty. After he had looked at that, too, for a while he threw it into the fire, and the blunt-pointed arrows along with it.
Then she pounded out copper for him. She hammered a string on so that it could not be removed. She also hammered out two arrows. One had the figure of a weasel. The other had the figure of a mouse on it. When she handed these to him he did not look at them. He at once went off.
After he had been gone for some time, he brought in some wrens [433] and said to his mother: “Pick and eat them.” Then his mother picked them and steamed them. When they were cooked she ate them. His mother tried to have him eat some. But he shook his head. He absolutely refused.
Then he again went off. He came back. He brought many song sparrows, [434] and his mother steamed them and ate. But he did not eat. Next day he went off again. He brought in a number of mallard, [435] and his mother plucked and singed them. She pulled them apart and ate one.
And next day he started off again. He brought in a number of geese. [436] He went off the next day. He brought a white porpoise, [437] and he brought a hair seal. [438] The day after he brought a whale. [439] He had stopped hunting birds.
Then he started off again. He stayed away longer than usual and brought in many flickers. [440] Then he said to his mother: “After you have skinned these, lay the sinews on one side.” Then his mother skinned them and laid the sinews on one side. And, after she had finished, she placed them together. She made five rows, and she sewed them together with their own sinews. After she had finished he shook it. The flickers upon it went flying back and forth.
Then he stretched his mother’s house. He set up two planks in the rear of the house. Between them he hung the blanket.
Next day he went out and brought home woodpeckers. [441] Then she treated those in the same way in order to make a blanket. After she had finished he went to it and shook it. Upon that, too, the birds flew about in a flock. Then he went to bed. He ate nothing all that time. All that time he fasted.
Then he again set out. After he had stayed away longer than before he brought in a bunch of tanagers. [442] Those, too, his mother made [into a blanket]. When it was finished, he also went to that. He shook it. Those also flew about upon it. He laid that, too, on top of [the planks] in the rear of the house.
Next day he started off again and brought home a bunch of sixᴀsʟdᴀ′lgaña. [443] Those his mother also sewed into a blanket. And, when it was finished, he shook it. They flew about upon it. He laid that upon [the planks] also.
The next day he went out again. [He got] blue jays, [444] and his mother sewed those together.
After that he again started off. After he had been absent for some time he returned with the daughter of He-who-travels-behind-us, [445] whom he had married.
After he had lived with her a while, one morning he continued to lie abed. While he was still in bed, something went along under his pillow talking. “He-who-was-born-from-his-mother’s-side, are you awake? Do you not feel that the supernatural beings, whom people are afraid even to think of, are gathering together against you?”
Then he ran out. He saw nothing. And he went out again. He pulled along an old man and made him sit at the end of the town. That was Heron, [446] they say.