Part 34

Now all in the town went out to fish for salmon. Afterward the woman went after wood. Those who went after salmon came back making a noise. Then the woman put wood on the fire. Those who had gone after salmon came in. Now those who went after salmon shook themselves. The fire was quenched. Next day they again went after salmon. Then the half-rock woman said to her: “Take knots.” The woman did so. Now they came back again with noise. She put knots on the fire. They came in. Again they began shaking themselves. Then the fire was not quenched. Now her husband’s mind was good toward her.

Then the woman began to dislike the place. Now they went out again to get salmon. Then she told the woman who was half rock that she wanted to go away. And she thought that that was good.

Then she gave her a comb. She also gave her some hairs. She also gave her some hair oil. She also gave her a whetstone. While they were out after salmon she started off.

Now she heard them pursuing her. They came near her. Then she stuck the comb into the ground. And she looked back. She saw great masses of fallen trees. Now those behind her had trouble in getting through. While they were getting through with difficulty she got a long distance away.

Again they got near her. She also laid the hair on the ground. Again she looked back. There was a great amount of brush there. Now they again had trouble behind that. Again she got a long distance away from them.

Now the pursuers again came near her. She also poured out the hair oil. And she looked back. There was a large lake there. They had to skirt its edges. Again the woman ran hard.

Now they came near her again. She stuck the whetstone [into the ground]. And the woman looked back. There was a great cliff there. They could not climb over it. And she came out of the woods near the sea.

There one sat in a canoe seaward from her. The woman wanted to get in with him. The chief wore a large hat. Upon the hat birds flew around in a flock. His name was Sag̣adila′ʻo. “Let me get in with you. My father will give you ten coppers,” said the woman, trying to persuade the chief.

Now the chief struck the edge of his canoe with his club. It came in front of the woman. The woman got in. He struck the edges of his canoe. Now it floated out at sea again.

Then the grizzly bears came out in a crowd. Close to them the wolves also came out in a crowd. He struck the edges of his canoe. The canoe bit off the heads of the grizzly bears. It also bit off the heads of the wolves. He destroyed them all.

Now he let the woman look into his hair. She picked frogs out of his hair. She was afraid to kill them with her teeth. So she bit upon her finger-nails. [700]

Now he went home with his canoe full of hair seal. He came to his wife, who was in front of the house. And his wife came to meet him. His wife was glad that he had married another wife. The woman’s name (i.e., his first wife’s name) was Ła′g̣ał-djat. Now he brought her to the house.

He went to hunt again next day, and he gave the following directions to his [new] wife: “When she eats do not steal a look at her. One always makes her choke by doing so.” But still she stole a look at her when she ate. And she saw her swallow a whole hair seal. She saw her spit out the bones toward the door. Then she caused her to choke by looking at her. For that she killed the woman. Ła′g̣ał-djat did it.

While her corpse was still lying in the house, Sag̣adila′ʻo came home. Sag̣adila′ʻo saw his wife’s dead body. Now Sag̣adila′ʻo also killed his older wife. He cut her in two. Then he put a whetstone between the two parts. They ground themselves into nothing. Then he awoke the woman. He married her again.

Now she had a child by him. It was a boy. He kept putting his feet on his (the boy’s) feet. By pulling he made him grow up. Now he came to maturity. He made him a small canoe like his own, and he also made a club for him like his own. When he played with it in the salt-water ponds it picked up small bull-heads with its teeth.

Then the woman came to dislike the place. And she went to her own place with her boy. So he came to his own country. And her son married his uncle’s daughter. Then he began to hunt. The name of the town was Qꜝadō′. [701]

Now, after he had been hunting for some time, a white sea otter came swimming about in front of the town. And he launched his canoe. He shot it in the tip of the tail. Then his wife skinned it, and he told her not to let any blood get on it. So she did not leave any blood on it.

Now his wife asked for it. He gave it to his wife. The woman washed it in the sea water. She put it into the sea. Then it slipped off seaward from her. She took a step after it. It again slipped down from her. She took another step after it.

Now she got stuck between the two dorsal fins of a killer whale. It swam away with her. Then her husband launched his canoe. He went after the killer whale. He paddled hard after it. Now he went far off into the Nass after it. Then his wife disappeared under the water in front of Killer-whale-always-blowing. [702]

Then he went back. And he came to Qꜝadō′. He kept blue hellebore until it had rotted. He also saved urine. And he also saved the blood of those menstruating for the first time. And he saved the blood of [any] menstruant women. He put them into a box.

Then he started off. He [came to the place] where his wife had passed in. Then he took twisted cedar limbs, a gimlet, and a whetstone. Where his wife had passed in he came to a kelp with two heads. He went into the water there upon the kelp. Marten remained upon the water behind him.

Now he came upon a broad trail. He started along. He came to Lᴀ′mas. [703] Then he came to some women digging wild-clover roots. The women said: “I smell Nanasî′mgît.” One of the women said so. Then the other one said: “I also smell him.” Now he went to one of them and opened her eyes. “My eyes are opened. My eyes are opened.” She said that because she felt happy. Then he opened the eyes of the other. Then, for the first time, he learned his name.

Now the women asked him what he came for. “I am looking for my wife whom they carried away from me.” “They passed right by here with your wife. Isnē′g̣ał’s [704] son married your wife. The one who married her is named ‘Gîtgidᴀ′mtcꜝēx.’ When you come to the town be on the watch. A supernatural heron lives at the end of the town. He is always watching. He is always repairing a canoe.”

Then he started. He came to the end of the town. Now the heron discovered him. And the heron cried out. So he put the twisted cedar limbs, the gimlet, and the whetstone into his hands. And he put him into his armpit.

Now the town people came to see what terrible thing had happened. They asked him: “Old man, why do you say that?” “My sight deceived me. That is why I shouted.” And they went away from him.

Then he let him out from his armpit. [He said]: “The one who married your wife lives in the middle house in the town, and to-morrow two slaves are going for dead hemlocks standing behind the house. One of the slaves is named Raven. One is named Crow. They are going to steam the fin to put it on your wife.”

In the evening he started from him to the town. He looked into the house where his wife was, in which there were retaining timbers. [705] And he saw his wife sitting near her husband. He returned to the old man. And he spent the night in his house.

Next day he went behind the town. He came to where the dead hemlocks stood. He sat down there. Now two slaves came there. Then he went inside of the dead hemlock. Then they started to chop down the firewood. And he bit off the end of the stone wedge. They began to cry. One of the slaves said: “My master will talk to me as he usually does.”

Now Gunanasî′mgît came out of the firewood. He took the end of the stone wedge out of his mouth. It became as it had been before. Then he cut down their firewood for them. He chopped it up for them.

Then they said to him: “When evening comes they are going to steam your wife’s fin in the ground. We are going out after water. Now, when evening approaches, stand in front of the house. After we have gone back and forth with water for a while, we will let you in. After we have brought water a while we will let ourselves fall with the water into the bottom of the house excavation. While we turn the water into steam in the fire, pick up your wife.”

As soon as evening came he stood in front of the house. At once they let him in. They went for water. Now the stones became red hot. Then they had her fins ready. They had a stone box in readiness on the side toward the door.

Now they went after water again, and the last to come in fell down with the water. A big stream ran into the fire. Then a great steam arose. And he ran over for his wife. He took her up in his arms. Then he ran back with her.

[The house pole had three heads. Their voices sounded an alarm. They say they were always watching.] [706]

Then they found out that she was gone, and they went after her, all the people in the town. Fast-rainbow-trout pursued him above. Marten pursued him below. [707] The two slaves ran in advance. Now they almost caught him, when one slave let himself fall. He let his belly swell up. Then Mouse [708] gnawed through his belly.

Again they pursued him. When they had nearly caught him again the other slave let himself fall. Then Weasel [709] burst his belly with his teeth.

Now he came to the place where he had gone down. He entered his canoe. The one left to take care of the canoe had become an old man. Now he fled. And the killer whales came in a crowd to his stern. They pursued him. Then they almost upset him. And then he spilled out the blue hellebore. They sank down from him. Now they again came near him, and he again spilled some out. Now he came with her to Qꜝadō′.

Then he came to the house with his wife. And he kept his wife in the bottom of a box. There were five boxes fitting one inside the other. Day broke. Now he watched his wife closely. One day, when he looked for his wife, she was gone from the box. There was a hole in the bottom of the box.

This is part of the famous Tsimshian story of Gunaqanē′semgyet or Tsag·atilâ′o (see Boas in Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, pp. 294–300). The same episodes occur in one or two of my Masset stories, and in the story of He-who-got-supernatural-power-from-his-little-finger of the present series, and it is noteworthy that in all Haida versions the adventure with the killer whale occupies a disproportionately large space. That is also the section which is always taken for artistic representation.

STORY OF THE TWO TOWNS THAT STOOD ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF NASS RIVER

[Told by Jimmy Sterling of the Stᴀ′stas]

The people of these towns used to visit back and forth. They also gambled together. From one of these several brothers went to hunt beaver at the beaver lakes where they were in the habit of getting them. They counted the days. [710]

When they came there and began to destroy the dam this was carried over by the current, and they floated down in it. They barely saved themselves far below. Now they knew that some regulation had been broken. But still they continued to live where they were. And there, too, they did not kill a single thing. Then they went away. Now they were certain that the wife of one of them was indeed going with some one else. [711]

They camped at night near the town, and just before daylight the eldest went to the town. He went to his wife. Some one lay with his wife, and he cut off his head. Then he awoke his wife, and he put the head above the door. At once he went out.

At once she began to dig a hole for the body, which was left in her bed. Then her child was crying. At that time they asked her why it cried. And she said it cried because it had defecated in bed, and she was wiping it. Right there she buried [the body].

When day came she lay as she used to. Then her husband came in with his younger brother. He acted as if he knew nothing about having killed anyone. It was the son of the town chief on the other side.

When day came the chief’s son was missing. They visited each other across the ice upon the river. They hunted about the town in which he was missing. And they also hunted for him where he had been killed.

Then they let a slave look for him secretly. They sent him after fire. And he took his live coals and went away. When he went out blood dropped upon his feet. And he did not look for the cause. When he came to the middle of the river he let himself fall with his live coals. Then he returned. He reentered the house where he had got the live coals. Again he pushed charcoal into the fire on the side toward the door. And when he went out he looked. He saw the head stuck up on the side toward the door. When he got back he told them he had seen his head.

At once they ran thither. Then they began to fight. And, after the fight had gone on for a while, all the people of the town where the person had been unfaithful to her husband were destroyed. They also burned the town.

One woman, who was behind the screens when the town burned, escaped to the woods with her mother. Then the town was entirely burned. Only the woman and her mother were saved.

At once they traveled far inland aimlessly. While they were traveling about aimlessly they came to a high mountain, and she called aimlessly concerning her child. “Who will marry my daughter?” she shouted loud and long. By and by Grouse [712] came flying to her. “Why not I?” he said to her. “What can you do?” Then he said: “When summer comes, and I drum on the tops of the trees, they can hear my voice everywhere.” Then she told him he was not good, and he flew away from her.

By and by she spoke as she had spoken before: “Who will marry my child?” Then Sparrow [713] flew to her. And she asked him: “What can you do?” And he answered her: “I will make summer and winter succeed each other by my singing, and they will hear my voice everywhere.” Then she said to him: “You are not good.” And he flew from her.

When she called for her again, Kꜝū′djix̣u [714] came flying to her. Then she asked him what he could do, and he told her that when it was summer they always liked to listen to his singing. Then she told him he was not good, and he flew from her.

All kinds of birds, which she called for her daughter, wanted to marry her daughter. She kept asking them what they could do, and she refused them.

After that she again called for her daughter. She said: “Who will marry my daughter?” And Deer came to her. “Why not I?” “What can you do?” “After I have traveled about I scatter earth with my horns.” Then she refused him.

When she called again Black-bear also came to her. She asked him: “What can you do?” “I know how to catch fish. When I get angry with anything I strike it with my paws.” “You are not good.” Then he also left her.

When she again called Grizzly-bear also came to her. “Why not I?” “What can you do?” “I am powerful. When I become angry with any sort of thing I tear it in pieces.” And she said that he, too, was not good.

When she shouted again Beaver came to her, and she asked him what he could do. Then he told her he could fell trees, and he knew how to make a house in a lake. Then she said to him also: “You are not good,” and he, too, left her.

All the time she was asking for her daughter, all the forest animals wanted to marry her daughter. Meanwhile she kept asking them what they could do. All that time she refused them.

After that she again asked for her daughter: “Who will marry my daughter?” Then a handsome man came and stood near her. “Why not I” “What can you do?” “I will help you. I hear that they burned your uncle’s town.” Then she thought he was good.

Immediately he took them up on either side. He said: “Let neither of you look out.” Then he tried to climb a lofty mountain with them. After he had climbed for a while with them, the mother looked out. She made him slide back. Again they stood below.

After that he again told them not to look out. And again he started up with them. Again the mother looked out, and they stood below. Every time he went up she looked out and made him slide back. After he had tried many times, he pulled a limb out of a tree and pushed her in in its place. “Future people will hear your voice” [he said], and he left her, whereupon her voice sounded behind him. She is the creaking caused by limbs rubbing together, they say.

Then he went off with her (the daughter). And he brought her to his father’s house. She had married the son of Supernatural-being-of-the-shining-heavens. [715] When he came in to his father with her, his father was very glad to see his wife.

After he had lived with her for a while, she had a child by him. Again she brought forth. Now she began to have children by him. She bore five boys and she bore one girl.

After she had reared them for a while, and they got to be of some height, their grandfather taught them to gamble. After they had gambled for a while, they fought together, and their sister put a belt on and tried to stop them by seizing their weapons. He kept making them fight together all the time they were growing up.

After they had been there for a while, their grandfather let them return home. Then their grandfather brought out a box, and, after he had opened a nest of five boxes, he gave them the innermost one. He directed them: “When you come to the place where your uncle’s town used to stand, cover up your faces and pull off the cover from this box. Even if you hear a great noise near you while you lie with your faces covered over, do not look out. After the noise has ceased, look in that direction. And, when a fight becomes too hard for you, pull off the box cover,” he said to them.

Anew they started down. The five and their sister went down. But their mother still remained with her husband. Then they came to the place where the town had been. Then they lay under something, and they pulled the cover from the box. Although something sounded near them they did not look out. When the noise ceased, they looked in the direction whence it had proceeded. Six houses stood in a line.

Then they started fires in all of these and began to live there. And those who had burned the town saw people. Then they said: “In the place on the other side where you burned up the town there is another town with smoke coming out of all the houses. Let us go over and look at it.” Then one went over and looked at it. In truth, people were living there.

After they had lived on either side for a while, one went over to gamble. All that time they were whittling. The youngest was left-handed. His grandfather had given him a small wedge. He took good care of it. He also had a knife. And to his sister her grandfather had given medicine. When her brothers were killed, he had told her to spit medicine upon them.

His elder brothers gambled, but he whittled near the fire. They kept asking him to gamble. All that time he said: “I have nothing to stake.” “Stake against me the stone wedge you own,” they said to him, and they laughed at him.

By and by he started gambling. At once his sister put on her belt. For she knew he would fight. He was the one who always started the fights when they lived with their grandfather. After he had gambled for a while, lo! he began to fight with the one he was gambling against. He had staked his stone wedge. Then he killed the one he fought with.

At once they ran apart. Those on the other side came to fight in a great crowd. After they had fought with them for a while and were tired out, they went to get the box and pulled off the cover. Then the town on the other side burned. They also destroyed the people. They burned their town completely. When they killed her brothers she spit medicine upon them, and they got up. She always had medicine in her mouth.

When the fight was over they at once started down the valley of Nass river. After they had traveled for a while, they came to a town at the mouth of the river. After they had been there for a while, they began to make war toward the Tlingit country. They destroyed some people, and they returned. That was the beginning of their wars.

By and by they went to war regularly. Every time people pursued them they pulled the box cover off, a strong wind arose, and the water burned. This was how they destroyed people.

After they had done this for a while, they went to the Stikine to make war. When they pursued them that time, and a crowd of canoes was very near them, they pulled off the box cover, but nothing happened. When they had started out to war, they took a box like the right one. They left the one by means of which they destroyed people.

Then all were destroyed there. Their bodies were thrown into the sea. The youngest, who used to make people grieve by his deeds, they took to the shore, pushed a stick through his anus, and stuck him up at the end of the town upon a point. In the evening his voice sounded, but still he was dead. This time they went to war they disappeared for a long time.

As soon as they had gone, their sister saw that they had forgotten the box. By means of that they used to destroy many people. They had disappeared.

Then they brought out the box, and his sister, along with their wives, went after them. After they had gone on for a while, [they came to where] cedar bark grew, and they pulled it off; and they forgot they had gone out to give assistance. And, after they had gone on for a while longer, they remembered they had come out to help them. That is why women talk themselves into forgetfulness.

After that they went back. But now they went straight along. Then people came out from the town to kill them. And, when they got close to them, they pulled off the box cover, a strong wind arose, and the sea burned. So she destroyed the people. Then they went away, and she pulled her brother off from where he was stuck in the ground, spit medicine upon him, and brought him to life. At that time he went away with them. There was no way of knowing where to look for the other brothers.

After they had returned he who was left-handed went far inland. Something also took away the box from them. After he had gone on for a while, he came to a lake far inland. After having sat near it for a while, he saw something come out of it. It made a noise, and its voice sounded loud. It always came to the surface at one spot.

He had a stone ax with him. He chopped down a cedar and split it between its two heads. Then he put a crosspiece in it and tied a twisted cedar rope to it. [716] And he pushed it out to the place where it (the creature) came out. After he had looked at it for a while, he pulled the crosspiece out with the twisted cedar rope, and something was caught in it. He pulled it ashore.

Then he began to skin it. Every time he tried, the Forest-people [717] [said] he had better not do it. By and by he cut it open upon the breast and skinned it. And he dried it. This was Loon, they say.

Then he put it on. When he dived under water with it on, he saw all the things far out under water. He came up, got out of it, put it into his armpit, and came out with it toward the sea.

After he had gone along for a while, he came to a town. After he had been there for a while, he married a woman of the place. When they had lived there for a while, they went up the Nass for eulachon. He also went with his father-in-law. On the way they camped for a while. They were very hungry.

Then he went behind the place where they were camping, entered his loon skin, and went under water with it on. Under water were two hair seals. He took one and brought it up. Then he stowed it away.