Then he went search in of food. He found Crabapple-Owner. Crabapple-Owner was climbing about. Then he became a child again. “Wuâ’, wuâ’, wuâ’!” said Greedy-One. Then the woman saw the child. “Â, â, â, â!” said the woman to the child, for he had again become a child, although he had been full grown. Then he entered the house of the woman, Crabapple-Woman. She had Greedy-One for her child. Then he ate the food of the woman, and he ate it all.

Kwakiutl Tales, by Franz Boas; (Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology, Volume II) New York: Columbia University Press; [1910] and is now in the public domain.

(Dictated by MalE’d, a Kwâ’g*ul, 1893.)

The myth people were hard up for water. They only drank the juice of roots. Then Great-Inventor went to get water for his tribe. He knew that only one woman, living at Bull Harbor, had water. Then he got ready to go to Bull Harbor. He arrived at Bull Harbor. She was warming her back. He went in, and the woman was asleep. Then he took some dung and put it behind the woman. Then Great-Inventor pushed her. “Don’t sleep,” he said to the woman. “Evidently your house is soiled. I want to have a drink from you.” Thus said Great-Inventor to the woman. “Look at my mouth: it is all dry, for I desire to drink.”–”Go on, drink there,” said the woman, on her part, to Great-Inventor. Then Great-Inventor drank water. He had his mouth in the water for a long time. Then the woman spoke, “Don’t, else I shall have nothing to drink.” Then Great-Inventor looked up and said, “I have not drunk yet. Look at my mouth! it is just dusty.” It is said that Great-Inventor had a bladder into which the water was poured. “You are awful,” said the woman to Great-Inventor. “You are evidently a great drinker.”–”Then let me talk about your house being soiled,” said Great-Inventor. “Then go on, drink!” Great-Inventor was told. Then he drank again, and his sea-lion bladder was full. Then the water of the woman was at an end.

He went to the beach and went aboard his folding paddle-side canoe. Then he crossed and went to the inland side (Vancouver Island). Then he urinated and thus made the rivers. Where he sprinkled water, there were small rivers. He went around the world making rivers. After four days he had finished.

Then he returned to Crooked-Beach. Immediately he invited his tribe in. Then he talked about the rivers he had made. Then he told his tribe that he would get a wife from Salmon for the rivers. He got ready, with his tribe, to get a wife from Salmon. Day came, and they started in the canoes. When the canoes were loaded, his whole tribe went aboard the folding canoe. Then they steered southward. “Don’t let us be this way,” said his tribe. “It is said that below is the place to paddle. There is no storm there.” Then (the canoe) went right down. It was under the sea, and went along paddling underneath. Then he saw the color of the smoke of Salmon. They carried up the canoe, and Great-Inventor pushed back the trees. One tree stood alone on the ground. Then Great-Inventor whitened its trunk. Very early in the morning the slave of Salmon came paddling along the beach. Then Great-Inventor went into the tree. The slave caught sight of it, and went right out of the canoe, going up to it. Then he drove his wedge into the bottom of the tree, and Great-Inventor bit off the point of the wedge,–the wedge that had never been blunted since Salmon first became a man in the world. The slave cried on account of his wedge. Then Great-Inventor came out of the opposite side of the tree. “Why do you cry?” said Great-Inventor, on his part, to the slave. “On account of this my broken wedge, I shall be struck by my master.”–”Give it to me,” said Great-Inventor. Then the slave gave it to him, and Great-Inventor took it and put it into his mouth. “Look at it, slave,” said Great-Inventor to him. “How was its tip? Was it not this way?”–”That is the way it was,” said, on his part, the slave.

Then Great-Inventor asked the slave, “Has not the chief of Salmon a child? Does not the child of Salmon take walks?”–”The princess of Salmon comes first to meet me. She will try to carry on her shoulder the heart of the fire-wood that I get.” Then Great-Inventor told the slave that he wished to get a wife from Salmon. “Only take care!” was said to Great-Inventor by the slave. “Take this stone when you first cohabit with her. Her crotch is always biting.” Then Great-Inventor pushed down the tree. The alder broke up on the ground. Then Great-Inventor wedged it to pieces. He took care of its heart, for he wanted to go and hide in it. Then the wood was taken aboard. The tribe of Great-Inventor came and helped (with) the loading. When all the wood was aboard, the heart of the tree was put on top, and Great-Inventor hid inside. Great-Inventor left word with his tribe that they should go at daybreak. Then the one who had gone to get fire-wood arrived at the beach, and the princess of Salmon came to meet him who had gone for fire-wood. She waded to meet him, and took the top piece of the wood that was lying there, in which Great-Inventor was hiding. Right away he cohabited with her. She did not get ashore, when the girl threw the wood down on the beach. “Don’t handle it roughly,” the slave said to the girl. Then the girl carried it again in her arms in front of her body. Again Great-Inventor cohabited with her. Then she came to her house. The child went right to the rear of the house with the wood, to her room. Then at once Great-Inventor came out of it and took the girl for his wife. It is said that Great-Inventor held in his mouth gum of the white-pine. Immediately, the next day, the girl became pregnant.

In the morning the tribe of Great-Inventor came ashore. “Don’t stay thus, friend,” was said to the girl. “Come to the fire with the one who is lying down with you.” Then the girl said to Great-Inventor, “Take care! this is that with which they try to kill those who come from time to time to us. It is the settee of my father. Squid-bones are in the settee.” Then Great-Inventor put a sandstone on his back. He just met his tribe when they were coming into the house, and Great-Inventor came out of the room. “Don’t be that way,” said Salmon to his wife, “but give our son-in-law to eat.” She just sent the younger sisters of Great-Inventor’s wife to the beach to play in the water. Then the children became salmon. They became sockeye salmon. They were cut quickly, and were roasted. Then the woman, the mother-in-law of Great-Inventor, spoke. “Please gather up this clothing of these younger sisters and go and throw it into the water.”

Then all that was roasted was placed before them. Great-Inventor pulled out the collar-bone of the sockeye and pushed it behind his ear. After they had eaten, the bones were gathered and were thrown into the water. Immediately the salmon jumped and came to life. Only one of them had no blanket-pin.

Then Great-Inventor spoke, “Don’t let your parents be that way. It is bad that they are too stout. Let us cut them. They will not die. Look! I will cut my younger brother, Duck.” Then Great-Inventor called Duck. “Take care!” was said to the female duck. “Just rise from under your younger brother when he is dead.” Then Great-Inventor cut open the duck. As soon as all the intestines were taken out, the duck was covered over. Then the female duck stood up from under the cover. Then they were told that he (the duck) had come to life. Then Salmon and his wife arose and lay down on their backs on the board on which the duck had been cut up. Immediately Great-Inventor cut up Salmon and his wife. “Don’t touch them for four days,” said Great-Inventor to the tribe of Salmon. “Let us get ready and go home.” Then his crew went aboard, and Great-Inventor carried his wife aboard in his arms. Then the side-paddles paddled.

The various kinds of Salmon also went aboard their canoes to follow their chieftainess. The canoe of Great-Inventor just waited from time to time for the canoes of the Salmon, for he wished to see the face of the mountains when doing his work. “Do let me go ahead,” said Deer. “Don’t! we must see the face of our land.” Then Great-Inventor discovered the land. “Go ahead, Deer!” said Great-Inventor. Then Deer arose in the canoe, and jumped from one canoe of the salmon to another, and all the canoes of the salmon capsized. Then the various kinds of salmon began to jump, and Great-Inventor arose in his canoe and pointed to the rivers. “You will go that way,” said Great-Inventor, calling the names of the rivers. Therefore salmon go to the rivers made by Great-Inventor. That is the end.

Kwakiutl Tales, by Franz Boas; (Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology, Volume II) New York: Columbia University Press; [1910] and is now in the public domain.

Tradition of the Ts!êts!êlwa’lagamê?, a Clan of the Nimkish.

(Dictated by NEg*ê’.)

LEla’g*inîs, the father of Gray-Face and A?mê’LEs, lived at Flat Place (Ô’dzâ’?lîs). The name of his wife was ?mâ’xulayugwa, who belonged to the clan K*!k*aê’noxu of the A’waîLEla. Twin, a member of the clan Ts!êts!êlwa’lagamê?, lived at Foundation (Xulku). He was jealous of Gray-Face on account of his wife. They were enemies. One day Gray-Face and his father visited the people at Foundation. Before they landed, Twin’s wife came down to the beach, and told Gray-Face that if he should land, the people would kill him. Gray-Face’s father and his friends, who had not been warned, went ashore, And all were killed.

When Gray-Face saw what was happening, he pushed off his canoe and crossed the river. He was pursued by his enemies; but he ran into the woods, and they were unable to overtake him. Some of them launched their canoes and poled up the river, expecting to find him. When they came to his village, they found Gray-Face’s younger brother, A?mê’LEs, who was catching trout below the village, and struck him with their paddles, so that he fell into the water. During this time, Gray-Face passed his enemies and reached his house, when he warned his wives and the other people, who were thus enabled to make their escape.

His mother told him that his younger brother was fishing below the village, and asked him to call him. When he went there, he discovered the warriors, and soon found his brother’s body lying in the water. He threw it over his shoulders and carried it, the head hanging down. Thus water ran out of his mouth, and the boy revived. They walked across land to Beaver Cove (Q!ug*î’s), whence they crossed for Knights Inlet. Gray-Face paddled across on a log because he had no canoe. Before he got across, he saw warriors, who were going from Knights Inlet to Nimkish River. They discovered the log, and they were going to have a look at it, because they thought they had seen a man on it; but while they were going, one of the warriors said, “Those are seals on the log.” Just at that time Gray-Face and his brother let themselves drop into the water; and the other warriors said, “Don’t you see they are really seals?” As soon as the warriors had left, the brothers crawled back on their log again, and paddled on until they came to Baronet Passage (DE’mlêwas). There they found a small canoe, which they mended and caulked; then they continued their journey and came to the village of Dzâ’wadê. There Gray-Face went to his uncles Q!ôlqoxsta, Q!ô’mx*stalamas, and K*!ê’k*!ilaxstâla. Meanwhile the warriors whom they had met on their way to the Nimkish River had learned that LElâ’g*inîs had been killed, and that the brothers had made their escape. Then they thought that these must have been the men who had been seen on the log of driftwood.

Gray-Face and his brother were given breakfast by their uncles, and they were made welcome. Q!ôlqoxsta gave them a stone axe (Lâ’?yâla), saying, “With this I have killed chiefs. Later on you shall prove its power.”

Meanwhile the warriors came back who had learned that LElâ’g*inîs was dead. Then the uncles of the two young men made their house ready, and invited the warriors in. When everybody was inside, K*!ê’k*!ilaxstâla, who was a great chief, arose and said, “Don’t let our son stay still. Let him try what we have given him. Let us see whether he knows how to handle it.” Then Gray-Face arose and killed with his stone dagger a man who was sitting next to him. Then his uncle said, “That is very good; your uncle used it in the same way. Now let us see what your brother can do, whether he can do as his father did.” Then the other one arose and killed a man who was sitting in the seat of the chiefs. Then his uncle said, “Yes, you are doing as well as your father.”

The people were afraid of them, and did not dare to defend themselves. Then their uncles gave them a canoe to go and take revenge. They took them to Foundation, and the canoe landed behind the point of land at the mouth of the river. Their uncles returned home to Knights Inlet. The brothers went back to their own house at Flat Place, whither the women of their tribe had returned.

Twin had his salmon-trap near Foundation. Now, the Nimkish, the tribe of Twin, heard that the brothers had returned; and they were afraid of them, for they knew that they had good weapons. They did not dare to go near them. Only those who had been kind to them went to visit them. They told the brothers that the people were willing to see Twin killed. They told Gray-Face that he might kill him, and they would then recognize him as their chief.

They planned with Gray-Face how to kill him. Gray-Face sent word to Twin’s wife, who had previously warned him, and let her know that her husband was to be killed, that she should give her consent. He met her on the bank of the river when she went there in the evening to ease herself. Then he planned with her how to kill Twin. It was arranged that he should be induced to bathe and wash in the river at a certain time, and that Gray-Face should surprise him there. If Twin should make his escape, then the woman was to leave the house open, so that he might enter. Twin was, of course, on his guard. He always had his dagger tied to his wrist; even when he bathed, he carried it. Therefore Gray-Face did not attack him while he was bathing.

Then Twin’s wife asked her husband to come into the house. There she dried him and combed his hair. One of his wives was sitting on his right, another one on his left. The one with whom Gray-Face had made the plan was sitting nearest the door. While they were combing him, he held down his head to dry his hair by the fire. Then Gray-Face entered the house unheard, took him by the hair, and struck his temples with his bone dagger. One of the women cried. He was dead, and his wives went back to their parents. Then Gray-Face became chief, and his brother became his warrior. He killed all the friends of Twin.[1]

Footnotes:

The narrator said that the name of Ts!êts!êlwa’lagamê?’s son was LElâg*inîs, and that Gray-Face was a late descendant of LElâg*inîs. The intermediate generations were not known to him. See also Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen, etc., p. 150.

[1] The narrator claimed that the passage relating to Wê’qaê’s daughter, contained in the version quoted before, does not belong to this story.

Kwakiutl Tales, by Franz Boas; (Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology, Volume II) New York: Columbia University Press; [1910] and is now in the public domain.

Tradition of the Na’k!wax*da?xu.

Gâ’sag*ila was a chief who had many carvings. He came from the south. He put them up when he reached the north country. He went to Gwa’wê in the country of the Na’k!wax*da?xu, and there he staid. There he made a winter-dance, and his son became a cannibal, whose names were Q!â’sElîdzas, Ha?mêk*!â’lag*ilîs, Ts!â’xôstâla. This son’s son was K*!ô’gwikîlagEmê?, whose son was Q!u’mqwax*â’lasEmê?.

Kwakiutl Tales, by Franz Boas; (Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology, Volume II) New York: Columbia University Press; [1910] and is now in the public domain.

Tradition of the G*ê’xsEm, a Clan of the DEna’x*da?xu.

(Told by NEg*ê’ and Hâ’nidzEm.)

One evening G*â’yusdä?sElas, a descendant of Dzâ’wadalalîs, was sitting in his house, tying a hook to the end of his fishing-pole. The end of the pole stuck out from the door of his house. While he was at work, he felt some one stepping on the end of his pole. He jumped up to see who it was, but he did not see anything. He continued his work, and soon the same happened again. Again he jumped up, but could not see anything. The same thing happened a third time. He sat down to continue his work, but again somebody stepped on his pole. He jumped up again, ran out of the house; and there he was caught by Cannibal (Baxubakwa’lanuku), who carried him away. He carried him across the mountain Laa’IgEqum. There Cannibal moved his hand as though he were scooping out a little hole, and, behold! there was a pond with vertical walls. He threw the man into it and washed him in the water. Then he carried him along until he reached his own house, which was far away in the mountains. Cannibal said to him, “Take care, and do your best and imitate what you see here! Don’t make a mistake!”

Then he heard the people of Cannibal beating time with their batons. Cannibal said to him, “I shall put you down near the door of my house now. Watch what I am doing; and be careful that you notice everything, that you may be able to imitate it. You shall see everything, and you shall not make a mistake.” Then they entered. The people at once began to beat time, and Cannibal went around the fire dancing. He bit his people, and devoured some of them, lapping them up with his tongue. When be had gone around the fire and come back to the man, he said, “Did you see everything? You shall do the same.” He continued to go around the fire. Four times he did so; then he said to the man, “Now you shall try.” The people began to beat time. The man jumped up, danced around the fire four times, and the fourth time he bit one of the bystanders. Cannibal asked, “Can’t you do any better?” At the same time he took hold of him, pulled his body and twisted it, in order to make him strong. Then he made him try again. The batons were beaten, and again the man danced around the fire. When he made his third circuit, he began to bite people. Now he knew almost everything that Cannibal had done. He tried twice more; and when he danced the fourth time, he imitated Cannibal perfectly. Then Cannibal said, “Now you have obtained my power. You shall be like myself. You have now obtained everything from me. Your names shall be Ba’xubakwâ’lanuku, Lawu’lgês, Tâ’nis, Tâ’nisk*as?ô.” Then he sent him back home.

There he was heard in the woods in midwinter on top of a mountain. Finally he came down to the village; and the people tried to catch him, but they were unable to do so. Then they made a net and caught him in it. They gave him four slaves to eat. This quieted him, and he staid there. Then the people beat time. Several times he escaped again, and they had to catch him again. They were very much afraid of him, because he devoured people and bit others. They were unable to tame him.

He had a younger brother whose name was GudESqamE’ls, and who thought he would obtain supernatural power in order to be able to tame him. He went into the woods and came to a mountain. There he heard a noise. When he went nearer, he heard somebody crying. As soon as he approached, the noise moved away again. He went on and on for many days without getting nearer. Every day he washed his body, and then he heard the noise again, but he could not reach it. Then he used the clothes of the dead to wash himself. When he had done so, he heard the noise quite near by; and after he had washed four times with the wrappings of dead people, he saw a woman. He stepped up to her and embraced her waist. Then both fell down in a faint. When he came to, he saw that the woman had long hair. She was Crying-Woman (?lE’lgwali’laga). There were deep furrows in her cheeks where the tears used to run down. The woman said to him, “Let me go!” but he only held tighter. “You shall have what I am using.” She offered him a harpoon-shaft. “If you point it towards sea-otters, seals, porpoises, or towards mountain-goats, they will fall down dead. Let me go! You shall have this, which enables you to give potlatches all the time (?ma’xusayu or ?ma?xup!êq);” but he only held her tighter. Then she offered him the water of life and the death-bringer, if he would let her go, and the large rattle for taming the cannibal. He was also given the name Life-Maker (Q!wê’q!ulag*ila). Then he let go of her. He took her gifts and put them all into his hair, which was tied together with hemlock-branches. Then he went home.

He said, “What is the noise that I am hearing?” His father replied, “Fool I don’t you know that your elder sister has died?” The young man replied, “Why did you not tell me so? Where is she?” The father retorted, “On the other side of the river.”–”Let us go over there and see her!” Then the father carried him across; and when he got there, he went around the grave, shaking his rattle. When he had done so four times, she revived. He took her down, and they went back to the village.

He said to his father, “Where are my elder brothers? What has become of them?” They replied, “Why do you ask?”–”I want to see them,” he retorted. Then his father showed them to him. He sprinkled them with the water of life; and when he had done so four times, they all arose.

The people saw this, and they were glad of it; and they gave him their princesses as wives, that he might bring back to life their dead ones. They were afraid of him when they saw him using his death-bringer, with which he burned the other side of the river.

Then they planned how to spoil (a?mê’la) his supernatural powers. They wanted to get their princesses back, because they were ashamed that he had all the best women as wives, and because they were afraid of him. They assembled, and talked about how they could get the better of him. Finally they decided to invite him to a feast. There they gave him menstrual fluid, dung of wolf, and other poison, to kill him. He, however, kicked a rock away, and placed it on a point of land as a fighting hill (xusE’la); and there he built a house for his brother to dance in. They did not succeed in killing him with poison. Then they thought of the power of women, and they gave him all the women from all over the country as his wives. This destroyed his supernatural powers; he became an ordinary man (ba’xus), because he had too many wives. Finally he and his brother died.

Kwakiutl Tales, by Franz Boas; (Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology, Volume II) New York: Columbia University Press; [1910] and is now in the public domain.