There were Blue-Jay and his elder sister [Iô'i]. The latter went every day digging roots. [Once upon a time] she said to her brother: “Make some arrows; the ducks, the geese, the tail-ducks always lick my buttocks.” “Yes, I will do so,” said Blue-Jay. The next day she went again digging. Then Blue Jay made the arrows. When he had finished them he went and searched for his elder sister. When he came to the place Iô’i always dug roots he heard her scratching her anus. She looked back, turning her head over her shoulder. Now Blue-Jay spanned his bow and shot her in her buttocks. “Anah, Squint-eye” [she said]. She took away his bow and said: “These here are the birds,” and she shot them. She killed a male mallard duck which was very fat. Then she said to her younger brother: “Go home, and when you get home give them the nose ornament to eat, keep for me only a stone and its rope.” “I will do so,” said Blue-Jay. Iô’i had five children. He went home. Now he plucked the duck. He finished plucking it. Now he cut the fat of the duck and tied it to the noses of Iô’i’s children. He made a fire and said: “Go near the fire. Look into the fire in the middle of the house.” Now he put a stone aside; a stone of that size. Now they looked into the fire and the fat became warm. Then they licked it off. Iô’i went home. She opened the door and saw her children. Their faces had become flushed by the heat. Then she jumped into the house. The stone [which Blue-Jay had put aside] hit her right on her forehead and she fell down. She lay there a long time; she recovered, arose [and said]: “Anah, Squint-eye, what did I tell you? I told you to give them a little and to keep the stomach for me.” Then she took her children away from the fire. Blue-Jay replied: “I thought so; why do you not speak plainly when you speak to me?”
Another time Iô’i said to her brother. “Make me a canoe large enough for one leg.” “I will do so,” replied Blue-Jay. Iô’i said: “When there are no roots here I shall always go to the other side when you have finished the canoe.” “I think so,” replied Blue-Jay. Early next morning Blue-Jay went and hollowed out a piece of cedar wood. He put his leg into the canoe [to measure it and made it just as large as his leg]. He finished the canoe and went to his sister. He said: “I have finished the canoe.” They carried it to the water and went to thc canoe. When she saw it [and noticed that] it was just large enough for one leg she said: “Anah, Squint-eye, what did I tell you? I told you to make a canoe large enough for one man.” Blue-Jay replied: “I thought so; why do you not speak plainly when you speak to me?” On the next day Blue-Jay made a large canoe. It was good, large enough to carry one person. He brought it to his sister.
After a while his sister said to him: “You ought to get married. Take a wife. She shall help me dig roots. But take a dead one.” “I will do so,” said Blue-Jay. Now the daughter of the chief of a town had died. Blue-Jay went to the grave at night and took her out. Early the next morning he landed and said to his elder sister. “Here, I bring the dead one ashore, as you told me.” “Anah, Squint-eye, I told you to bring an old one. Quick! Take her to the supernatural beings [and ask them to cure your wife].” Now Blue-Jay went. He cut off all his hair and began to cry. He went to the place where the supernatural beings lived. They heard somebody crying and went outside. They spoke: “Oh, see; that is poor Blue-Jay who is crying there; perhaps his sister died.” But he cried all the time: “O my wife; O, my wife.” “Perhaps his sister died, but he said his wife.” He landed and they tried to cure her. They asked him: “How long has she been dead?” He replied: “She died yesterday.” [Then the supernatural beings said:] “Then you must go to another town where they can cure those who have been dead one day.” Blue-Jay said: “She died on the same day when I bought her.” He traveled on, and when he had gone some distance he lay down to sleep. On the next morning he went on and came to the town of the supernatural beings. They heard some one crying and went outside. They spoke: “Oh, see; that is poor Blue-Jay who is crying there; perhaps his sister died.” But he always said his wife, died. Blue-Jay landed and the supernatural people went down to meet him. He told them: “She died on the same day when I bought her. I bring her to you to cure her.” They looked at her and asked him: “When did she die?” He replied: “She died two days ago.” “Then you must carry her to another town where they know how to cure people who have been dead two days.” Then Blue-Jay traveled on, and after he had gone a distance he lay down to sleep. Early the next morning he awoke and traveled on. After some time he reached a town, and the people heard him crying. They ran outside and said: “Oh, see; that is poor Blue-Jay; perhaps his sister died.” He cried. He landed, and the supernatural people came down to meet him. Now the body of that woman was stinking. They asked him: “When did she die? “O,” he replied, “three days ago.” They took water and washed her face. Then they said: “You must carry her to another town where they know how to cure those who have been dead three days.” Blue-Jay went on, and after some time he lay down to sleep. Early the next morning he started again, and reached the town of the supernatural people. They heard him crying and said: “Oh, that is poor Blue-Jay who is crying there; perhaps his sister died.” But he always said his wife had died. He landed. “O, my wife, has died.” They said to him: “When did she die?” “O,” he replied, “four days ago.” Now they washed the whole body and bathed her. The bad smell disappeared. [They said:] “Carry her to another town.” Blue-Jay went. When he had gone some distance and had almost reached the town he lay down to sleep. Early the next morning he awoke and traveled on to the place of the supernatural beings. They heard somebody crying and went outside and said: “Oh, see; that is poor Blue-Jay; perhaps his sister died.” He landed and the supernatural people went down. He said: “She died on the same day when I bought her.” “When did she die?” “Oh, five days ago.” They tried to cure her there on the beach. Her heart began to move and they carried her up to the house. There they continued to cure her. And Blue-Jay’s wife resuscitated. Her hair was so long that it hung down below her buttocks. Now they brought Blue-Jay into the house of the oldest one of the supernatural people, they worked over him and made his hair grow until it hung down to his thighs. They said to him: “Remain here; you shall do as we do. When a person has been dead five days you shall cure him.” Early the next morning the supernatural man arose. [He sat down with Blue-Jay] and said: “Spit [as far as you call].” Blue-Jay tried to spit, but his saliva fell down near by. Then the supernatural being spat, and his saliva struck the other side of the house. Five days Blue-Jay tried, then he spat, and his saliva struck the other side of the house. Now he became a chief. He stayed there some time and then he became homesick. The supernatural people told him: “When you go home never give your hair in payment for a wife.” Blue-Jay went home. He arrived at his elder sister’s house with his wife.
The younger brother of the woman had grown up. One day he went some distance and reached Blue-Jay’s house. He peeped into the house through a hole and he saw his elder sister sitting with Blue-Jay. Blue-Jay’s hair reached down to his thighs. The boy came home, but he did not tell anything. Early the next morning he went again to the house and peeped into it, and again he recognized his sister. Five times he went and then his elder sister saw him. She called him: “Come in, come, in, brother.” He entered and she gave him to eat. Then the boy went home and said to his mother: “My elder sister is staying with Blue-Jay.” The people took a stick and whipped him. He cried: “Indeed, indeed, she gave me to eat. She called me; I went into the house and she fed me.” Then the people went to the burial-ground and saw that she had disappeared. Only the canoe was there. They sent a young man to Blue-Jay’s house, and, indeed, there was the chief’s daughter. Then the chief said: “Go to Blue-Jay and tell him that he must give me his hair in payment for his wife.” The messengers went and said to Blue-Jay: “The chief wants your hair.” Blue-Jay did not reply. Five times they spoke to him. Then the chief said to his people: “Let us go, we will take her back.” Now the people went. They took hold of her, one at each arm. They put her on her feet [and dragged her out of the house]. Then Blue-Jay began to fly. He became a blue-jay and flew away: wa’tsEtsEtsEtsEtsE. The, woman collapsed right there. Then they called him: “Blue-Jay, come back, she shall be your wife.” But he did not return. Now they buried her again. She had died again.
Chinook Texts, by Franz Boas; U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin no. 20; US Government Printing Office; [1894] and is now in the public domain.