Sacred Texts Native American Northwest Index Previous Next
[1, 4, and 2a told by Philip; 2 and 3 by Moses]
1. He came to the house of a chief who was, asleep. He stood in the doorway. The water was in the house of this chief. Then Txä'msEm thought he would steal it. He tore off the bark of a rotten tree. He chewed it and made it look like excrements. Then he entered secretly after he had finished his work. The great chief was asleep. Txä'msEm lifted his blanket and laid the excrements next to his anus. Then he waked him and said, "Chief, you soiled your blanket." Then the chief awoke and said, "When did that happen?" Txä'msEm repeated, "You soiled your blanket while you
were asleep. Shall I clean it?" Then the chief did not say a word. He was ashamed. "Do not stir; I will go and fetch some moss to wipe it off." Txä'msEm had already brought some moss for that purpose. He went immediately to the chief, lifted his blanket, and said, "Hm, what a smell that is!" He showed it to the chief after he had finished wiping the blanket. Then the chief saw it and believed that he had soiled his blanket while asleep. He was much ashamed. Then Txä'msEm carried it outside. He entered again and said: "Chief, I am very thirsty." The water was hanging in the corner of the chief's house. The chief spoke, "Go and get the water yourself." Then Txä'msEm arose, put his bear-skin blanket on, and opened the receptacle in which the water was kept. Then he poured it into his blanket.
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Then he ran out and uttered the cry of the raven, "Qa, qa, qa, qa!" He carried the great water, and ran away with it. Then the great chief became angry and said, "Ahum! Great slave! Scabby-shin! He did it. He took all the water." Txä'msEm ran away. It was dark while he was running. He could not see ahead, but he heard the ghosts whistling near his face. He returned immediately because he was afraid. The water was all the time running down from his bearskin, and therefore the water now always runs back to sea. Now he arrived at the mouth of Nass river. He was very glad. Therefore Nass river is now a very large river.
2. He went on and made a house of stone. Then he saw a gull flying about. He said, "Whee!" The gulls continued to fly about, crying, "Qâq!" The Giant ran about and made small sticks, intending
to gamble. Then the great Gull came. They began to gamble. Soon they began to quarrel, and the Giant said, "I guess this stick." The Gull did not reply. Therefore the Giant threw the Gull on his back and stepped on his stomach. Then the great Gull vomited two olachens. The Giant took them, and the Gull flew away.
In the evening the Giant made a little canoe of elderberry wood. Then he started to gamble. He went down the river and landed at the beach in front of the house of a great chief. He took his gambling sticks and went up. He entered, and many people were in the house. They began to gamble. Now, before the Giant landed he had rubbed the spawn of the olachen over the inside of his canoe and left the tails under the stern sheet. Now he sat down among the gamblers.
[paragraph continues] Then a person said, "Why don't you join us?" The Giant yawned, "I did not sleep all night. A certain person caught three canoe loads of olachen up the river." "La!" said one man, "how should olachen get there? It is not time yet. They will go up six months hence." They did not believe the Giant, and said, "You are a liar; you are a liar!" The Giant did not at first reply; then he said, "Well, look at the inside of my canoe. There are olachen tails under the stern sheets." The young men went down, and they saw that the whole inside of the canoe was full of olachen spawn; and when they lifted up the stern sheets they found two tails of olachen. Then the youths went up and said, "It is true." They showed the olachen tails. Then the great chief said, "Ask Little-captain-of-the-canoe, ask Dry-on-boxes-in-which-olachen-is-kept, and ask
[paragraph continues] Grease-that-is-sticking-to-the-stones-with-which-the-fish-are-boiled. See what they say." Then the person went to ask them. He was sent by the chief. They all agreed. Then the chief ordered the men who were standing in the four-corners of his house to break the corners. They did so. Then the olachen jumped into the water. The Giant ran down to the water. He stepped into the water and shouted, telling the olachen to go into the river. He said, "Go up on both sides of the river." Then he came to a house. Many people were catching olachen. Then they gave fish to the Giant. He put the olachen on spits to roast them.
When they were done, a gull appeared over the Giant. Then the Giant called him: "Little Gull!" Then many gulls came, which ate all
the Giant's olachen. They said while they were eating it, Qanä', qanä', qanä', qanä'!" They cried so all the time while they were eating the Giant's olachen. Then he was sad. Therefore he took the gulls and threw them into the fireplace, and ever since that time the tips of their wings have been black.
3. He went on and met a deer. He killed it and skinned it. He put the skin on. Then he fastened pitch wood to the tail. Now he entered the house of a person, and when he saw the, fireplace he ran toward it. The pitch wood at the end of the deer's tail began to burn. The name of the person was Qannēnē'lEguLxLo. He was ice (?). Then the Giant sang as he entered, "G*īl-spagait-nê'êq (?) g*īl-spagait-nē'êq (?)" Thus he spoke. When he had finished singing, he ran out. He ran about among the
trees and struck the tail against the butts of the trees. Then the butts of the trees caught fire. He went on after he had obtained the fire.
4. Now he came to a chieftainess, and they ate together. He ate all the provisions of the chieftainess. He was angry and threw away the salmon, and then all the salmon which he was going to eat ran away. After that his bead became ugly, while it had been very nice when he first met the chieftainess. After that it was ugly. 1
2a. Txä'msEm did another thing. He induced the olachen to come to Nass river. He entered the house called Supernatural place or Tabued place. There were many people inside gambling. Txä'msEm heard them. He was very hungry. He found a small herring. Then he squeezed out its roe and rubbed it all over the inside
of his canoe. Now he arrived on the beach in front of Supernatural place, where the people were gambling. Then Txä'msEm said, shaking his large blanket, which was all wet, "Ēhi-hi-hi! Water dropped on me from Txä'msEm's bag net." Then the chief said, "Where does that come from that you are speaking of, Giant?" "Yes; the canoes are full. They caught olachen with their rakes last night." "Ah! Txä'msEm is lying." "Go and look at my canoe." The young men went and saw what he had spoken of. Then they believed him. They saw olachen spawn in Txä'msEm's canoe. Then the chief said, "What do these great fools, the olachen, come here for?" There were persons sitting in the corners of the house who held the strings of olachen. They took care of the olachen in the corners of Supernatural place. The chief said to them, "Let go what you
are holding." Then these men did so. Four of them were sitting in the corners of the house. As soon as Txä'msEm heard him say "Let go," he ran out to his little canoe. He paddled, and took his olachen rake. He said, "They go up on both sides of the river." He was very glad. Then he went to eat olachen. His canoe was quite full. He had not used his rake, but the whole shoal of olachen had jumped into his canoe, so that it was full.
Then he camped at Crab-apple place. He clapped on the stone until it was quite smooth, that the olachen should not disappear. Then he was very glad. He stayed a little farther up Nass river. He made a spit for roasting olachen in order to prepare them for his meal. When the olachen were almost done, be said to the gull that was sitting opposite him, "Come, Little Gull." The gull came and ate
one olachen. He cried, "Qanä', qanä', qanä', qanä'!, Then many gulls came and ate all the olachen. Now Txä'msEm was sad. He took the gulls and threw them into the fireplace. Thus it happens that their wings are black.
32:1 This is an allusion to the legend about how the raven obtained the salmon. See Boas, Indianische Sagen von der nord-pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Berlin, 1895, pp. 160, 174, 209.