Sacred Texts Native American Northwest Index Previous Next
A chief's nephew is a poor orphan. A light comes down from heaven and hangs at the end of a branch. It proves to be copper. The chief promises his daughter to the one who will knock it down. The orphan boy receives from a supernatural being stones of four different colors, and with the last stone knocks it down, but the young men take the copper away from him, and claim to have bit it. The next day a white bear is heard behind the village, and the chief's daughter is promised to him who kills it. The orphan boy kills it with his arrow. The other youths claim to have killed it, but the youth's arrow is found, and thus the chief learns that his nephew has killed the bear. The chief is ashamed and deserts his nephew, his daughter, and their grandmother. The boy goes to a pond and shouts. A giant frog, the guardian of the pond, emerges and pursues the boy. The boy makes a trap and catches the frog in it. He skins it and goes into the pond, where he catches a trout. He puts the trout on the beach. In the morning a raven finds it and begins to croak. The princess sends the boy to look, and he brings the trout. Every night he goes out and catches in succession trout, salmon, halibut, bullheads, seals, porpoises, sealions, and whales. Finally the princess discovers that he catches them and asks him to marry her. They have two children. The chief's people are starving, and the chief sends a man and some slaves to see if his nephew, his daughter, and their grandmother are dead. The boy gives them to eat, and they report what they have seen. The people return, and he sells his provisions for slaves and elk skins, gives a potlatch, and becomes a chief. Finally he is unable to take off his frog blanket, and stays in the sea, whence he provides his wife and children with food.