66. How The Sitka KîksA'dî Obtained The Frog

66. HOW THE SITKA KÎKSA'DÎ OBTAINED THE FROG a

A man and his wife were crossing the mouth of a big bay named L!ê'yâq, when it became so foggy that they could not even see the water around their canoe and stopped where they were. Then, quite a distance away in the thick fog, they heard singing, and it continued for so long a time that they learned the song by heart. The words of this song are (first verse), "We picked up a man; you picked up a man;" (second verse), "They captured a man; they captured a man; you've captured a man." The voice was so powerful that they could hear it reecho among all the mountains.

When the fog began to rise so that they could look under it a little they heard the song coming nearer and nearer. They looked about and finally saw that it came from a very little frog. To make sure of it they paddled along for some time in the direction it was taking. Then the man said, "This frog is going to be mine. I am going to claim it," and his wife answered, "No, it is going to be mine. I am going to claim it." But, after they had disputed for some time, the man finally let it go to his wife.

Then the woman took it ashore, treating it like a child, carried it up to the woods, put it down by a lake and left it there. From that time on, her people have been KîksA'dî. That is how the Sitka KîksA'dî came to claim the frog.