RAVEN'S ADVENTURES

A. RAVEN BECOMES VORACIOUS

(TSIMSHIAN: Boas, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xxxi, 58)

At one time the whole world was covered with darkness. At the southern point of Queen Charlotte Islands there was a town in which the animals lived. Its name was Kungalas. A chief and his wife were living there, and with them a boy, their only child, who was loved very much by his parents. Therefore his father tried to keep him out of danger. He built for his son a bed above his own, in the rear of his large house. He washed him regularly, and the boy grew up to be a youth.

When he was quite large the youth became ill, and, being very sick, it was not long before he died. Therefore the hearts of his parents were very sad. They cried on account of their beloved child. The chief invited his tribe, and all the (animal) people went to the chief's house and entered. Then the chief ordered the child's body to be laid out; and he said, "Take out his intestines." His attendants laid out the body of the chief's child, took out the intestines, burned them at the rear of the chief's house, and placed the body on the bed which his father had built for his son. The chief and the chieftainess wailed every morning under the corpse of their dead son, and his tribe cried with them. They did so every day after the young man's death. One morning before daylight came, the chieftainess went again to wail. She arose, and looked up to where her son was lying. There she saw a youth, bright as fire, lying where the body of their son had been. Therefore she called her husband, and said to him, "Our beloved child has come back to life." Therefore the chief arose and went to the foot of the ladder which reached to the place where the body had been. He went up to his son, and said, " Is it you, my beloved son? Is it you? " Then the shining youth said, "Yes, it is I." Then suddenly gladness touched the hearts of the parents. The tribe entered again to console their chief and their chieftainess. When the people entered, they were much surprised to see the shining youth there. He spoke to them. "Heaven was much annoyed by your constant wailing, so He sent me down to comfort your minds." The great tribe of the chief were very glad because the prince lived again among them. His parents loved him more than ever.

The shining youth ate very little. He staid there a long time, and he did not eat at all; he only chewed a little fat, but he did not eat any. The chief had two great slaves - a miserable man and his wife. The great slaves were called Mouth At Each End. Every morning they brought all kinds of food into the house. One day, when they came in from where they had been, they brought a large cut of whale meat. They threw it on the fire and ate it. They did this every time they came back from hunting. Then the chieftainess tried to give food to her son who had come back to life, but he declined it and lived without food. The chieftainess was very anxious to give her son something to eat. She was afraid that her son would die again. On the following day the shining youth took a walk to refresh himself. As soon as he had gone out, the chief went up the ladder to where he thought his son had his bed. Behold, there was the corpse of his own son! Nevertheless he loved his new child.

One day the chief and chieftainess went out to visit the tribe, and the two great slaves entered, carrying a large piece of whale meat. They threw the whale fat into the fire and ate of it. Then the shining youth came toward them and questioned the two great slaves, asking them, "What makes you so hungry?" The two great slaves replied, "We are hungry because we have eaten scabs from our shin bones." Therefore the shining youth said to them, "Do you like what you eat?" Then the slave-man said, "Yes, my dear!" Therefore the prince replied, "I will also try the scabs you speak about." Then the slave-woman said, "No, my dear! Don't desire to be as we are." The prince repeated, "I will just taste it and spit it out again." The male slave cut off a small piece of whale meat and put in a small scab. Then the female slave scolded her husband for what he was doing. "O bad man! what have you been doing to the poor prince?" The shining prince took up the piece of meat with the scab in it, put it into his mouth, tasted it, and spit it out again. Then he went back to his bed. When the chief and the chieftainess came back from their visit, the prince said to his mother, "Mother, I am very hungry." The chieftainess said at once, "Oh, dear, is it true, is it true?" She ordered her slaves to feed her beloved son with rich food. The slaves prepared rich food, and the youth ate it all. Again he was very hungry and ate everything, and the slaves gave him more to eat than before.

He did so for several days, and soon all the provisions in his father's house were at an end. Then the prince went to every house of his father's people and ate the provisions that were in the houses. This was because he had tasted the scabs of Mouth At Each End. Now the provisions were all used up. The chief knew that the provisions of his tribe were almost exhausted. Therefore the treat chief felt sad and ashamed on account of what his son had done, for he had devoured almost all the provisions of his tribe.

Therefore the chief invited all the people in, and said, "I will send my child away before he eats all our provisions and we lack food." Then all the people agreed to what the chief had said. As soon as they had all agreed, the chief called his son. He told him to sit down in the rear of the house. As soon as he had sat down there, the chief spoke to his son, and said, "My dear son, I shall send you away inland to the other side of the ocean." He gave his son a small round stone and a raven blanket and a dried sea-lion bladder filled with all kinds of berries. The chief said to his son, "When you fly across the ocean and feel weary, drop this round stone on the sea, and you shall find rest on it; and when you reach the mainland, scatter the various kinds of fruit all over the land; and also scatter the salmon roe in all the rivers and brooks, and also the trout roe; so that you may not lack food as long as you live in this world." Then he started. His father named him Giant. B. THE THEFT OF LIGHT

(TSIMSHIAN: Boas, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xxxi, 6o)

Giant flew inland (toward the east). He went on for a long time, and finally he was very tired, so he dropped down on the sea the little round stone which his father had given to him. It became a large rock way out at sea. Giant rested on it and refreshed himself, and took off the raven skin. At that time there was always darkness. There was no daylight then. Again Giant put on the raven skin and flew toward the east. Now, Giant reached the mainland and arrived at the mouth of Skeena River. There he stopped and scattered the salmon roe and trout roe. He said while he was scattering them, "Let every river and creek have all kinds of fish!" Then he took the dried sea-lion bladder and scattered the fruits all over the land, saying, "Let every mountain, hill, valley, plain, the whole land, be full of fruits!"

The whole world was still covered with darkness. When the sky was clear, the people would have a little light from the stars; and when clouds were in the sky, it was very dark all over the land. The people were distressed by this. Then Giant thought that it would be hard for him to obtain his food if it were always dark. He remembered that there was light in heaven, whence he had come. Then he made up his mind to bring down the light to our world. On the following day Giant put on his raven skin, which his father the chief had given to him, and flew upward. Finally he found the hole in the sky, and he flew through it. Giant reached the inside of the sky. He took off the raven skin and put it down near the hole of the sky. He went on, and came to a spring near the house of the chief of heaven. There he sat down and waited. Then the chief's daughter came out, carrying a small bucket in which she was about to fetch water. She went down to the big spring in front of her father's house. When Giant saw her coming along, he transformed himself into the leaf of a cedar and floated on the water. The chief's daughter dipped it up in her bucket and drank it. Then she returned to her father's house and entered.

After a short time she was with child, and not long after she gave birth to a boy. Then the chief and the chieftainess were very glad. They washed the boy regularly. He began to grow up. Now he was beginning to creep about. They washed him often, and the chief smoothed and cleaned the floor of the house. Now the child was strong and crept about every day. He began to cry, "Hama, hama!" He was crying all the time, and the great chief was troubled, and called in some of his slaves to carry about the boy. The slaves did so, but he would not sleep for several nights. He kept on crying, " Hama, hama! Therefore the chief invited all his wise men, and said to them that he did not know what the boy wanted and why he was crying. He wanted the box that was hanging in the chief's house.

This box, in which the daylight was kept, was hanging in one corner of the house. Its name was Ma. Giant had known it before he descended to our world. The child cried for it. The chief was annoyed, and the wise men listened to what the chief told them. When the wise men heard the child crying aloud, they did not know what he was saying. He was crying all the time, "Hama, hama, hama!" One of the wise men, who understood him, said to the chief, "He is crying for the ma." Therefore the chief ordered it to be taken down. The man put it down. They put it down near the fire, and the boy sat down near it and ceased crying. He stopped crying, for he was glad. Then he rolled the ma about inside the house. He did so for four days. Sometimes he would carry it to the door. Now the great chief did not think of it. He had quite forgotten it. Then the boy really took up the ma, put it on his shoulders, and ran out with it. While he was running, some one said, "Giant is running away with the ma!" He ran away, and the hosts of heaven pursued him. They shouted that Giant was running away with the ma. He came to the hole of the sky, put on the skin of the raven, and flew down, carrying the ma. Then the hosts of heaven returned to their houses, and he flew down with it to our world.

At that time the world was still dark. He arrived farther up the river, and went down river. Giant had come down near the mouth of Nass River. He went to the mouth of Nass River. It was always dark, and he carried the ma about with him. He went on, and went up the river in the dark. A little farther up he heard the noise of the people, who were catching olachen in bag nets in their canoes. There was much noise out on the river, because they were working hard. Giant, who was sitting on the shore, said, "Throw ashore one of the things that you are catching, my dear people!" After a while, Giant said again, "Throw ashore one of the things you are catching!" Then those on the water scolded him. "Where did you come from, great liar, whom they call Txa'msem? (Pronounced Chemsem)" The (animal) people knew that it was Giant. Therefore they made fun of him. Then Giant said again, "Throw ashore one of the things that you are catching, or I shall break the ma!" and all those who were on the water answered, "Where did you get what you are talking about, you liar?" Giant said once more, "Throw ashore one of the things that you are catching, my dear people, or I shall break the ma for you!" One person replied, scolding him.

Giant had repeated his request four times, but those on the water refused what he had asked for. Therefore Giant broke the ma. It broke, and it was daylight. The north wind began to blow hard; and all the fisherman, the Frogs, were driven away by the north wind. All the Frogs who had made fun of Giant were driven away down river until they arrived at one of the large mountainous islands. Here the Frogs tried to climb up the rock; but they stuck to the rock, being frozen by the north wind, and became stone. They are still on the rock. The fishing frogs named him Txa'msem, and all the world had the daylight.