298 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. V. 



leave this story for you to tell to another generation. So begin now, 

 old men and old women, tell from now on what I have done. Tell how 

 this man with his wife and daughter went away to live alone for some 

 time; and tell them what I did. Remember it well, for this man is 

 no longer dangerous, but his body and ashes will be seen on the ar- 

 rows." And then at night he went up to his father. He left this myth 

 with the people, and this is the teaching of it. His name was Hixt- 

 caba inen, Above-Man.' — K. 



•130. — Blood-Clot-Boy.^ 



It was winter time and the snow was deep. A man lived with his 

 two wives, who were sisters, and with the old man, his father-in-law, 

 and his wife. They went hunting. They went so far that when they 

 thought they had a good place from which to hunt, they made a perma- 

 nent camp. The son-in-law was a hard man and had no pity for the 

 old people. One of the sisters, the younger, was sorry for her parents. 

 During the absence of her husband she secretly gave them meat. Since 

 the snow was deep, the man would bring home his meat by rolling it 

 in the>.hide and then dragging it home. He told his wives not to give 

 any meat to their parents. But the younger succeeded in stealing 

 some to give them. Her parents were old and could not even go out 

 to get wood. Their son-in-law had much meat and many hides, while 

 the old people were nearly starved. The son-in-law became suspicious 

 because the old man and woman were able to endure starvation so long. 

 He asked his wives whether they fed their parents. One denied it; 

 the other was silent. He told them strongly that if he found tnem giv- 

 ing their parents food he would punish them ; they must not give any 

 of the meat that he brought. One day when the son-in-law was hunt- 

 ing, the old man, though feeble, followed him in order that he might 

 pick up the hoofs and other leavings. He found a clot of blood on 

 the snow, frozen hard. He picked it up gladly. ''Thanks, I have 

 found something for my wife to eat." He stretched his hands to the 

 four directions in thanks. He had no shirt, and wore only a robe 

 tied about him. He put the clot next to his side and started back 



•The myth of the young man whom his magically powerful father-in-law fails to kill, occurs 

 widely spread in various forms and connections. Its greatest development is on the Pacific side of 

 North America. Cf. Cheyenne (Journ. Am. Folk Lore, XIll, 177); Cree (Russell, Expl. in the Far North, 

 205); Carrier (Morice, Trans. Can. Inst. V, 7); Chilcotin (Farrand, Mem. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. IV, 26); 

 North Pacific Coast from Columbia river northward (Boas, Indianische Sagen, 39, 68, 70; Chinook; 

 Texts, 31; Kathlamet Texts, Bull. Bur. Ethn. No. 26, 113; Tsimshian Texts, Bull. Bur. Ethn. No. 27, 130; 

 Farrand, Mem. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IV, 113); Maidu (Dixon, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XVII, ii, 

 67); Wintun (Curtin, Creation Myths of Primitive America, 121); Yana (ibid., 281, 425); and many other 

 Californian tribes. 



' From informant H. 



