boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 59 



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 lands 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 veiy 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 ho 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." Then 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 chief tainess 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 pro- 

 visions of his tribe were almost exhausted. Therefore the great chief 



