boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 71 



(14) ORIGIN OF THE BULLHEAD 1 



TxamsEm wont alung the sand-point, and while walking there he was 

 searching for food, but he did not find anything. Suddenly, behold ! 

 there was a fish in the water. It was not moving. TxamsEin stood 

 there and wept. He said to the Fish, " You look like my grandfather, 

 who died a little wlule ago." He wiped the tears from his eyes, and 

 said, "Come ashore! I want to talk to you a while." 



The Fish came toward the shore. TxamsEm thought he would 

 kill it. He was much depressed because he was hungry. Now the 

 Fish was almost within, his reach, but it swam back into the deep 

 water. The Fish knew TxamsEm's intentions, and swam back from 

 the shore, saying, " Do you think I do not know you, Giant ?" Then 

 Giant acted as though he were going to take hold of the Fish, stretched 

 out his hand, and said, "You shall have a thin tail, only your head 

 shall be large and thick." It became the bullhead. The bullhead 

 is remarkably stout, because TxamsEm cursed it, and made it thin 

 at one end, while the other end is thick. 



(15) TXA'MSEM FRIGHTENS AWAY THE OWNERS OF A WHALE 2 



TxamsEm lived there for a while. Soon he made up his mind to go 

 back to the mainland, for he was very hungry. He had bad luck, and 

 he needed something to eat. He flew back over the sea, and soon he 

 came to a village where there were many people. Behold! a large 

 whale lay there on the beach. He had on his raven blanket, and he 

 flew to the place where the dead whale lay, and said in the Raven lan- 

 guage, " Gulag e gag dze el ban!" The people were worried to know 

 what the Raven wanted to say. On the following day a number of 

 gamblers were together at one place hi this village. TxamsEm was 

 sitting at one end of the gamblers. The people did not know him. 

 They began to talk about what the Raven had said the day before. 

 Therefore the Raven asked what it was that the Raven had been 

 saying. Then one of the party told him that the day before, in the 

 afternoon, a raven flying over the dead whale had turned over above 

 the whale, saying, " Guldge gag dze el ban," and that he had done so 

 several times. "Oh, I see, I understand what he said! He said, 'Maybe 

 a pestdence will come to this village within a few days."' Then the 

 people were still more troubled; and when evening came, the chief of 

 the village sent out his slave, and said, " Go out and order the people 

 to move tomorrow morning!" The great slave ran out and cried, 

 "Great tribe, move!" They did so the following morning. Now, 

 TxamsEm lived in the chief's house. He carved the large whale, and 

 carried the meat into the house. Four houses were filled with the 

 meat and fat. He lived there a long time, and ate the whale meat 

 and fat. 



1 Notes, p. 6S5. 2 Notes, p. 687. 



