82 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [etii. ass. 31 



ing day, while he was still sitting there, he saw a large canoe being 

 launched on the beach. Aboard were many young women who went 

 to pick blueberries. Then TxamsEm thought how he could enter 

 the great town. Finally it occurred to him to catch a deer. He went 

 into the woods and caught a deer, skinned it, put on the skin, and 

 then swam in front of the large canoe which was full of young women 

 who were going to pick blueberries. Among them was a yoimg 

 princess, the daughter of the master of that large town. TxamsEm 

 saw that she w T as among the young women. She was sitting near 

 the middle of the large canoe, between two women. Now, they saw 

 the stag swimming along in front of the canoe. Then the princess 

 said to her companions, "Let us pursue him!" They did so They 

 paddled along, and soon they caught and killed the stag, and took 

 him into the canoe. TxamsEm thought, "Let them put me down 

 in front of the princess!" and then they took him into the canoe and 

 placed him in front of the princess, as TxamsEm had wished them 

 to do. Then they paddled along toward the place where the blue- 

 berries were. Before they reached the blueberry-patch, the deer 

 moved his hind leg and kicked the princess in the stomach. Then 

 he leaped out of the canoe and ran into the woods. The princess 

 fainted when she received the wound, and therefore the young women 

 turned back and went home. The princess became worse as they 

 went along. Finally they reached the beach in front of the house 

 of the head chief. They told the people what had happened to them 

 on their journey. Then they took the princess up to her father's 

 house. A great number of people were following them. The chief 

 was very sorrowful because his only daughter was hurt. He called 

 together all the wise men, and asked them what he should do to cure 

 his daughter. The wise men told him to gather all the shamans, 

 and let them try to cure her wound. There was a wound under 

 her ribs made by the hind leg of the deer. Then the chief ordered 

 his attendants to call all the shamans. The attendants went and 

 called all the shamans. They gathered in the chief's great house. 

 Then the shamans worked over her with their supernatural powers, 

 but they all failed. The wound could not be cured by the super- 

 natural powers of the shamans. The girl became worse and worse, 

 until she was very ill. Still the shamans worked on, day and night. 

 Three days had passed, and the many shamans had been working 

 in vain. On the fourth day, behold! before the evening set in a 

 canoe filled with young men came to town. They came ashore, and 

 some people went down to meet them. Then the people who were 

 going down saw a shaman sitting in the middle of the canoe. They 

 w r ent up quickly and told the chief that a shaman had come to town. 

 Therefore the chief sent to him, asking him to cure his only daughter. 

 (This shaman was TxamsEm, and the crew of his canoe were his 



