84 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth.ann.31 



opened many boxes of crabapples mixed with grease, and ate them 

 all. When TxamsEm came home from his walk, behold ! he saw all 

 the empty boxes, and he knew that his grandchildren had done this. 



(25) txa'msem pretends to build a canoe ' 



TxamsEm did still another tiling. After he had visited every 

 country, he found a little hut in which were two women — a widow 

 and her daughter; and the widow was very kind to him, and fed him 

 with many kinds of food. After TxiimsEin had eaten, he said to the 

 widow, " I will marry your daughter, " and the widow agreed. Then 

 TxamsEm was glad that the widow's daughter was to marry him, 

 for the widow's house was full of all kinds of food. The young 

 woman who was the wife of TxamsEm was very beautiful. After 

 a while TxamsEm said to his young wife, "Now, my dear, you know 

 that I love you very much, and therefore I shall build a nice little 

 canoe for your mother. I shall go away tomorrow to look for red 

 cedar. Then I will build a canoe for her. I want you to get ready, 

 for I want to start early in the morning. " Then the young woman 

 repeated this to her mother. Early the next morning the mother- 

 in-law arose and prepared breakfast for her son-in-law. When it was 

 ready she called her son-in-law. TxanisEm arose and ate his break- 

 fast. Then he went off to search for red cedar. He came back before 

 it was evening, went to his wife, and told her that he had found a very 

 good red cedar of proper size. He said, "I will cut it down tomorrow. 

 Then I will cut it the right length for a canoe. " His mother-in-law 

 prepared supper for him, and she cooked all the food she had. After 

 he had eaten his meal, he lay down; and while he was lying there, he 

 whispered to his wife, "When the canoe is finished, I will go around 

 the island. You shall sit in the stern, your mother shall sit in the 

 middle of the canoe, and I will sit in the bow. Then we shall have a 

 happy time." Thus spoke TxamsEm to his wife. Next morning 

 he arose, while his mother-in-law prepared his breakfast. After he 

 had taken his meal, he took his mother-in-law's stone tools and went; 

 and his mother-in-law and his wife heard him cut the tree with his 

 stone ax. They also heard the large cedar tree fall, and after a while 

 they heard also how he was working with the stone ax. He came 

 home before it was evening, weary and sore on account of the hard 

 work that he had been doing all day long. When he came home, he 

 said to his wife, "Just tell your mother that I want her to boil lor me 

 a good dried salmon every evening, for I like the soup of dried salmon. 

 It is very good for a man who is building a canoe. " She did so every 

 evening. When the fourth day came, TxamsEm told his wife that the 

 canoe was almost finished. By this time Ins mother-in-law's pro- 

 visions were nearly spent, and some of her food boxes were empty. 



