110 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY I ktii. as.v. 31 



dear man?" Then the poor man answered in a low voice, "Your 

 inline is Sea Otter On Green Mountain. " 



Then Chief Porcupine ordered his people to wash the face of the 

 poor man; and all the Porcupines worked at his face, and took out the 

 green contents of the stomach of the first wife of Chief Porcupine, 

 and t hey rubbed it on the face of the hunter, for it was full of quills. 

 Then the quills came out again by themselves; and they took the 

 contents of the stomach of the second wife of Chief Porcupine and 

 rubbed it on his face, and more quills came out, and the man's face be- 

 came better than it had been before. Then the contents of the stomach 

 of the third wife was rubbed on his face, and the swelling on his face 

 became less, the quills became loose and fell out. Then the contents 

 of the stomach of the fourth wife was rubbed on his face, and all the 

 quills came out. Not a single one remained in the face of the hunter. 



Chief Porcupine had been chewing new green leaves. Then he 

 spat in his hands and rubbed the face of the man, whose face became as 

 beautiful as it had been when he was a boy. Then Chief Porcupine 

 ordered his attendants to give food to the hunter. Therefore they 

 brought fat mountain-sheep meat and many different kinds of food, 

 and fruits of all kinds; and when the hunter felt satisfied after he had 

 eaten, the chief said to him, "I will be your friend. My people are 

 full of sorrow because you have slain great numbers of them, so I 

 have taken you into my house to kill you right here; but since you 

 have pronounced my chief's name rightly, I will spare your life. 

 Now, I will ask you kindly not to smoke the porcupines out of their 

 dens; and if you need porcupine meat, do not kill so many of them; 

 and when you have killed one or more, dry their meat in a good fire 

 and eat them before winter sets in, so that my people may not have 

 any sickness in winter, and cast their bones into the fire; and do not 

 let your young people eat the heads of young porcupines, lest they 

 become forgetful." 



Therefore the Indians know how to use the contents of the stomach 

 of the porcupine when porcupine quills stick in the bodiesof our people. 



Then the hunter went out from that place to his own hut, where 

 his wife was sitting weeping because her husband had been away for 

 many days. While the woman was sitting there, she heard a noise 

 at the door. She turned her face, and saw her husband come in. 

 She was surprised, and questioned him, and the hunter told her that 

 he had been to the house of Chief Porcupine. Then they moved and 

 went home. They took all the porcupine meat from the other camps ; 

 and when he had taken them all home, he invited the people to his 

 house, and told them what had happened and how he had been 

 punished in the house of Chief Porcupine. 



Therefore the people nowadays know that the Porcupine is 

 troubled by the people. Porcupine is an animal that knows how to 

 sing. Porcupines know every tune in existence. 



