BOAS] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 125 



The chiefs went up to North Wind and told hini so, and he also 

 agreed, and therefore, this law among the winds continues up to this 

 day. 



1 1 . The Story of Xa&q l 



In early times, when the people were multiplying, and lived in 

 the large town on the plains on the upper course of Skeena River 

 which we call now Prairie Town — that is, where the village of our 

 forefathers used to be — the people used to play the greater part of 

 the night in the open air. The young men would play all kinds of 

 games, and they went out night after night to the open space on the 

 level ground behind their houses. There were a great many people, 

 and there was a crowd of young men, of women, and of children. 

 Therefore they made much noise when they were on their playground 

 uutil late in the night. 



One night they went out again, as usual, and began to play before 

 it was dark. They started their first game, and another followed; 

 and when they started still another game, they saw a beautiful plume 

 descending slowly from the sky above them; and they all desired to 

 have it, because it was beautiful to look at. A very tall young man 

 went first, caught it, and put it on his head. As soon as he put it 

 on his head, he was taken up by the plume which had come down 

 from above. Another youth saw his friend hanging by the plume. 

 He stepped up and took hold of his feet. His hand stuck to his 

 friend's feet, and the plume pulled them up. Another man took 

 hold of the feet of the second one, and his hands stuck fast ; and so 

 all the young men stuck by the plume, which pulled them up to the sky. 



When the old men who were in the house heard that the children 

 were being taken up by the beautiful plume, they came out, took hold 

 of the heel of the last of the young men, and the old men stuck there 

 too. The women came out, and one of them took hold of the heel 

 of the last one of their husbands, and the women stuck fast. Then 

 the children came out, and they all were taken up by the plume. 



Only one princess, the daughter of a great chief, who had just been 

 delivered of a child, was left. All the people were taken up by the 

 plume; and at last they dropped down from the plume, and all died. 

 Their bodies formed a great pile. The young woman came out, and 

 she wept bitterly over the pde of bodies ; and while she was weeping, 

 she wiped the mucus from her nose, and threw it down on the ground ; 

 and, behold! there was a baby boy formed from the mucus of her 

 nose. She took a piece of grindstone and put it next to her body, 

 and she took a little branch of a crabapple tree, which she put in her 

 bosom, and also her feather. Then she took a little piece of shell 

 and put it in her bosom; and when she came in, she wrapped the baby 

 bov in marten garments. 



