132 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [ETH. ANN. 31 



very good hunters. Every fall they used to go hunting mountain 

 goats, and they killed many goats at a time. They took only the 

 kidney fat and intestine fat of the goats, and left all the meat behind. 



The goats were distressed by their actions, for the hunters did not 

 burn cither bones or meat. The six brothers did this every fall. In 

 the following spring they went up the same mountain and killed 

 many mountain goats, as they had done before, and they caught a 

 kid and took it down to then- home. Then the chddren took the 

 kid to the river and threw it out into the water. The poor little 

 thing tried to swim ashore; but as soon as it got ashore, the children 

 took it again and threw it into the water, and they laughed when they 

 saw how funny the little kid looked when it was swimming. 



The children did so many times, and the httle kid was very cold. 

 Then the children buflt a fire, and let the kid he down on one side of 

 it to get warm; and some of the children pushed the kid into the 

 fire, so that the hair began to burn, and then threw it again into the 

 water, and they shouted with pleasure. 



Then a young man came down to hear what the noise of the children 

 meant. He went down to the children that were playing with the 

 httle kid, and he took the poor httle kid out of their hands, and 

 rubbed its hair with his hands to wipe off the water from the wool. 

 The name of this young man was Eeally Black. 1 He guided the 

 kid way back from the village until they reached the foot of a high 

 mountain, and he said, "Go on, supernatural one, go on!" 



The people forgot what the cluldren had done to the kid; and before 

 the next fall drew near, messengers came down to the village. They 

 went to every house, and invited everybody — men, women, and 

 cluldren and old people — and told them to go and build a new village 

 at the foot of a high mountain, right on the prairie. 



The people of the town received this message gladly, and the chiefs 

 invited the messengers into then - houses, as was the custom. On the 

 following morning the people were ready to go. They followed the 

 messengers until the evening, going along the prairie, as the messen- 

 gers told them; and before evening they saw a large new house, and 

 sparks flying out of the smoke hole of the large house. The messen- 

 gers ran ahead, and a great multitude of people came out and stood 

 on the prairie a httle way from the front of the large house, waiting 

 for the people to meet them. When the other messengers came up and 

 met them, they went towards the budding; and before the guests 

 entered the budding, the people all came out dancing, as is the custom 

 when a chief invites another tribe. The dancers wore headdresses 

 representing mountain goats, and their blankets were goat skins. 

 After they had danced, the people went into the house; and while 



i In full, Really Black Raven Feather— F. B. 



