boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 153 



Then he began to hunt again; and whenever ho came home from 

 hunting, he threw down his hear meat and fat outside the house. 

 Then he would speak to his wife-image, "Come out and look at this!" 

 Then he spoke to himself as though his image- wife were speaking: 

 "Oh, I can not, because my yarn is twisted around my fingers! 

 Therefore I won't come out." Then he went in and embraced his 

 wooden wife. He talked to his wooden wife, and would say, "You 

 are very handsome." 



Now many hunters were passing by. They looked into the house 

 and saw a woman weaving a dancing-garment. Then some one 

 said that the hunter's wife was made of wood. He told about it in 

 the village. 



There were two sisters among some young men. One night then- 

 mother was angry with them. Therefore they ran away from then- 

 mother and crossed the mountains. They crossed the mountains, 

 valleys, and rivers, and one day they arrived at the camp of the 

 wooden wife. Tbey looked hi through a knot-hole, and there was 

 a woman seated by the side of a dancing-garment, which she was 

 weaving. They wanted to ask her if she could give them food, so 

 they opened the door, and the woman that was weaving turned her 

 head to look at them. They stood there and asked her to give them 

 a little food, but she did not pay any attention; and the yarn was 

 twisted around her fingers, and she just moved her fingers. There- 

 fore the elder sister said to her younger sister, "That is not a living 

 being! I will go near and look." So she went near and touched her 

 shoulder, and said, "Will you give us a little food, elder sister?" 

 However, she felt that it was not a human being, but wood. She 

 called her younger sister, and they were surprised. Then they 

 laughed at her, and they remembered what they had heard about 

 the hunter's wooden wife. They hid in a corner of the house among 

 the dried meat and fat. 



Soon they heard the hunter come down to his camp He 

 whistled, for he was very tired because his load was heavy. He 

 said to his wooden wife, "Come out, my dear, and look at this!" 

 Then he said to himself, "Not so, my dear, for my yarn is twisted 

 around my fingers. " Then he came in, ran to his wooden wife, and 

 embraced her and kissed her, and the two young women laughed at 

 him secretly. The man heard them laughing secretly. He got up and 

 looked around, and found the two young women who were hiding 

 among the dried meat. He called them and spread a large grizzly- 

 bear skin on one side of the house. The two young women sat down 

 on the large grizzly-bear skin, and he cooked for them rich meat, 

 tallow, and fat. They ate many things that night, but the younger 

 sister was afraid to eat much. She ate only a little of each kind of 



