158 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ANN. 31 



She plunged to the bottom of the sea, and left her home in the lake, 

 and went way out. She became a being part fish, part woman, and 

 had her new home in the sea. Sometimes the people will see her 

 coming up, and they call her Haklula'q. 



19. The Spider and the Widow's Daughter 1 



There was a famine among the people. There used to be famines 

 because they had no nets to catch salmon, and not many people 

 knew how to make salmon traps and weirs. Therefore dried salmon 

 was not plentiful in winter, and many widows were dying of starva- 

 tion, and also old people and orphans. When a famine set in, the 

 rich people would leave the village and move to some other place, 

 scattering in every direction, without taking pity on the poor. They 

 left them in the empty villages, and diseases swept the poor people 

 away. Starvation and disease destroyed them all. 



So it happened to one widow, who was left in the village when all 

 the wealthy people had moved away. She went into the woods 

 behind the empty village, where a small brook ran down. There 

 she made a little hut for herself and her daughter, and every day she 

 looked out of her little hut, and saw many salmon jumping at the 

 mouth of the brook. They wished to catch them, but they did not 

 know how to do it. They waited for the salmon to go up the brook, 

 intending to club them. 



Early every morning the widow came out of her hut and went 

 down to the beach to search for something to eat. Early one morn- 

 ing, on going out, she saw many salmon jumping on the water. She 

 thought her daughter would soon die before the salmon would come 

 up the creek. Therefore she sat down on the bank of the brook, 

 weeping. 



Her daughter was alone in the hut. She was in bed, and was 

 starving. When the girl opened her eyes, behold! a tall young man 

 was standing at the door of the hut, who said, "I have come to 

 marry you.". He was a strong-looking young man. The girl was 

 much surprised, and said, "Wait until mother comes in, and tell her 

 what you want!" but the tall young man said, "I can not wait for 

 your mother, won't you take me now?" 2 The girl agreed, and he 

 married her. He said, "I wall come again tonight." Then he left. 



Late in the evening her mother came home sorrowful, but she 

 noticed that her daughter looked happy. She did not ask the 

 reason, and pretended not to notice it. 'At midnight the tall young 

 man entered the hut. The widow did not sleep, and therefore she 

 saw the door open and the tall young man enter. She saw him go 

 in to her daughter, and she wondered what her daughter had done. 

 Still she was afraid to speak. 



' Notes, pp. 747, 750. 



2 Original; \'lga n iIkiii ili-liK.lm'Mi < nan; ul n <lF,m nnn-pi'"ni? aila n ilKin sil-na'kKn t-a'wun? 



