162 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. axx. 31 



she loved him very much. Before daylight the young man awoko 

 and went away. 



The following night the girl went to bed as early as she was accus- 

 tomed to do, and soon all the people in the house of the great chief 

 lay down. Then the young man came again and staid with the girl, 

 and she loved him more and more. 1 



Now, the parents of the young woman did not know what was 

 happening to their princess. The j'oung man went to her four nights 

 in succession; and when the fourth night had passed, the young man 

 said to his beloved, "Shall I take you away from your father's house 

 into my father's house, and to his large house? It is not far from 

 here." 



She agreed. She forgot her pride and her father's refusal of her 

 to all the chiefs of the Tsimshian, and the princes' desire to have her 

 in marriage. She took only a small box and went with this young 

 man, and the young man took her far away from her father's house. 

 Now they reached the young man's village. He went with her into 

 a large house. The young woman was a little behind her husband 

 and entered after him. She looked around and saw her husband, 

 who entered and walked right up to a large fire. There he lay down, 

 with his back against the fire; and she saw that a larg3 snail was 

 there in front of the fire, as big as a whale, and another one was on 

 the other side of the fire. These two-large snails were the parents of 

 the young man who had married the young woman. They did not 

 care for the young man's new wife, and staid with their backs turned 

 toward the fire. 



Then the young woman was much disappointed. She went to one 

 corner of the large house and sat down without any one speaking to 

 her. She sat there, weeping and full of sorrow; and while she was 

 weeping, she felt that some one touched her side and asked her for 

 her woolen ear-ornaments. Then the young woman took off her 

 woolen ear-ornaments, and the Mouse Woman took them. The 

 Mouse Woman asked her, " Do you know these people ?" The young 

 woman said, "No." Then the Mouse Woman said, "You remember 

 one time when you saw a snail on your way home and you kicked 

 it out of the way, and you said to the snail, 'Don't you want to 

 marry me?' That is what you said when you kicked it away with 

 the tip of your toe. Therefore the great chief sent his son to marry 

 you." After the Mouse Woman had spoken, she went away. 



Now we will go back to the young woman's own home on the 

 morning when she left. When no one in the house made a noise, the 

 old woman thought that her young daughter was still asleep. There- 

 fore she ordered every one in the house to keep quiet until her daughter 



' Original: Ada wila di-la'lga txan! i lu-tgti-wa'lb da wil di-na'kgEsga wi-sEm'a'g-idga, daal gik goi'dEksga 

 su-pla'sEm y!o'°ta da gik wila na'ka da awa'°t, da la sEmt si'°p!Entga hana'°ga. 



