boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 177 



the white she-bear kicked the ice, and the man was drowned. The 

 white she-bear was almost drowned too, but she succeeded in reach- 

 ing the bank. The man went under the ice and died there. 



23. The Mink Who Married a Princess l 



In olden times many animals married women, and so it was with 

 this young woman. Her parents did not want any one to marry her. 

 Although all the princes wanted to have her, they would not agree. 



One night they went to bed, and some one came to the place where 

 the princess was sleeping. He woke her, and said, "May I stay with 

 you tonight?" She said, "Yes." And so the young man remained 

 with her. Before daybreak the young man said, "Shall I take you 

 to my house ? " and the young woman said, ' ' Yes, of course ! " There- 

 fore he took her in his canoe, and they left her home, Metlakahtla. 

 He said to his wife, "Lie down in the canoe!" and the young woman 

 did what her husband said. He paddled the whole night. Then 

 he came in front of his house. He said, "Now, my dear wife, wake 

 up and go into my house ! " So the young woman arose, and she went 

 with him into a mink's den. 



Now, the young woman's heart was sorry on account of what she 

 had done, for she knew now that her husband was a Mink. She was 

 always crying. Every morning the Mink went fishing and brought 

 many eels, which he caught under the small rocks. He strung the 

 eels on cedar twigs, and carried them up to bis den, where his wife 

 was. She would not eat anything, but just chewed fat. 



Every morning, very early, the Mink went and brought home one 

 or two strings of eels. He dried them in the smoke; and every time 

 he came home he counted his dried eels. He brought fresh ones, and 

 hung them also in the smoke to dry. When the young woman saw 

 that her husband always counted his dried eels, one morning while 

 her husband was away, she took the eels down and hid them ; and as 

 soon as the Mink came home with another string of eels, he looked 

 for his dried eels, and they were all gone. 



He scratched his head, and said, "I don't know what has become 

 of all my dried eels. Maybe I ate them, I don't know! Oh, no! 

 for my stomach is not full." He was afraid to ask his wife, for fear 

 of making her angry. Therefore he said to himself, "Perhaps I ate 

 them all! Oh,no! my stomach is not full. " Then the young woman 

 began to laugh, and he said, "Oh, how foolish these human beings 

 are! What will they have to eat during the cold winter, when the 

 snow is on one side of the trees! How foolish they are!" 



The young woman was laughing about the words that her husband 

 spoke to himself. "Oh, yes!" said he, "maybe I ate them all, ate, ate, 

 ate ! Oh, no ! for my little stomach is not full. How foolish people 



i Notes, pp. 747, 762. 

 50633°— 31 eth— 16 12 



