boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 261 



trout. Then he put on his hat again and looked down. He saw 

 another large trout coming up, and he tried to spear it; but before 

 he could do so, the trout was gone, for his hat fell down again, and 

 he lost sight of it. Then he became angry, took off his valuable 

 hat, tore it to pieces, and threw it into the water, and it went down. 

 The steersman, however, took a long pole and fished up the pieces 

 of the valuable hat, and placed them behind himself in the stern of 

 the canoe. Now the prince said, "Let us camp here!" for it was 

 getting evening. They camped at the foot of a large spruce tree, 

 as they were in the habit of camping every spring. They built a 

 fire, and were about to roast some trout for their supper. Soon the 

 trout was cooked, and the friends got skunk-cabbage leaves and 

 spread them on the ground. They used them as dishes to put the 

 roasted trout on. Immediately a frog leaped on the cooked trout 

 and remained sitting on it. 



Then the prince became angry with the frog. He took it and threw 

 it into the fire, but the frog jumped out of the big fire. He took the 

 frog again and threw it once more into the fire. The poor thing tried 

 to escape, but in vain, for the young man was stronger than it. At 

 last the frog was killed in the fire; and one of the prince's friends 

 took the burnt frog away and secretly threw it into the bushes. 



Then they had their supper. They lay down and slept; and on 

 the following morning, very early, the prince said to his companions, 

 "Let us go home!" They launched their canoe and started home- 

 ward. When they were all aboard, they paddled along. When 

 they were a little distance from the camp, behold! a young woman 

 was seen coming down to the beach behind them. She shouted, 

 saying, "My dears, please take me along with you!" The woman 

 had her face blackened with charcoal, for she was in mourning. 

 The young man turned back to her, for the prince was much pleased 

 by the beauty of the young woman. He jumped out of the canoe 

 to take her, and stretched out his hands to embrace her; but the 

 woman vanished, and only a frog leaped away from him. 



He went down to his canoe, and they paddled on. When he had 

 gone some distance, they heard somebody crying behind them, 

 saying, "My dears, will you take me along with you ?" and the young 

 man stopped. They looked back, and the prince saw a beautiful 

 girl. He said to his companions, "Let us turn back and take her 

 along!" So the canoe turned back toward her. When they arrived 

 near the shore where she had come down to the beach, the prince 

 jumped out of the canoe and walked up to the woman. He stretched 

 out both his arms to embrace her, but she vanished again. Only a 

 frog leaped away from him. He went down to his canoe, and they 

 started again. After they had paddled some time, a woman came 

 down to the beach and shouted, saying, "My dears, please take me 



