264 



I'SI M S 1 LIA X M YTJ [ OLOG V 



Then all the people of the village moved away. They took the 

 bodies of the dead and buried them. On the following morning an 

 old woman who lived at the end of the towTi went to the house of the 

 chief, of the father of the prince who had died. The old woman said, 

 " Send for all the people of the village." The chief obeyed, and invited 

 all his people, in; and when all the people were in the house, the old 

 woman said, "My dear people, I had a dream last night;" and all the 

 people were very anxious to know what the old woman had dreamed. 

 So the people questioned her, and asked what her dream had been. 

 She said, "I had a very bad dream;" and she said to the chief who 

 had lost his son, "Dig out the earth in the middle of your house. 

 Dig a deep hole, and put your only daughter into it." Therefore 

 the cliief ordered his people to dig out the ground; and after they 

 had dug a deep hole, they put costly coppers into it first, painted 

 garments, and much property. They put the costly coppers on each 

 side of the pit, and also garments of sea-otter skins, of marten skins, 

 and woven blankets, and many elk skins. Then the girl went into 

 the hole, and they covered it over with blankets, and filled it in over 

 the blankets. As soon as the old woman knew that the princess 

 Omen had been covered with earth, she said, "I saw in my dream 

 that fire fell from heaven and consumed this village. I saw a fire 

 fall on top of that mountain yonder." And as she pointed to the 

 top of the same mountain, behold! a little firebrand fell down on top 

 of the mountain, and it began to stream down quickly like water 

 from the top of the mountain. The fire went around the village, 

 and the water in front of the village burned like oil. The people of 

 the village could not escape from it. They were all burned up. Only 

 the princess, who was hidden in the hole, was saved; and the old 

 woman also hid herself in the ground . 



The princess Omen heard the noise of the fire passing over her 

 while she was sitting in the pit ; and when the noise had ceased, she 

 heard the voice of a very old woman coming down crying ; and Omen 

 heard the mourning-song of the old woman, and Omen knew that the 

 old woman was weeping on the ground above her; and this is the 

 mounung-song of the old woman: 



seps dEp an-qa dEp an - qa 

 I gather the bones of my dear ones, my dear ones. 



