boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 599 



fore the inland people have long hair; the tribes south of Columbia River, strong 

 legs; and the'inland people, bandy legs Chin 21. 



They meet an aunt who swings children and dashes them against a rock. 

 The elder brother rubs the younger one's face with a plant to make him look 

 pale. The woman wants to swing the younger one, but the elder one asks 

 to be taken in his stead. He orders the children down below to shout, "Go 

 and come back ! " He lands on his feet. Then he throws his aunt and kills 

 her. In her belly are found the bones of children whom she has eaten. 

 Some he revives, but others lie can not revive. Therefore some people die 

 today. The same incident is repeated. Next they meet another aunt who 

 plays with children, who are required to walk slowly towards a stick. When 

 the child laughs, the woman kills and eats it. The Transformer wins, kills 

 the aunt, and frees the children. They meet another woman who kills 

 children pretending to tattoo their chests. She can not pierce the skin of 

 the Transformer, who kills her Quin 82. 



A similar incident is recorded in the Eagle and Owl story recorded by Hill- 

 Tout Se 49. Eagle and Owl marry two sisters. Eagle marries the elder one. 

 His son is Frog. Owl marries the younger one. His son is a human being. 

 The husbands are captured by a female ogre, Yanexemekwon. The women 

 search for them, and after various adventures reach the house of the ogre. 

 She plays with them sliding down a mountain which ends in a precipice. 

 The sisters fasten themselves by means of a magic line, and when they reach 

 the precipice spit out red and white paint, which the ogre mistakes for blood 

 and brains. The story then continues with the killing of the ogre (see pp. 762 

 et seq.). 



The same story is told by Teit. In one version collected among the 

 Lower Thompson it is told that the two girls marry Owl and Eagle. Owl's 

 child is a Frog. The husbands are taken away by an ogre, Xe'niax, with 

 whom the women have a fight at the edge of a cliff. The Frog child always 

 pushes back the women when they are about to fall. Finally the Frog 

 throws down Xe'niax, who, however, is not killed U 252. 



In the Lillooet tale the husbands are Horned Owl and Golden Eagle. 

 The son of the former is the Deer; the daughter of the latter, Frog. The 

 husbands are taken away by the ogre Komaksti'mut, who challenges the 

 women to slide down a mountain. The women spit out red and white paint 

 and escape Lil 370. 



15. The Transformers become stone at the mouth of Columbia River 



Quin 85. 



A few tales are common to Vancouver Island and Washington, and 

 have even penetrated up the Fraser River into the interior. These 

 refer principally to the creation of animals. 



16. Origin of the deer H ap 883; Ne 5.200; Ne 9.201; Ne 11.211; 



Ne Dawson 20; Co 5.64; Nua 5.98; Nu6 ap 912; Squ 5.56; 

 Squ Hill-Tout 3.518; Cow 5.46; Puyallup, 155 j 1 Sts Hill- 

 Tout 5.361; U 227; Quilleyute, Farrand MS; Quin 84; Chin 20. 



Among these the story of the origin of the deer is by far the most widely 

 distributed. Seventeen versions have been recorded. The essential incident 

 of this story is the meeting between the Transformer and a man who i^ grinding 

 his knife on a stone. On being asked what he is doing, he replies that he is 



1 Globus, vol. Lxm. 



