boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 607 



versions have been recorded. It occurs among the Newettee, 

 Comox, Fraser River tribes, Thompson Indians, and Chilcotin, 

 as part of the Transformer cycle. The Bellacoola and Shu- 

 swap tell the story, but it does not belong to the Transformer 

 myth. The essential contents of the story refer to a fisherman 

 who owns a valuable harpoon, winch is taken away by a 

 Transformer who assumes the shape of a fish, allows himself 

 to be harpooned, and breaks the harpoon-line. Later on ho 

 assumes human shape, and returns the harpoon-line to the 

 fisherman. 



Crane is fishing in Seymour Narrows. Q!a'neqe £ lak u tries to assume the 

 form of a salmon, and after several attempts is successful. Crane harpoons 

 the salmon, which swims away with the harpoon. Q !a'neqe=lak u resumes 

 his human shape, and wears the harpoon as an ear-ornament. He visits 

 Crane, who recognizes his harpoon, and makes the Transformer swallow thin 

 slivers of bones, which he can not dislodge. Crane promises to cure him if 

 given the harpoon. He shakes Q la'neqeflak 11 so that the bones drop out. 

 Q !a'neqe £ lak u puts the harpoon into Crane's nose, and transforms him into a 

 bird, his wife into a woodpecker Ne 5.201. The same tale is told by the 

 Comox Co 5.64. 1 A similar story is told of two youths who assume the forms 

 of fish and are caught by Crane. The theft of the harpoon is missing, but it 

 evidently belongs to the story Co 5.65. 



I collected two StsEe'lis versions of the tale. Xals meets PaTaxil [One 

 Leg] in StsEe'lis, where he is fishing. He steals and returns the harpoon- 

 point, as described before, and says that there shall always be plenty of 

 salmon at StsEe'lis. He transforms One Leg into a stone that controls the 

 wind Stsn 5.23. In another StsEe'lis version the Transformers wish to land 

 at One Leg's house. He denies permission. Then one of them assumes the 

 form of a salmon and steals the harpoon. Next follows a repetition of the 

 incident of the Sx - ai tale (see p. 605), in which the trail that the brothers 

 have to take is made long by looking along it. Cold is produced, and they 

 almost freeze to death, while One Leg reaches his home with two strides. 

 Then follows a contest in fishing with dip-nets, in which the Transformers 

 catch as much in one haul as One Leg gets in three. One Leg is given the 

 Transformer's pipe to smoke, and is thus transformed into stone Stsi 5.24. 



The corresponding Thompson tale contains a number of distinctive ele- 

 ments. The giant Xaaxa' [Tcui'sqa'lEmux Ntlfr; a cannibal t T ] is fishing at 

 Xeka'men [at Zixazix (slides) below Spuzzum Ntl&; at Mud Slide, four 

 miles below Spences Bridge TJ]. The Transformer assumes the shape of a 

 salmon and carries away the [copper Ntlc, U] harpoon. Later on the Trans- 

 formers visit the giant's house [they are given a small basketful of food, 

 which they are unable to finish Ntlfi, U]. They return the harpoon-head. 

 Then they go up the mountain, and by kicking the ground cause a rock- 

 slide, which does not harm the giant Ntlo. To avoid it, the giant jumps 

 across the river Teit 2, note 125; Ntlc. This is repeated four times Teit Ntl6. 



In the Nicola version the Transformers cover their bodies with birch bark 

 before assuming the shape of fish. The giant has a two-pronged spear with 

 copper barbs. His wife is the Short-Tailed Mouse Ntlc Teit 3.315. 



1 It seems to me that the version given by Hill-Tout 3.519 as obtained from the Squamish is a com- 

 posite account of this tale and of that, of the fish-slime (see p. 605). On the whole, mixed tales of t his 

 type are not common on the coast: and either there may be a misunderstanding in the versions, or they 

 may not have been well known to 



