comparative study of tsimshian mythology 621 



Introduction to the Raven Myth 



(6 versions: Tla 3; T16 80, 119; Tl 2.1,189; Tl 3.304, 372; Tl 4.254; Kai 5.306 [cited 

 respectively Tla, T16, Tl 2, Tl 3, Tl 4, Kai 5]) 



In the beginning there was no daylight in this world. Near the 

 source of Nass River lived Raven At The Head Of Nass River (Nas- 

 CA'ki-yel) with his sister Kitchuginsi and his wife GTns £ ha'noa (a. 

 Haida name), who spent all her time in the house or on the rocks 

 on the beach. Her husband was very jealous. She was guarded 

 by a number of flickers, which were placed in her armpits, and which 

 would leave her as soon as she looked at a man. When her husband, 

 who was an expert canoe-builder, went out, he put her into a box. 

 He was afraid that his sister's sons might covet liis wife, and there- 

 fore he killed all of them as soon as they began to grow up. After 

 the last of her sons had been killed, Kitchuginsi went down to the 

 beach to wail. There a wise man advised her to heat a smooth 

 pebble and to swallow it. She followed the advice, and built for 

 herself a hut, in which she lived. After some. time she gave birth to 

 a son, who was invulnerable, like stone. His mother made bow and 

 arrows for hini, and he began to hunt. First he shot small birds, 

 then larger and larger animals. The mother made blankets out of 

 bird skins. Finally he shot a "heaven-bird" (a white bird with 

 copper beak), and a diver (cax). He skinned the birds, and gave the 

 skin of the diver to his mother. When he put on the skin of the 

 "heaven-bird, " he was able to fly up to the sky; and when his mother 

 put on that of the diver, she was able to swim like a sea fowl. 



Since they were all alone, he asked Ms mother for her relatives, 

 and she told him that her brother had killed all her sons. Then the 

 boy resolved to take revenge. He went to the house of the chief, 

 his uncle, to whose wife he made love during the chief's absence. At 

 once the buds flew away from her; and thus her husband, upon his 

 return, knew what had happened. He resolved to kill his nephew. 

 He ordered him to fell an obsidian tree, which feat he performed 

 without being hurt. Then he made him crawl into the crack of a 

 split tree which he had felled to make a canoe, knocked out the 

 spreading-sticks, so that the tree closed on the boy, who split it by 

 moving his elbows, and carried the two halves home. Then he invited 

 him to hunt devilfish; and while the boy made ready to spear the 

 animal, the uncle made him fall overboard. When the boy returned 

 unharmed, his uncle let water pour out from the top of his hat. The 

 water filled the house. The house of Raven At The Head Of Nass 

 River, however, was the world, and its retaining-boards were the 

 mountains. When the water rose in the house, the whole world was 

 being inundated. Mother and son climbed from one retaining-board 



