626 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [kth. ann. 31 



When they lived in Great Breakers' house, the boy behaved 

 badly, banging the door and soiling the floor of the house. He 

 intended to seduce his uncle's wife, and prepared for this. First he 

 desired to obtain a whale. His father and uncle were out in the 

 shape of killer whales, getting whales, and he caused them to strand 

 on the beach. Flood-Tide Woman tried to rescue her lover, Fin 

 Turned Back; but the boy let the tide rise and cover the killer whales, 

 so that they were enabled to swim away. In return they gave him a 

 whale. He watched the birds that came to eat of it, and shot a 

 buffi ehead, and then a bluebird. When he put on the skin of the 

 former, he was able to swim. When he put on the skin of the latter, 

 he was able to fly like a raven. 



In order to gam the love of his uncle's wife, he obtained gum 

 from some women. He chewed it and gave some of it to his uncle's 

 wife when she asked for it. This acted as a love-charm. She 

 induced her husband to go sealing, and meanwhile the boy lay with 

 the woman. Then it thundered, and by this sign Great Breakers 

 knew what had happened. He put on his hat. A whirlpool rushed 

 out of it, and the world was covered with water. Then the boy 

 put on the skin of the bufflehead and swam out; later, that of the 

 bluebird and flew up to the sky in the form of a raven. He made the 

 waters recede by kicking them, and then returned to the earth. 1 

 There he was adopted by the mountain Qi'ngi, and at a feast 

 given there he was made voracious by eating scabs, and began his 

 migrations. 2 



Following is a detailed account of the various versions: 



The chief of a town on Rose Spit was named Hole In His Fin Ska 118 [Dorsal Fin 

 Lgangagva Skj]. His nephew was Fin Turned Back Ska 118 [Hole In Fin Lganxe'la 

 Sk<7]. The chief's wife was Flood-Tide Woman Ska, g, the sister of Great Breakers 

 Ska [called Cape Ball in Sk Swanton 2; NAfikilsLa's Skj]. They had a baby son. [In 

 the evening Raven entered the child's body. Every morning they washed him, and 

 liia father held him on his knee. When his father's sister came to the fire, she 

 took him, and he pinched her breast. "Ha'oia!" she said. " Why do you say that? " 

 asked they, and she replied, "He nearly fell from me" Ska.] He cried, and would 

 not be quieted until a girl named Ice Woman (Qalgaitsadas) took him. When he 

 touched her breasts with his hands, he was satisfied. The boy grew up rapidly Sk§r. 

 [After a while he wished that the children would go picknicking. They went, and 

 his aunt took hini, too. When the children left, she staid alone with him, and he 

 seized her. She said, "Don't take hold of me! I am single because your father is 

 going to eat my gifts'' (that is, food to be given by the bridegroom's family). He 

 resumed the form of an infant. His aunt was crying, but he wished her to forget 

 what had happened. Therefore, on being asked why she had been crying, she gave 

 as the reason that the boy had eaten sand. Next the boy secretly made shell rattles 

 and a dancing-apron out of a grave-mat, to which ho attached shells. He wakened 

 a corpse, to which he gave the apron and rattle. He ordered the ghost to shake the 

 rattle in front of the middle of the town. At once all the people fell asleep and had 

 nightmares. Then Raven took all the women, also his aunt. An old woman living 



