boas] COMPAEATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 631 



Raven collected two large mounds of clamshells on trie beach near Sisk and trans- 

 formed them into two slaves. By throwing limpets at one of them he became a man, 

 while the other became a woman. He lived at Rose Spit, and married the slave- 

 woman. Since she had no children, he drove the couple away, and they settled in 

 Skidegate. 



Obviously the tale of the clams refers to the incident in which 

 Raven finds human beings in a clam, referred to in the version 

 Ma 324. The slave and the slave-woman would seem to correspond 

 to Raven's wife and his nephew, and the incident of their being sent 

 away would correspond to the departure of the couple to the house 

 of the woman's brother. It will be seen, however, that this incident 

 is repeated later on. 



Raven, being left alone, decides to obtain a wife in the sky. He flies upward, 

 makes a hole through the wall of the heavens, and enters the sky. He assumes the 

 form of a bear, and is taken into the house of the Sky chief as a playmate for the Sky 

 chief's youngest son. The Sky chief had created sun, moon, and stars. One day 

 Raven sees three bears on the beach, assumes the form of an eagle, steals the sun, 

 which happens to be setting at that time, and the fire-drill, taking each under one arm. 

 Then he takes the child of the chief in his beak and flies down. The heavenly people 

 try to pursue him, but soon give up. The child drops out of Raven's beak and falls 

 down into the sea. Raven carries down sun and fire-drill. When the child drops 

 into the sea, the fish come to his aid and carry him ashore. For this reason the kind of 

 fish that aided him is numerous near Rose Spit, and their forms are impressed in the blue 

 clay of that district. 



The child grows up in Raven's house, and has control of all kinds of animals. These 

 help him. Raven keeps sun and fire-drill locked up, because he is afraid that his 

 former slave will steal them. 



After some time the slave-woman returns, and Raven lives with her again. The 

 heavenly child makes love to the woman, and they escape, carrying away the box 

 containing sun and fire-drill. On their way south they find a dead land otter. Then 

 with the fire-drill he makes a fire, by which they cook the otter. At Cape Ball the 

 heavenly youth sings some of his songs, which cause the sea to recede, leaving a whale 

 stranded on the beach. He barred in the whale by means of a wall of stones, which 

 may be seen up to the present day. The couple settle at Skidegate, where a daughter 

 is born to them. The parents refuse to let her marry, and finally the slave created by 

 Raven wooes her. The slave-woman, the mother of the girl, tells the slave about sun 

 and fire-drill. The slave enters the house through the smoke hole, steals the box, 

 and breaks it. He breaks up the sun; the pieces fly up into the sky and become 

 sun, moon, and stars. 



The slave escapes along the west coast, and shoots a chain of three hundred and 

 sixty-five arrows up into the moon. These become the days of the Haida year. He 

 climbs up and passes through the moon into the sky. He sees a woman bathing in a 

 pond ; and when she comes out, he seizes her. Together they drop down into the sea. 

 Raven sees them falling, goes to the slave's house, takes away the woman, and trans- 

 forms the slave into a spirit that looks after the growth of every living thing. 



It is interesting to compare the fullest Skidegate versions with the 

 Masset version recorded by Harrison. 



