634 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ann. 3] 



TYPE III. TSIMSHIAN AND NEWETTEE 



(5 versions: Ts 214; Ts 5.272; N 7; Nea 5.170; Ne& 9.209 [cited respectively Ts, Ts 5, 



N, Nea, Neo]) 



The third type is found among the Tsimshian and some of the 

 Kwakiutl tribes. In the following abstract four versions have been 

 utilized —one from Nass River N 7, one from the Tsimshian 5.272 

 and two from Newettee (one obtained from the Lla'iJasiqwala 5.170, 

 and another from the £ nagEmg'ilisala 9.209. Besides these, the in- 

 troduction to the story appears as an independent story in the 

 present collection, p. 214. 1 



A chieftainess [of the Red-Bear Village of the G-i-spa-x-la'°ts at Metlakahtla Ts; at 

 Tsle'qQt Nea] had the chief's nephew (Ts) for her lover. In order to meet him easily, 

 she pretended to die N, Nea, Neo. [The chieftainess died in midwinter before 

 giving birth to her child Ts 5.] Before she died, she asked to be buried in a box on a 

 tree N, and that her horn spoons, fish-knife, and marten blanket be put in her coffin 

 Ne6. She was buried on a tree Ts 5, N, Ne6 [a cedar at the mouth of Nass River 

 Ts 5; on an island in front, of the village Ts; on the biirial-ground of the chiefs Ts 5]. 

 Fortwo nights the chief watched under the tree. Then he thought maggots were falling 

 down out of the box. The woman, however, was scraping her horn spoon, and let 

 the scrapings fall down. Every night after the people had gone to sleep, her lover 

 climbed the tree and knocked at the box, saying, "Let me in, ghost!" Then the 

 chieftainess laughed, and said, "On your behalf I pretend to make maggots out of 

 myself" N, Ts. She came to be pregnant. A man found out what was happening, 

 and told the chief, who asked his nephew to keep watch. When they saw that the 

 report was true, they killed the man and the woman N. [A man who was sitting 

 with his sweetheart under the coffin saw and heard the chief's nephew go to her. 

 He told the chief, who sent his attendants, with the order to throw down the coffin if 

 they found the report true. They did so, and both were killed Ts. The people 

 saw her lover coming out of the grave-house, and told the chief, who sent a slave. 

 He reported that the grave was open and the woman alive Nea. The slave saw 

 what was going on, and reported to the chief. They opened the grave-box, and the 

 woman was seen to be alive, although she kept her eyes shut Ne6. The chief then 

 killed her with his knife, took out her child, and put it back into the grave Nea, 6.] 

 Then her child was born, and lived by sucking its mother's intestines, Ts, Ts 5, N. 

 The young men found that the child was alive when they came clown from the tree. 

 They reported to the chief, who ordered the child to be brought to him Ts. [The child 

 grew up in the box Ts 5, N; the child grew up very quickly Nea.] [The slave dis- 

 covered that the child whom the chief had put back into the grave was alive, and he 

 took it to the chief's house. The child grew up and was called Qwa'qenit Ne6.] 

 Children played shooting arrows in the woods Ts 5, N, Nea [in the spring Ts 5], 

 and the boy took them. [Finally they saw him coming from the grave Ts 5, N, Nea.] 

 Suddenly a naked boy, shining like fire, appeared, and seized the arrows. They did 

 not see what became of him; but finally one of the children peeped through a hole in 

 its blanket, and saw the boy come from the grave and return to it Ts 5. [Then the 

 chief sent his nephews to watch. They caught the boy while he was walking about, 

 and took him home N; the chief ordered the young man to place a bundle of arrows 

 under a tree, and, when the boy came, to capture him and take him home Ts 5. The 



1 See also p. 781. 



