636 CSIMSHIAH MYTHOLOGY [eth. ann. 31 



Ts 5. [The chief heard them talking, and asked his daughter who was with her. 

 Then he called them to come down Nea. — The chief called them Neft.] The 

 young woman warned her husband, saying that her father would try to kill him Ts 5, 

 Nea. Her father made him sit down on the death-mat Ne6. [The floor was 

 set with sharp spikes, which the youth pressed down with his feet Nea.] The 

 chief made him sit down Ts 5. Soon the young woman gave birth to a child Ts 5, 

 Nea, Ne6. When the child was born, it slipped out of her hands and fell down on 

 some branches that were drifting about in the sea Ts 5. [It fell into the sea Nea. 

 She threw it down, and it fell into the sea Ne&.] 



At this time the son of a chief of Metlakahtla had died, and he sent four slaves — 

 two men and two women — to Qladu' to get wood for cremating the body. They 

 found the child and took it home. They gave it to the chieftainess, who adopted it 

 by putting the child under her body, as though she had given birth to it. Its skin 

 was very white Ts 5. [A slave of the father of Sucking Intestines who had gone out to 

 get driftwood found the child and took it home. The old chief gave it to his sister 

 to bring up Nea. — A slave discovered the child on seaweeds and gave it to his 

 master Neb.] The people went to Nass River Ts 5. The child would not eat 

 Ts 5, Nea, Net. (Here follows the story how he became voracious. This will be 

 discussed later on.) 



Our present collection contains an entirely different introduction 

 of the Raven legend, which I will give next. 



In the beginning the world was dark. At the south point of Queen Charlotte 

 Islands lived a chief who had a son whose bed was over his own bed. The boy died, 

 and his parents mourned for him. They took the intestines out of the body and 

 cremated them behind the village, while they kept the dried body on the bed. 

 Every day the chief wailed under the bed. One morning a shining youth was there, 

 who said, "Heaven was annoyed by your constant wailing, so he sent me down to 

 comfort you." The youth ate very little Ts 58. (Here follows the story how he 

 became voracious. 



Notwithstanding the differences between the versions treated here 

 as Type III, it is fairly clear that similar ideas underlie all of them. 

 In the first form the child of a dead woman sucks dry her intestines, 

 and has a skin shining like fire. In the last version the intestines are 

 removed from the body, which dries up, and from which proceeds 

 the sinning boy. 



Raven is Made Voracious 



(!) versions: Ts 59; Ts5.275; N6 3G; Tla 17; M6 306; Skg 141;' Ska 123; Ne 5.171; 

 Ne 9.211) 



The introduction to the Haida and Tsimshian tales ends with the 

 incident telling how Raven was made voracious. The story is prac- 

 tically the same in all the different versions. The supernatural child, 

 which is the Raven, refuses to eat, and his parents or grandparents 

 worry about it. They call the people together, and are given the 



Masset version. 



