646 TSIMSHIAK MYTHOLOGY [kth. ann. 31 



In another version the owner of the sun is called ^na'lagamlis; his daughter, e na'lail. 

 K!wek!waxa'we £ goes with his sister Ai'x-tslEmga. He first transforms himself into 

 berries; when she does not look at these, into a conifer leaf, which she swallows. 

 When he has the sun in his canoe, his sister cuts the line, and he takes the sun away Rife 5 . 



In the Carrier version told by A. G. Morice, 1 Astas, the culture-hero, becomes a 

 spruce needle, is swallowed, born, rolls a barrel of water about (stress being laid on 

 the rolling), and thus secures the water. 



Mr. Hunt has recorded the following version from the Nootka: Chief Gwawete 

 of the M6watc!ath a lives at Heltsaes. He keeps the sun in a box, and opens only 

 one comer so as to have daylight in his own village. Raven lives at Yogwat. He 

 calls a council and decides to get the sun. He sits in the branches of a hemlock 

 tree over the spring from which the daughter of Gwawete draws water. He drops 

 in in the form of a hemlock leaf, is scooped up in the bucket, and swallowed by 

 the girl. On the fourth day she gives birth to a boy. The chief recognizes Raven 

 by his great nose, black feet, and long black claws. He threatens to kill him, but 

 the child's mother protects him. After four days he can sit up. After four days 

 more he walks about. He cries, wanting to play with a canoe. Then he cries for the 

 chief's magic paddle, which is given to him notwithstanding the chief's objec- 

 tions. Next he asks for the sun box. The chief gives it to his daughter. He does 

 not give it to the child himself, because he hates him. The mother takes hold of the 

 anchor-line of the canoe, and the child cries until she lets go. He pushes off the 

 canoe, takes his natural form, and moves away with one stroke of the paddle. When 

 he arrives at home, he lifts the box-cover a little, and there is light. Then he shuts 

 it again and settles at another place, determining that people shall pay him to bring 

 light into the world Nu ap 888. 



A Nootka version which I collected does not tell of the sun at all, but merely 

 mentions the incident of the leaf in another connection. Kwo'tiath tells a woman 

 who is wishing for a child to drink out of a bucket of water which he places by her 

 side. He drops in in the form of a small leaf, which she swallows. She can not 

 dislodge it. When he is inside, he says, "Swell up!'' He does not want to be born 

 in the normal way, but finally is born bike other children. He has a hole in his 

 cheek, by which he is recognized. He grows quickly and runs away Nu 5. 



In Kai 238 and BC 63 we find merely references to the tale. 



{Southern and Inland Forms) 



(9 versions: Ne 5.173; Ne 9.233; Ne 10.393; Cow 6.25; Na 5.55; Squ Hill-Tout 

 3.545; ChehalisBoas 191; 2 Puget Sound; Lil 300; Loucheux Fort McPherson 3 ) 



Farther south the Gull is described as the owner of daylight, and 

 only the incident of the sun being kept in a box is retained. 



Corneal becomes the child of Day-Receptacle Woman ( £ na'laats!e), the Gull. He 

 grows up quickly and asks for a toy canoe. He wants to paddle, and then cries for 

 the sun box, which he puts in the bow of the canoe. Then he wishes the people to 

 forget it, and steals it Ne 9. 



O^meal hides in a log of driftwood in front of Day Owner's (^na'lanuk) house. 

 The chief sends his daughter to bring up the driftwood. She lifts it, and /£ meai, 

 who is hidden in it, embraces her. She drops it and takes it up again. He enters her 

 womb, and after two days is reborn as a child, who grows quickly. He wants to play 

 with the box in a canoe. When he has it, he cuts the line. The chief tells him not 

 to open the box, but he lets out the sun. When he does not know how to make the 

 night, the chief causes day and night t> alternate Ne 5. 



i Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada, x, 1893, Sec. II, p. 12fi. 



2 Frana Boas. Zur Mytholn^io <li*r Iniliant'r von Washiii^lon iind ' >repin Kihibus. Lxm, 1893). 



3 Charles Camsell, Loucheux Myths (Journal of A merkan Folk-Lore, xxvm, 1915, p. 2g ). . 



