648 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth. ann. 31 



Sound . The tales in the book are so much modified by the literary 

 interests of the author that they must be used with great caution. 



Speow and Bluejay climb up into the hole of the sky. Speow takes the form of a 

 beaver. He is killed by the Moon, who enters the house carrying sun, stars, and a 

 box containing the daylight. Eventually the Beaver revives, takes sun and stars 

 under each arm, the daylight in the hands, calls his grandmother Bluejay to follow 

 him, pulls up three pine trees, and climbs down. He drops the stars, which" scatter 

 all over the sky. Below he opens the daylight-box and throws the sun up. The 

 Moon pursues him, but the rope dangling down from the sky breaks, and the Moon 

 falls down. It forms rocks with the form of a face on them. Speow throws the sun 

 up every day, and shuts the light-box every night. 



{Other Versions) 



(4 versions: Esk Boas ' 205; Esk Nelson 483; Asiatic Esk 2 431; Chukchee 3 155) 



The Eskimo versions differ strongly from the typical tale, but 

 nevertheless show clear indications of a remote relationship. The 

 following was recorded from the Eskimo of Port Clarence, Alaska. 



While the people were dancing in the singing-house, the sun disappeared. They 

 searched for it, following the seacoast. When their boots were used up, they put on 

 new ones. One after another they came to five places, each of which teemed with 

 game. While on the way from one to the next one, it was cold, and they found noth- 

 ing to eat. The people in these places spoke languages that they did not undersl and. 

 Nevertheless they learned from them that a woman called Itudlu'qpiaq, who lived 

 in the fifth place, kept sun and moon. One of them entered her hut and saw her sit- 

 ting in the middle of the house, her father in the middle of the right side, her mother 

 in the middle of the left side. In each of the two rear corners was a ball. The mother 

 of the girl advised her to give the small ball to the visitor, who, however, insisted on 

 having the large one. Then the young woman kicked it out. The people tore it, 

 and it became daylight Esk Boas 205. 



The sun has been taken away. The shamans are unable to recover it. An orphan 

 boy mocks them. He learns from his aunt that the sunlight is being kept in the 

 south. He assumes the form of a raven. He travels on his snowshoes, and after 

 a while sees a ray of light. He reaches a hut. A man is shoveling snow, and each time 

 he tosses it up the light is obscured. When near by, the Raven discovers the light, 

 which appears like a huge ball of fire. The boy is taken into the house. While the 

 house owner is entering, he follows, seizes the ball of light and the snow-shovel, and 

 flies northward. On his way back Raven breaks off pieces of the light and throws 

 them away, thus making day, Esk Nelson 483. 



Still more remote is the following Eskimo and Chukchee tale: 



In the beginning there is no light. Raven offers to go and get it, but the Creator 

 says he will forget his errand and eat excrement instead. Hare goes. He reaches the 

 hut of the man who owns the sun, and kills him with his own hatchet. He enters the 

 house, and the children want to eat him. He sees the sun ball, kicks it out of the 

 house, and jumps after it. Then he dresses in skins the body of the man whom he 

 has killed, and lets him down into the house. Then the Sun's wife and children 

 recognize the body, Bogoras. 



i Franz Boas, Notes on the Eskimo of Port Clarence, Alaska (Journal of A mcrican Folk-Lore, vn). 

 ■ W, Bogoras, Tlie Eskimo of Siberia (Publications </) lit, J, sup North Pacific Expedition, vrn). 

 »W. Bogoras, Chukchee Mythology (Ibid., vm). 



