boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 671 



One of the Bellacoola versions, in which the Salmon Woman makes 

 the condition that he is not to look at another woman, continues in 

 accordance with this incident. After four days Raven looks at a 

 pretty girl, and at once his wife goes away with all the salmon BC 

 5.246. 



At the time when the woman disappears, his long hair also disappears Ts, N6, Ri MS. 

 In the versions T16 and Ts it is also stated that when Raven tries to hold his wife, his 

 hand passes through her body, because she is like a cloud. The same idea is inti- 

 mated in K 9, where it is said that she is transformed into foam. 



In two versions another incident is introduced which tends to 

 explain the departure of his wife. He has bad luck in gambling, and 

 accuses her of being faithless. 



Raven clubs the salmon, and Salmon Woman carries them up; he goes to get wood 

 for smoking the salmon, and in the evening the woman gives him to eat; then Raven 

 becomes proud because he is rich. When Raven has bad luck in gambling, he speaks 

 angrily to his wife. He is gambling with a Stump, and his wife observes him; 

 when he comes home, he scolds her, saying that he has bad luck because she was no.t 

 true to him Ts. 



In Tl 6 it is simply said that he gambles with a Stump while his wife is putting up 

 the salmon. 



We have a short version from Nass River (Nb 32) which contains 

 merely the statement that he visits a chieftainess, throws away the 

 salmon, and becomes ugly, but obviously this is the same story. 



Another Masset version is also evidently considerably distorted. 



Raven gets salmon for his sister, which she dries; finally he says, "I wonder how 

 Suwas (his sister) happens to have such a great plenty of food!" he uses the wrong 

 words; the salmon come to life and go back M6. 



Related to this story is also a Chilcotin story. 



Raven gathers dried salmon, and fills skins with grease; he transforms roots into 

 men and lets them dance; a salmon strikes his head, and he throws it out of doors; 

 then all the salmon come to life and run away; Raven and the men whom he made 

 try to kill them, but they are too slippery Civil 18. 



The Shuswap versions are related to the Chilcotin forms. 



After Coyote has introduced the salmon, he gives a feast; and while he is practicing 

 his dance, his hair is caught in the gills of some of the drying salmon. He gets angry, 

 pulls the fish down, and throws them into the river. Immediately all the salmon 

 come to life and swim away Sha, Sh6. The version Sh6 closes with Coyote's state- 

 ment that he is going to boil the drying-poles and splitting-boards, and that he will 

 have fish soup. 



(15) RAVEN ABDUCTS THE DAUGHTER OF THE SALMON CHIEF 



(9 versions: BC 94; BC 5.242 [2 versions]; Ri 5.210; Ri MS; Ne 5.175; Ne 9.217; 

 K 9.169; K 10.330; [Chil 16]. See also Tl 12, 116) 



In the region from the Bellacoola south to the Kwakiutl, including 

 the Chilcotin, Raven finally succeeds in obtaining the salmon by 

 abducting the daughter of the Salmon chief. 



