682 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [HTH. ANN. 31 



In the Nass version there is only one wife, and he tells her that she must Bwallow 

 red-hot stones in order to secure good luck for her husband, who has not caught any- 

 thing N6. 



In a Tlingit version it is told somewhat fully how he lands, takes the halibut out 

 of his boat, and tells his father's sister (that is, the Bear's wife) to take out the stomachs 

 and roast them. Meanwhile he cooks some stomachs and fills them with red-hot 

 stones. Then he asks the woman to wash her hands and to come and eat. At this 

 moment Cormorant tries to speak to her, but she does not understand; and Raven 

 says, "People always swallow whole the food I give them." When the Bear Woman 

 asks for her husband, he tells her that he had not caught anything, and that he is 

 sitting behind a point getting alder for new hooks. The she-bear swallows the stomach 

 containing the red-hot stones and feels uneasy. Then Raven sends Cormorant for 

 water, which begins to boil as soon as she drinks it. He tells Cormorant to run out, 

 and follows him. The Bear Woman tumbles about and dies. Then he skins the 

 two bears; and when Cormorant approaches, he slaps him behind, saying that he shall 

 stay on the rocks. For this reason the Cormorant can not speak, and lives on the rocks Tlo. 



He goes ashore, carrying the fish, and hides the Bear's body. He cuts out the 

 Bear's bladder; and when his sister asks for her brother-in-law the Bear, Raven lies. 

 Cormorant can not speak and inform her. Then Raven heats stones and cuts the 

 back of the hand of his sister, so that fat drips out (this is evidently again an intro- 

 duction of the Bungling Host story). He wraps red-hot stones in a bladder and 

 swallows them. He induces his sister to do the same; and when the stones hurt her, 

 he tells her to drink water, which kills her Tl 5. 



The last version is evidently also somewhat confused. It is evi- 

 dently not the Bear's bladder which he cuts out, but the halibut 

 bladder; and he himself does not swallow the stones, but simply 

 gives them to the Bear wife, not to his own sister. 



Raven gives the halibut bladders to the Bear Woman to swallow, and then causes 

 her to drink water. The bladders swell up and kill her Tl 4. 



In this version the red-hot stones are omitted. There is evidently 

 little sense in the idea that the bladders swell up and kill her. 



The Masset version contains the same elements, but evidently 

 entirely misunderstood. The Grizzly Bear has no halibut, and 

 Raven gives him red-hot stones to eat, saying that then he will not 

 feel hungry. Grizzly Bear swallows four stones and dies Mh. This 

 incident refers properly to the Grizzly-Bear Woman, not to the 

 Grizzly Bear himself. I presume it is due to the fact that the nar- 

 rator did not want to tell the manner in which the Grizzlv Bear was 

 killed. 



The attempt to kill people by letting them swallow red-hot stones 

 occurs also in other combinations. It is one of the tests to which a 

 young man is subjected (Sk 221, Co 5.66, see p. 809). In a Quinault 

 story a monster woman is killed by first swallowing five red-hot stones 

 wrapped in fat and then drinking water (Quin 116). Coyote puts a 

 hollow tube through his body and drops five red-hot stones through 

 it. Thus he induces Grizzly Bear to imitate his action, and kills 

 him (Wish 165, Kath 149). 



