706 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth. asn. 31 



The Nootka version is slightly different. Two women intend to take a box of 

 berries to a friend who lives in a distant village. Raven accompanies them; and 

 while they are going along, he claims that enemies are coming up from behind. He 

 asks them not to turn, but to paddle as hard as possible. As soon as they get ashore, 

 he eats all the berries, cries "Save me!" and covers his body with the juice. He 

 breaks the canoe and the box. They turn back, and he pretends to be sick from the 

 beating that he has received Nu 5. 



(38) raven's gizzard is torn out 



(3 versions: Tla 14; [Wolves steal Mink's gizzard Co 5.74; Mink's musk-bag K 9.143]. 

 See also Kath 87; Takelma 52) 



Raven steals a salmon and eats it. The people from whom it has been stolen find 

 him asleep. They twist off his gizzard and use it as a shinny-ball. Raven feels cold 

 without it, goes to the place where the people are playing and wishes that the gizzard 

 may come his way. He seizes it, washes it, but it is too hot. He washes it again, 

 but can not get all the sand off. Therefore Raven's gizzard is big and looks as if it had 

 not been washed Tla. 



There is no other Raven tale of this group, but other versions 

 belong to the Mink cycle of the Kwakiutl and Comox. 



Mink kills a salmon which is stolen by the Wolves. Some women go past in their 

 canoe. They take him aboard, and they land at the fourth point, where the village 

 of the Wolves is located. They play ball with Mink's musk-bag. Finally he catches 

 it and runs away. Mink asks a fallen tree to obstruct the trail of the Wolves and to 

 prevent their jumping over it Co 5. 



Among the Kwakiutl, after having caught the salmon, Mink goes to sleep. The 

 children steal the fish and take away his musk-bag. He can not walk straight. He 

 asks passers-by for news. Several of them have no news, but the last say that the 

 children are playing ball with Mink's musk-bag. He goes to the playground, catches 

 his musk-bag, and puts it back K 9. 



An analogous incident occurs in the Coyote cycle; for instance, in 

 Kath 87, where children play with Coyote's anus. Among the 

 Takelma we find a story of Panther, whose pancreas is stolen and 

 used as a shinny-ball. 



(39) RAVEN KILLS THE SEALS 

 (3 versions: T16 107; Se 51; Squ 5.57. Compare also No. 33, p. 702) 



Raven invites the Seal people. When they come in, he smears their foreheads 

 with pitch, which runs over their eyes and blinds them. Then he clubs them T16. 



The Seshelt version is probably related both to No. 33 (p. 702) 

 and to the present incident. 



Raven's sister is Seal. Seal, when he visits her, lets oil drip from her hands into 

 a dish (see No. 32a, p. 695). Raven marries Seal's youngest daughter. When taking 

 her home, he stops to drink; and while she stoops over the water, he clubs her, and 

 then eats her body. In this manner he kills all his nieces Se. The version Squ 

 5.57 is very much like the last. Oil drops from Seal's hands. Raven makes Seal's 

 daughter climb a tree and throws her down. 



(40) RAVEN PRETENDS TO BE DEAD 



10.286; Co 5.73; K 9.135, 139; Sts 5.33; Chil 17) 



A number of versions of the widely spread story of the pretended 

 death has been recorded on the North Pacific coast. All of these, 



