boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 719 



Raven assembles all the Birds, in preparation for a feast. He asks the Birds whether 

 one of them can fly into the Bear's anus. Wren does so and pulls out Bear's intes- 

 tines. Then he drives away the Birds and eats the Bear Tin 17. 



Grizzly Bear steals the salmon of Song Sparrow. The Bear swallows the bird, who 

 starts a fire in the Bear's si omaeh and kills him. Then the Bird asks his grandmother 

 to help him bring in the Bear Sk 362, 363. The continuation of this story is identi- 

 cal with the Ts'ak - story of Nass River (see p. 868). 



On Nass River the same tale appears as the introduction to the Ts'ak' tale. 

 Grizzly Bear steals Ts'ak' 's salmon, and is swallowed by him. Grizzly Bear snuffs 

 him in, and Ts'ak' starts a fire in Grizzly Bear's stomach. Finally the Bear dies, 

 and Ts'ak' comes out of his anus N 117. 



Quite similar to this is the Bellacoola version. Stsqa/aqa, the son of Pakua/na, 

 catches salmon, which are stolen by the Grizzly Bear. The Grizzly Bear snuffs him 

 in, but he flies right through his body. Then the Bear snuffs him in again and closes 

 nose and anus with plugs. The bird starts a fire in the stomach of the Bear and flies 

 away. The sparks that fly out of the Bear's mouth become the stars BC 5.256. 



The Bellabella version is very brief. It is merely stated that the bird Tsiskin 

 quarrels with the Black Bear, who snuffs him in. The bird starts a fire in the Bear's 

 stomach and kills him H ap. The same story is told by the Rivers Inlet people. 

 Stskin is swallowed by the Grizzly Bear, and flies right through his body. The fourth 

 time the Bear swallows him, he makes a fire-drill out of his bow, uses his cedar-bark 

 cape as tinder, starts a fire, and flies out. The Bear is killed. This story continues 

 in the same way as the Nass River story, telling how the little bird asks his grand- 

 mother to help him carry home the Bear Ri 5.212. 



The bird Ents!x calls for the Elk. Various animals come, until finally a bull Elk 

 appears. The bird flies into its anus and cuts up the stomach. The Elk dies, and 

 the bird flies to his grandmother, whom he asks to help him carry back the Elk, Chin 

 119. A similar story is told by the Shuswap Sh 679. 



Wren goes fishing. Elk takes away his salmon-spear. When this happens again t 

 Wren flies into the nose of Elk, and scratches him until he dies Quin 126. Wren 

 overcomes Elk by flying into his nose Nu ap 891. 



Related to this story is also thefollowing: Wren calls out the elksoneafter another. 

 When a very fat one appears, he jumps into its anus, cuts out its heart, and kills it. 

 Then Wolves appear and steal the elk Ntl Teit 3.342. A variant is told by the Lil- 

 looet Lil 312. In another version Grasshopper kills Elk in the same way Ntl Teit 

 3.331. 



This story is obviously related to the tales of animals which swallow 

 other small animals or people. (See pp. 611, 659, 687, 868. 1 ) 



(47) RAVEN PULLS OFF THE ARM OF A CHIEF 

 (5 versions: Sk/ 136; Co 5.78: Chil 23; Wasco 281; Loucheux, Fort McPherson 2 ) 



Raven comes to a town where the prince, a very strong man, had his arm pulled 

 out by a supernatural being, the son of Gii'gal. Raven takes the form of an old man 

 in Go/gal's town, and gambles with the chief's son. He stays over night in the 

 house, and when everybody is asleep he tries to take away the arm. He touches 

 the screens behind which it is kept, and they give forth a loud noise. At once he 

 lies down again. Finally he takes it away. In flying out he touches the screen 

 with his claws, and the screen gives forth a loud noise again. However, he escapes, 

 and returns the arm to the young man Sk 136. The Bear Woman steals fish from a 

 house. When the owner tries to shoot her, the Bear tears out his arm and runs 

 away. Raven goes to the Bear's house, boils red cod, and feeds her until she falls 

 asleep. Then Raven steals the arm and flies away with it. After he reaches his own 



i The Coos have a distantly related story of an old woman who is swallowed by a bear, whom she kills 

 by cutting his heart, Coos 103. Analogous is also a story of a shadow who is killed by a girl whom he has 

 swallowed, Coos 109; see also Jones. Ojibwa Texts 207. 



2 C. Camsell, Loucheux Myths (Journal of American Folk-Lorc, xxvm, 1915, p. 253). 



