734 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth.ans.31 



11. The Story of Nalq 



(a) How a Feather Carried the People of a Village up into the Sky 



(6 versions: Ts 125; N 94; 1 Sk 330; M 640; Tla 41; T16 192. See also Sk 271, 273; M 



513; Hai 6.35; T16 203) 



At TlEm-lax-a'm Ts [on a large prairie near a town N; at the Nass town Gu'nwa Sk; 

 atKlungie'lAii M] children play [with a wooden ball Sk, M] on the beach [at low tide M] 

 [they shout, "Haskwii'! " Sk] and annoy the sky Ts, N [many people die of sickness; 

 those who are young play shinny on the beach Tla]. A [beautiful Ts, red Sk, a ribbon 

 with feather at the end M, something Tin] plume or feather comes down from the sky. 

 A youth puts it on his head and is wafted up. His companions, then the older men, 

 last the women, take hold of his feet as he passes out of reach. They cannot detach 

 their hands, and all are taken up [ten are taken up one day, the same happens the next 

 day, until all are gone except two women Tla]. [A boy walks on the street. A quill 

 falls in front of him. He picks it up ; and while he is running with it, he is wafted up. 

 The same happens to others. The people watch, and are taken up in the way 

 described before Tlo.] Only dogs are left N. The bodies drop down in a pile Ts 

 [the bodies lie piled up Sk; only one woman, who has given birth to a child, is left Ts] 

 [an adolescent girl and her grandmother are the only ones left; the adolescent niece of 

 the town chief is the only one left Sk; a girl M, two women Tla, a woman and her 

 daughter Tlo, are the only ones left]. 



In M a distinct incident is inserted. While the boys are playing, an ocean-being, 

 the spirit of a rock, appears suddenly. Its dorsal column is like that of a chiton. It 

 doea not let the ball fall to the ground. The players strike the being, which does not 

 feel the blows until they hit it on the head. It then jumps into the water and appears 

 on a rock, half its body being under water, and finally goes down. Apparently the 

 same being appears in M 408. 



An analogous Haida tale (Sk 271, 273; M 513) is a composite of the story of the 

 jealous uncle who sets adrift his nephew (see pp. 792, 796) and of the story of the 

 feather. The corresponding TLingit tale (T16 203) is located in the Haida country. 

 The nephew marries an Eagle or a Thunderbird woman, and then carries away the 

 people in the same way as is done by the feather. In the Haida stories an incident 

 parallel to that of the lifting feather is added, the eagles being pulled underwater by 

 the clam [whale M] in the same way as the people were lifted up to the sky. A 

 garbled Haida version of this story is told by Deans 6.35. It agrees in the main 

 points with the version Sk 271. 



(b) The Magical Origin of Children of the Survivor 



(6 versions: Ts 125; N 96 [234]; Sk 330; M 642; Tla 42; T16 192. See also Kai 261; 

 BC84; K Boas 5.372; 2 Nu 5.116; Nuap904; Co 5.84; Lku'ngEn Hill-Tout 7.335;— 

 Tl 177; K 5.160; Ne 5.189; K 9.39— M 405; Sk 348— Sk 127; Sk 227.— H ap 883; 

 Ri 5.211; Ri MS; Ne 5.179; K 11.177.— Sts 5.28; Chin 194; Till 134; Coos 109; 

 Lil Hill-Tout 6.188) 



This theme is very widely spread all over the world. The charac- 

 teristic feature of our tale is that a child originates from the tears 

 and the mucus of the nose of the woman who has been spared. In 

 Tsimshian the child originates in this way. In Skidegate it origi- 

 nates from the tears which she wipes on the shoulders of her garment. 

 In N she finds some mucus, which becomes a child. No mention of 

 her tears is found in Tla, o. Although the Masset version does 

 not speak of the origin of the child from tears, the weeping of the 



i Continued N 234. 



2 Social organization, etc., of the Kwakiutl Indians. 



