736 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY Leth. axn. 31 



Queen Charlotte Islands. When the plume succeeds in pulling his neck out of the 

 ground, the ribbon breaks. He is a tree spirit M 642. A Masset variant is here re- 

 corded in which it is said that his feet take root, and when the ribbon breaks, the bones 

 of his uncles fall to the ground and are restored M 644. The Masset story ends here.] 

 [The boy gains strength from a tree by seizing a tree and stretching himself. The 

 thing comes down to lift him up, roots grow out of him, and he breaks it to pieces Tla.] 

 The girl swings the plume over her brothers, and they revive. They arrange the 

 bones of their ancestors, the girl swings the plume over them, and they revive. Since 

 women's heads had been put on men's bodies, and short and long legs had been com- 

 bined in the same skeleton, some women nowadays have beards, and some people 

 limp Ts. [She spits medicine on her brothers and revives them Sk 330.] [They 

 are not taken up to the sky, and the plume stays on the brother's head. He is called 

 Rotten Feathers N.] In another Nass version (N 234) it is said that when the feather 

 is cut, bones fall down; and when the plume is swung over them, the people revive. 



The second Tlingit version has developed this incident in a quite 

 different manner. 



The quill reappears, but the boy does not play with it. He takes hold of it and 

 breaks it off. After a while a boy appears and asks for his quill. The youth tells 

 him that he will return it provided the people of the village come back. After a while 

 he hears noise of people approaching, and returns the quill. On the following morning 

 the people are seen in the village. They complain that they had been in the hands of 

 a bad master T16. 



(d) Further Adventures 



The mother scolds the boys for having taken the plume. There- 

 fore they decide to leave. Their sister stays at home Ts. 



1. They meet a blind cannibal who is fishing people with a bag net. 



The brothers succeed in eluding him Ts 127. 



2. The Raccoon. 



They meet a raccoon holding wood in its mouth. Little Feather kills it. 

 They reach the house of an old woman, who feeds them. She asks for her 

 granddaughter, who has gone to get chips for the fire. The brothers tell 

 that they killed a raccoon. The old woman says that is her granddaughter, 

 and tells the door and smoke hole of the house to close. She intends to kill 

 them by heat. Little Feather flies out as bird down, swings the plume 

 over Young Raccoon, helps her gather wood, and they return. Then the 

 old woman opens the house and lets them go Ts 127. [Little Feather sees a 

 , tears it, and throws it away. They reach the house of an old 

 who asks, "Did you see my child?" They say they saw only a 

 raccoon. The woman says that is her child, and tells the house to close. 

 One of the brothers who has medicine Hies away as a cinder, puts the raccoon 

 together, spits medicine on it, and revives it. They return together, and 

 the old woman lets them go. ner name is Cliff House Sk 331.] 



The Witch. 



They reach a lake with grass around it, find a hut, an old woman feeds 

 them. There are four poles with cedar bark. Sparks come out of the old 

 woman's mouth. When she believes the brothers to be asleep, she catches their 

 breath in the cedar bark . Then she goes to sleep, and few sparks come out of her 

 mouth. Nalq catohes her breath in cedar bark and takes away their own. 

 The woman rises early, calls a frog, which comes out of the lake, and puts 



