762 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth.ann. 31 



encounters between man and animals, that give him supernatural 

 gifts, such as are characteristic of the tales of the Kwakiutl and 

 Nootka. The story M 518 is identical with K 10.25. 



The Black Bears steal fish from a fish trap, and the owner scolds them. He is car- 

 ried off, and one day runs away with the skin of the Bear chief. The animals then 

 make war on the human beings, who build a fort. The animals scatter before they 

 are able to overcome the people M 518. 



The following Athapascan stories are very characteristic: 



A widower and his son go marmot hunting. He catches a young marmot, whose 

 mother follows him and is transformed into a stout woman. He cleans his tent and 

 marries the Marmot Woman, who purifies him and thus makes him a successful hunter. 

 Finally, owing to a mistake, he kills her brother. All the Marmots revive and run 

 away, together with his wife. He follows her and succeeds in entering the den, 

 which is a house. He continues to live with his wife. Finally the man's brother 

 catches him. When he is skinned, a bracelet is found around his wrist, by which 

 he is recognized (see p. 777), and he continues to live among the people Tsts 263. 



The same story is included in the Haida story of EiAguadji'na and 

 Lgana' £ ogana. 



One of a number of brothers is unsuccessful in trapping ground hogs. A woman 

 comes to him and he marries her. Then he becomes successful. Against his wife's 

 instructions he kills a whitish ground hog. Then the woman tells them to come to 

 life, and she leaves with all the ground hogs that the man had killed. He follows 

 her, and finds that she is a ground-hog woman. He stays with them over winter. 

 The following spring he is trapped by his brothers and recognized by his copper 

 neck-ring (see p. 777) Sk 259. 



A hunter is unsuccessful until a Cloud comes to his lodge and marries him. His 

 younger brother goes to visit him, and discovers a small Cloud of mist moving about 

 in the house. The visitor is warned never to mention the word "cloud" in the 

 woman's presence. The brother and his mother go to live with the Cloud's husband, 

 and finally the woman becomes visible. One day the word "cloud " is mentioned in 

 the woman's presence, and she disappears Tsts 265. 



Two brothers are lost and separated from each other. The elder one finds the 

 younger one, who is beautifully clothed. The wife of the younger one is invisible. 

 The older one receives many presents. On the following morning the tent and all 

 the presents have disappeared, Hare retitot 7.120. 



Less closely related to this group is the story of the man who married the Brant 

 Ducks Tl 55 and Tl 206. He becomes a Fox, and is finally recognized by the bracelets 

 which are found when he is skinned (see p. 777). We might also mention the story 

 of the man who marries the Eagle (Tl 204, Tl 229) and of the Squirrel, the daughter 

 of the Squirrel chief, who takes a man to her father's house (N 211), although the 

 general setting of all these stories is quite different from that of the group here 

 discussed. 



23. The Mink who Married a Princess 



(25 versions: Ts 177; M 433; Sk 328; BC 84; K 9.117; K 10.87; K Boas 5.372; Nu 

 5.114; Nu ap 905; Se 50; Lil 315; Lil 370; U 252; Wish 37, 163; Wasco 285; Kath 

 146; Kutenai; Ponca; Osage; Malecite; Maidu; Yana; Esk; Loucheux) 1 



There are a considerable number of stories spread along the Pacific 

 coast, telling how a person (generally a girl) who is in danger of being 

 killed by a monster is asked by it how it happens that she is so beau- 



i Compare also Tl 12, 116; M 336; Ne 9.221; K 9.175; K 10.343; Chil 16 (see p. 671). 



