boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 763 



tiful or how she has obtained certain ornaments. She then replies 

 that the monster may be made as beautiful or may obtain the same 

 ornaments by subjecting itself to some kind of procedure by which 

 it is killed. In the Tsimshian version this theme has been worked 

 into the characteristic tales of marriages between a woman and an 

 animal. Most of these end with the return of the woman to her 

 parents; but in our present version we find inserted an incident of the 

 type just described. 



A young man abducts a girl, whom he tells to lie down in the canoe. When they 

 arrive, she finds that the young man is the Mink, who has taken her to his den. The 

 Mink goes fishing every day and brings in eels, which he counts. The woman hides 

 them, which annoys her husband, who does not know whether he has eaten them or 

 not. In spring, when the people move to Nass River, they see the canoes passing by, 

 and Mink observes the people wearing white bone ornaments in their ears and in 

 their noses. He asks what they are, and how the holes were made in the ears. The 

 woman promises Mink to perforate his ears. According to her orders, he sharpens a 

 spruce branch, and she gets ready to drive it through his ears by means of a stone 

 hammer. Mink is afraid, but she encourages him, saying that people will then know 

 his high rank. She tells him to close his eyes; and when he is afraid, she threatens 

 to leave him. The woman drives the branch into his ears, pins him to the ground, 

 and kills him, then she returns to her father's house Ts 177. 



Shell Labret, an ogre, carries a girl away on her labret. She passes underground to 

 her house, where she tries to feed the girl on snails. She admires the ear-ornaments 

 of the people, and the girl offers to pierce her ears. She nails her down to the floor 

 of the house. The girl returns home, tells her story, and dies M 433. Practically 

 the same story is told in K 9.117. 



A princess is imprisoned in a cave. The Cave Being admires her ear-ornaments. 

 She nails him down to a plank and then kills him Sk 328. 



A girl's eyebrows are pulled out, and against her father's orders she goes into the 

 woods, where she meets the monster Dzo'noqlwa, who wishes to have her eyebrows 

 treated in the same manner. She gives to the girl her mountain-goat wool ornaments, 

 which make her strong. The girl goes to call a warrior, who strikes the Dzo'noqlwa's 

 eyebrows with chisel and hammer and kills her. Her body is burned, and a large 

 amount of wealth is found in her house K 10.87. 



Children are playing on the bank of a river, and a monster appears chewing gum. 

 She carries the children away in her basket. The mother of some of the children 

 cries, and from the mucus of her nose a boy originates and grows up quickly. Against 

 his mother's orders he crosses the river, goes to the house of the Dzo'noqlwa, where 

 he finds the woman rooted to the floor, who warns him. He tries to escape, but before 

 getting very far he hears the giantess following him and climbs a tree. Being asked 

 what makes him so pretty, the boy says that his head was placed between two stones. 

 The Dzo'noqlwa asks to be treated in the same manner, and is killed by the boy. 

 She revives, and can not be killed until her life is shot, which is kept in a knot-hole 

 in the house K Boas 1 5.372. 



Owl carries away a girl. The girl puts oil on her hair, face, and body, and Owl 

 asks her how she has made herself look so nice. Owl wants to be made pretty too, 

 andis sent to gather pitch. The girl heats it, tells Owl to shut his eyes, and covers his 

 body with pitch, so that he can not open his eyes, and runs away Lil 315. 



A similar story is current among the Kutenai, who tell that a 

 giant wishes to become white like a girl, and is told by her that he 

 must be baked in an oven. He submits and is killed. 2 



i See Bibliography, p. 39. * Boas, V<rh. d. Gcs.f. Anthr. (note 1, p. 727), p. 171. 



