766 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [dth. ann. 31 



replies that he became this way because the people struck his head with one stone 

 while he was resting on another stone. The Eagles request to be treated in the same 

 way, and are killed, Ponca 30.' 



Lox meets Bear. Lox tells him that he made the gull white. Bear wishes to be 

 made white too. Thereupon Lox makes an earth oven, heats stones, makes the 

 Bear go in, and closes it. When the Bear can not endure the heat, Lox tells him 

 that he is just beginning to get white. He is kept until he dies, Malerite.- 



Prairie Cliicken meets Wolf, who asks him how he came to be spotted. Prairie 

 Chicken replies that he went into the hollow of a tree, put a stick at the bottom, and 

 set fire to it. Wolf tries to imitate him. His eyes burst out of their sockets, and 

 Prairie Chicken takes them along. (Then follows a story of how Coyote caught 

 Prairie Chicken, Osage. 3 ) 



Versions of an analogous story are also known in California. 



Coyote meets blackbirds, and asks them why they are black and handsome. They 

 tell him that they were made so by digging a hole in the ground, putting red-hot stones 

 into it, lying down in it, and being covered over. Coyote wants the same thing 

 done to himself, and is burned up, Maidu. 4 



Coyote tells Skull that he has made another skull into a person by firing him in an 

 oven. The Skull wants to be treated in the same way and is killed, Yana. 5 



The following belongs to the Eskimo of St. Michael and Norton 

 Sound, Alaska: 



A man pretends to be dead. He is buried, escapes in his kayak, and goes to 

 marry three girls. His wife discovers what has happened and enters the house of 

 these girls, who admire her light complexion and tattooing. She promises to make 

 them equally beautiful, but tells them that they will hardly be able to endure the 

 pain. She orders them to bring some oil to a boil! Then she thrusts their heads in 

 and thus kills them Esk Nelson 467. 



In another version of this tale, obtained from the Loucheux, 6 the incident appears 

 in somewhat different form. The husband is Wolverene, the wife Wolf. The Wild- 

 cat seduces Wolverene, and Wolf tells Wildcat to look into the kettle in order to see 

 herself. Then she pushes her in, and thus kills her. 



I suspect that the story of the stupid monster is one of the group 

 of tales which are widely spread over the Old World and the north- 

 western part of the New World. We have from the Old World 

 versions which are probably related to the present story, from Fin- 

 land and also from Africa. These have been collected by Dalin- 

 hardt 7 and Krohn. 8 



The reconstruction of this tale, according to Krohn, is as follows 



Fox and Bear see Woodpecker on a tree. Fox says that at a former time he painted 

 the Woodpecker. Bear inquires whether he may not be painted in (he same way 

 Fox is requested to do so. He leads Bear to a haystack and orders him to go up 



1 James Owen Dorsey, The Cegiha I.anguagu {Contributions to North Aimrican Ethnology, vol. vi) 

 Washington, 1890. 

 " Edward Jack, Maliseet Legends (Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. vm, p. 198). 



3 George A. Dorsey, Traditions ot the Osage (Publications of the Field Columbian Museum, Anthropo- 

 logical series, vol. vn, p. 10). 



4 Roland B. Dixon, Maidu Myths (Bulletin of American Musi urn of Xnlural Ilistoru, vol. xvn, 1902, 

 p. 92). 



s J. Curtin, Creation Myths of Primitive America, p. 333; also Edward Sapir, Yana Texts ( University 

 of California Publications, vol. ix, p. 12"). 



6 Frank Russell, Athabascan Myths (Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. xm, 1900, p. 15). 



J Natursagen, vol. iv, p. 239. 



8 Kaarle Krohn, Bur (YVolfiund Fuchs. Kine nordische tiermiirehenkettt' {Jmirnal il< In Socii'tt' Finno- 

 Ougrienne, vol. vi, pp. 67 et seq). Ilelsingfors, 1S.S9. 



