boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 793 



her. He tells her that he is the one who visited her, and that he has given her the 

 animals. He says he wants to marry her and disappears. She tells her mother, who 

 accepts him, and at once the voice of the bird of good luck is heard again, and more 

 animals fall down. They dry the meat. The youth lives with the women. A boy is 

 born, whom his father makes grow by pulling his forehead. The father gives to his son 

 his bow, four arrows, a lance, a hat, a cane, a basket, and a bark raincoat, and tells 

 him that whenever danger threatens he will come to his assistance. Then he disap- 

 pears. The people learn about these events, buy meat, so that the women become 

 rich. The mother of the young woman dies. Her daughter gives a potlatch and 

 names her son Asdi-wa'l. The boy becomes a famous hunter Ts 1.71-83. 



The version Ts 5.285 is practically identical with the preceding one. The women 

 find some haws. They hear a bird singing, "Ho, ho!" They sacrifice red paint, 

 eagle down, and cedar bark, which they throw into the fire, and ask the bird of good 

 luck for food. At midnight a youth appears to the young woman, asks her to con- 

 tinue to sacrifice, and tells her to take the bark of a hemlock. She finds a grouse. In 

 the evening they hear the bird, sacrifice again, and every day the young woman finds 

 a larger animal, finally a mountain goat. They dry the meat. The young man 

 appears every night, finally shows himself to the mother, and marries the young 

 woman. His name is Ho. He makes his son grow by pulling his forehead, and teaches 

 him hunting and the taboos of hunting. Then he sends the women back to their 

 home and disappears. He tells his wife to name the boy Asi'wa. The young man 

 becomes a great hunter and marries. The boy becomes a great hunter of land animals 

 Ts 5.285-287. 



The Nass version tells that two sisters were living in Lax-q'al-ts!a'p and G-it-wunk- 

 se'lk. They meet on the ice at a place that is called since that time Where They 

 Met On It (Hwil-le-nE-hwa'da). The woman who was going up river has only a few 

 hawberries; the one going down river, a small piece of spawn. They build a small 

 hut of branches and light a fire. The woman from G-it-wunkse'lk has a daughter. 

 At midnight a man appears to the younger sister, and promises to make a fish weir for 

 her. His name is Houx. The next morning he builds a weir, which soon is full of 

 trout. He goes hunting, and brings porcupines, then mountain goats, a bear, and 

 several bighorn sheep. The women dry the meat and the fish. The woman gives 

 birth to a boy. When he is able to walk, his father makes snowshoes and sends him 

 bear hunting. At first the boy is unsuccessful, and the father finds that this is due 

 to his making a mistake in the pattern of the snowshoes. He makes new ones, and 

 the boy is successful. He kills goats on the other side of the mountains. Then his 

 mother calls him Asi-hwi'l. The father makes snowshoes for him with which he can 

 climb the steepest mountains. He gives him two tiny dogs — one spotted, and one red — 

 which become large when put down (see p. 742), ' and frighten the goats, so that they 

 fall down. He gives him a mountain staff which strikes holes into rocks. He tells the 

 women that their brothers are looking for them, and that he will go into hiding. The 

 brothers arrive and leave again. Houx sends the womei home and disappears. 

 The people take them to G-it-xade'n. The boy's name is announced. Here an 

 incident is added in the Nass version telling of Asi-hwi'1's meeting with a man called 

 Large Ears, who kills goats by clapping his hands, which are covered with mittens. 

 Then Asi-hwi'l shows him the use of his dogs and of his snowshoes N 225-227. 



II. MARRIAGE WITH THE DAUGHTER OF THE SUN 



(ii a) Asdi-wa'l is Induced to Visit the Sun 



A white bear appears on the ice of the river. The hunters are unable to kill it. 

 Their lances break when they strike it. Asdi-wa'l puts on his hunting-apparel and 

 pursues the bear, which goes up a mountain. Asdi-wa'l pursues it on bis s 



1 This idea is also found in the story K 10.39. 



