800 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth.ann.31 



(4) Falling Tree 



(10 versions: Ts 1.101; Tl 119; Tl 4.256; Sk 240; BC5.260; Ne5.199; K 11.12; Co5.67; 

 Kath 113; Coos 1 27) 



The youth Raven is sent to cut fuel. Skeletons of those who have been killed lie 

 at the foot of the tree. When he begins to cut it, pieces of glass fall down, but do 

 not harm him. He carries the wood home and starts an enormous fire Tl 4.256. 

 Raven At Head Of Nass River sends Raven to fell a tree. The tree falls on him, but 

 can not kill him because his body is made of rock Tl 119. He Who Got Supernatural 

 Power From His Little Finger is sent to cut down an alder tree. His wife tells him 

 not to start cutting it until after lightning has flashed in it four times. His father-in- 

 law gives him a stone wedge. The alder tree comes together four times, lightning 

 shoots forth four times, then he spits medicine and begins to chop it. He is held tight 

 by the wood. Then he calls his father's supernatural powers, who have their hair 

 tied in bunches with cedar limbs. Two carry wedges; two, hammers. They split 

 the wood, pull him out, and he heals himself by rubbing his body with medicine. 

 Human bones burst out of the wood. He kicks the alder to pieces, and ordains that 

 it shall be useful to people Sk 240. 



Asdi-wa'l is sent to get firewood. Bones are scattered around the foot of the tree. 

 The tree leans over; and when he strikes it, it falls on the father-in-law's slave and 

 kills him Ts 1.101. 



The Bellacoola version 5.260 is probably somewhat distorted. 



A'stas, who has become the lover of the wife of the hunting-spirit, is sent by the 

 latter to fetch fuel. In doing so he falls, but is saved by an amulet of bird's down. 

 I presume this incident is analogous to those here discussed. 



Qa'mxulal complains that he has no firewood. Q !a'neqe £ lak u , the son-in-law, goes, 

 pushes over a pine tree, pulls off the bark, and carries it home. It forms an inexhaus- 

 tible supply K 11.12. Possibly a similar idea is referred to in another version of 

 this, tale, in which Q la/neqeslak" is sent with other slaves to get wood and proves to 

 be of very great strength. He throws over a tree, piles the wood up in the canoe, and 

 later on starts a fire which destroys Qa'rnxulai's house Ne 5.199. The father-in-law 

 orders the youth to get fuel. They ask the Woodpecker to cause the bark of a tree 

 to fall down. They carry, it home, give a small piece to their father-in-law, who 

 scolds. He finds, however, that the supply is inexhaustible Co. 5.67. 



It will be seen from this summary that the last three versions 

 differ essentially from the preceding ones, so that obviously the 

 incident of the falling tree that is to kill the son-in-law- belongs to 

 the northern group of tales. 



The following two tales are also related to the falling-tree test : 



An old man, the relative of a woman married to Panther, tells Mink, the younger 

 brother of Panther, to go with him to get fuel. They throw the tree over by starting 

 a fire at its base. The old man makes the tree fall on Mink. When he goes to the 

 canoe, he finds that Mink has loaded the canoe Kath 113. 



A youth marries Sun and Moon, the daughters of the chief in heaven. The father- 

 in-law goes with the young man to chop wood. He is given a digging-stick to uproot 

 a fir tree. The whole tree comes down, but the youth flies away to one side and is 

 unharmed, Coos 27. 



The falling tree occurs in a different connection in the Transformer tales of the in- 

 terior (see No. 6, p. 612). 



J LeoJ. FraehttMiber^. Cons Texts {<\>htmhin Cinitrsihj Conlributinn* M Aulhn'pnlnijij, vol. I, 1913). 



