834 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth. asm. 31 



a short Skidegate tale a girl tells of her imprisonment in a cave and 

 of the method of her escape. Then she dies Sk 327. A naked man 

 painted red all over announces this fate to some fishermen in Tl 144. 

 The same story is told, with slight variation, in Kai 253. 



41. Explanation of the Beaver Hat (p. 270) 



This is the clan story of a group of Tsimshian. Eagles who escaped 

 from Alaska after a war with the Ravens. It tells briefly of their 

 adventures and of the origin of their crests 



The cause of the war is the jealousy of a young man who kills his wife. Her brother 

 disguises himself, pretends to be the wife who has returned, and during the night 

 cuts off the head of his brother-in-law. A battle ensues, and the relatives of the 

 young man have to flee. On their trip they lose their coppers and an Eagle carving, 

 which they used as anchors. They destroy a monster halibut which had killed some 

 of them. They meet a beaver with copper eyes, copper ears, copper teeth, and copper 

 claws, which they kill Ts 270. 



42. The Water-Being who Married the Princess (p. 272) 



A number of girls go out in a canoe. When they cross a sandbar, a mass of foam 

 strikes the canoe, and the princess disappears from among the girls. A shaman dis- 

 covers that she had been married by a supernatural being, and her uncle sacrifices to 

 him. The Mouse 'Woman tells her in the usual way where Bhe is. She has a son, 

 whom the father of the supernatural being pulls in order to make him grow quickly. 

 The princess also gives birth to a daughter, and the supernatural being invites in all 

 the supernatural beings of the rocks, and asks them to spare the people. Finally the 

 princess and her children are sent back. The son of the princess invites all the super- 

 natural beings. In order to prepare for the feast, all the Tsimshian tribes have to 

 give him presents. He builds houses for his feast, and sends out his final invitations. 

 The supernatural beings do not come because one of tliem had been forgotten. When 

 he is called, they all appear. 



The rest of the story has-been discussed in connection with Raven's 

 feast (see pp. 718,847). 



43. The Story of Part-Summer (p. 278) 



The beginning of this story will be found discussed on p. 835. It 

 is identical with the introduction to the story of GunaxnesEmg-a'd. 

 The second part of the story deals with the rescue of the woman and 

 the fate of the Bears. It is related to BC 111. 



The male Bears go fishing. When one of them does not come back, the others say 

 that his fishing-line broke because he used common bushes in place of cranberry 

 bushes. This means (hat the Bear has been killed. The female Bears go out; and 

 when one of them does not return, they say that her tump-line tore, which means that 

 she has.been killed. In the fall the chief invites the whole tribe in, and asks them in 

 what dens they intend to sleep in winter. Each mentions the name of a place. The 

 young woman objects to all the dens mentioned by her husband, because they are 

 too easily found by her younger brother's dogs, Red and Spots. The chief then 

 inquires how many mats her four brothers have. She says sixty for the eldest, forty 

 for the second, twenty for the third, five for the youngest. Whenever she mentions 

 these numbers, the same number of Bears hang their heads, meaning that they will 



