boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 853 



skin blankets; the boys, a spear box and an arrow box Ska. The grandfather builds 

 small houses with painted fronts for the children. lie puts up forty small boxes of 

 provisions in the houses. The boys have bracelets; the girl, marten robes Tin. The 

 upper part of the faces of the boys is painted red with a design like a net M 732.] 



The grandfather sends the houses aud his grandchildren down to their old village 

 Ts 5, N, Tla, Sk6 [every night one house comes down Ts 5]. The mother remains in 

 heaven Ts 5, N, Sk6. [When the houses are put down, they become large Tla. The 

 grandfather pulls the floor planks apart, and below they see QIado'. At midnight the 

 eldest one is let down, and the doors of the house rattle Ska. While the grandmother 

 is living in her small house, a basket comes down from heaven with Lia's boys in it. 

 They tell their grandmother about their mother. Years after this Lia comes down 

 with her children in the basket. It is a cold, dry day. The wind is blowing, and the 

 trees creak as if calling. She says, "This is my mother talking." They go to their 

 old village. She tells her children that there their uncles have been destroyed. The 

 basket goes back to heaven M. They hear a noise "BEBBbEV N. When the brothers 

 come down, they open their box, and suddenly six houses stand there. They start 

 fires and live there Sk6. They go to the burnt town, collect sticks, and build a house. 

 They bathe in the sea for strength. Ice-floes drift down against their bodies and 

 break. Then they shout for joy M.] 



The tribe of the enemies is bad. They play at night in the moonlight Ts 1, Ts 5. 

 The noise is heard for four nights Ts 5. In the morning it is foggy Ts 1, Ts 5, N. The 

 girl gathers in the fog in her basket. The roofs appear first Ts 5. When the enemies 

 hear the village coming down, they say, "Ghosts are settling" Ska [they hear a noise 

 like birds, and say, "These are the ghosts of our enemies" Ts 5; they say the bones of 

 the Gitlfkc make a noise Tla; they say, "Hurrah! there is noise in the town of our 

 enemies;" the old people forbid them to say so Ts 1; the enemy say they are the 

 ghosts of the slain who are singing, "Just out from Todu't is the town of the fearless 

 ones" N; they say when they hear the voices of the boys, "The bones of the people 

 shout for joy " M]. When the fog disappears, the enemy see the carved houses Ts 1, N 

 [smoke rises from the houses in the daylight Ska]. The enemies walk on the street of 

 their village, feathers in their hair, and send a slave in a canoe to the middle house 

 with the thunderbird design to get live coals Ska. He recognizes Ga'oax, who is 

 cooking, and the brothers are gambling. She gives the slave a piece of meat, saying, 

 "Here is ghosts' food." The slave throws away the live coals and paddles back. 

 He asks the people, "Did you kill Ga'oax?" They are not sure whether she has been 

 killed. One man tastes the food brought by the slave, and says, "It is not ghostfood, 

 it is human food " Ska. One man goes across to the middle house, that of the eldest 

 boy. He sees that the houses are connected inside by doors. He is given to eat, and 

 takes the food back to show that the people are not ghosts Ts 5. They go across 

 over the ice to see who is shouting, see the boys, and report that nine men are there M. 

 The enemy then come across to gamble (all versions) [they cross in canoes Ska]; [they 

 send their two best gamblers; the brothers lose Ts 5]. One man comes across to gam- 

 ble Sk6. Then their enemies come over Ts 5. [When the enemies arrive, they stop 

 gambling among themselves. Ga'oax spreads grizzly-bear skins, on which the visitors 

 sit down. She gives them food, and they begin to gamble Ska.] The brothers lose 

 everything. At last the eldest one stakes his last property, the magical club. The 

 people laugh, and say it will not kill a fly. ne says to then- opponent that it will cut 

 off a foot. When asked to do so, he strikes, and cuts it off Ts 5. (Ligi-yu /0 n stakes 

 against the chief of the enemies, who says the club can not kill even a little bird. 

 Being asked to try it, the youth strikes the chief and kills bim Ts 1. The eldest 

 one is left-handed. He has his gambling-sticks and his club in his left. He tells the 

 chief with whom he is gambling that he is cheating. The chief then throws the 

 shredded cedar bark in his face. Then he is killed with the club. The youngest 

 brother is left-handed; he is whittling by the fire. The people ask him to gamble, 



