boas] CONCLUSION 875 



mulas, without distinguishing, however, between single stories and 

 recurring plots. For the purpose of a more general characterization, 

 the latter are undoubtedly more important. In our series the fol- 

 lowing plots occur a number of Limes: 



1. A woman marries an animal, is maltreated by it, and escapes. 



2. A woman marries an animal, who pities and helps her; she 

 returns with gifts. 



3. Men or women marry animals and receive gifts; crest stories. 



4. Men obtain crests through adventures in hunting or traveling. 



5. Parents lose their children; a new child is born owing to the 

 help of some supernatural being; adventures of this child. 



6. A man maltreats his wife, who receives help from supernatural 

 beings. 



7. The adventures of hunters: they meet dangers, which the 

 youngest or eldest one overcomes. 



8. War between two tribes, due to the seduction of a woman and 

 the murder of her lover. 



All these stories show a unity of the underlying idea. They are 

 budt up on some simple event that is characteristic of the social life 

 of the people and that stirs the emotion of the hearers. Some tales 

 of this type are elaborated in great detail, and therefore conform to 

 our own literary standards. To this class belong, for instance, the 

 tale of a deserted prince (p. 225; notes, p. 783), " Growing Up Like One 

 Who Has A Grandmother" (N, p. 137; notes, p. 869), and "Prince 

 Snail" (p. 161; notes, p. 747). 



Besides these, there are a large number of complex tales of fixed 

 form, which are put together very loosely. There is no unity of plot, 

 but the story consists of the adventures of a single person. I do not 

 refer here to the disconnected anecdotes that are told of some favorite 

 hero, such as we find in the Raven legend or in the Transformer tales, 

 but of adventures that form a fixed sequence and are always told as 

 one story. Examples of this kind are the story of Nalq (p. 125; 

 notes, p. 734), Asdi-wa'l (Ts 1. 71 ; notes, p. 792), andGunaxnesEmgVd 

 (p. 285; notes, p. 835), "The Hunters" (p. 145: notes, p. 741), "The 

 Prince who Was Taken Away by the Spring Salmon" (p. 192; notes, 

 p. 770), "The Blind Git-q!a'°da" (p. 246; notes, p. 825), "The Local 

 Winter in G-it-q!a'°da" (p. 250; notes, p. 829). 



It is noticeable that only a few of the complex tales of this type are 

 known to several tribes. Although enough versions have been 

 recorded to show that in each area the connection between the com- 

 ponent parts of the story is firm, the whole complex does not migrate 

 over any considerable distance. On the contrary, the parts of the 

 tale have the tendency to appear in different connections. This 

 point is illustrated, for instance, by the story of the sea-lion rock, 

 which among the Tsimshian forms part of the Asdi-wa'l story; 



