

886 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ass. .11 



is allowed to play with the Sun. The Sun tells him not to play 

 too far from the house and not to walk too fast when wearing the 

 sun mask. Soon he forgets, and the world is burned. When he 

 looks down, the Sun is very hot. Then the Sun strikes him, trans- 

 forming him into a mink, to which he gives a bad smell. ) 



7. The Salmon Boy 



A chief has three children, who want to get married. One day 

 the chief and his sons are invited to a feast. The boys, however, 

 refuse to go. After the feast the father takes home some of the food ; 

 and his eldest son, who has been lying abed, jumps up and eats it. 

 Then his father scolds him, saying, "What are you doing with my 

 food % If you are a good boy, you may marry the daughter of Maesila, 

 the Salmon chief." 



Then the boy is sad. He does not sleep, but stays in bed for three 

 days. 



Then he arises, takes his bow, and goes out to kill birds. His 

 younger brother follows him. The elder one shoots a bird and gives 

 it to Ms brother. He repeats this three times. Then he tells his 

 younger brother to take the birds home. 



After this the boy shoots three times more, and each time his arrow 

 strikes a salmon-bone on the beach. When he goes to get his arrow, 

 and sees the bone, he says, "Alas! if you were only a fresh salmon, 

 you might take me to the Salmon chief's country." The Salmon- 

 Bone replies, "Take up all my bones and throw them into the 

 sea!" Then the bones become a salmon. The boy, however, has left 

 the neck-bone of the salmon (twiwa), and for this reason the salmon 

 can not jump. At the request of the Salmon, the boy searches for 

 it, and eventually finds it. He throws it into the water, and then the 

 salmon are able to jump. The fish tells the boy to get on his back, 

 but not to touch the dorsal fin or his tail. The boy obeys, and holds 

 on to the salmon. 



After traveling a long time, they come to the Salmon country. On 

 the way to this country there is a hole, through which the salmon 

 have to pass, and an Eagle is seated by the hole, watching for the fish. 

 The Salmon tells the boy to look out for the Eagle as they are passing 

 through. Several times the Salmon tries to pass through, but the 

 Eagle is watching all the time. Finally the Eagle looks away for a 

 moment, and the Salmon darts through with the boy on his back. 



As soon as they have passed through the hole, the boy sees that 

 the Salmon are like people. There are many villages, and many 

 people, about there. They travel on in their canoe. First they 

 come to the village of the Steelhead Salmon. All the men are tall 

 and strong. Then they come to the village of the Humpback Salmon, 



