896 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ass. 31 



When the song was about half ended, Deer jumped up through the 

 smoke hole, ran into the woods, and all the Wolves' warriors pur- 

 sued him. When he came to the foot of a large mountain, he saw the 

 Wolves close behind. Therefore he took the small stone, threw it 

 behind him, and it turned into a large mountain, which detained the 

 Wolves. He ran a long way. Again the Wolves drew near, and he 

 threw the comb backward. It turned into thorny bushes, and the 

 Wolves were kept back on the other side of it. Thus Deer gained 

 another long lead over the Wolves. After a while they came through, 

 and ran after him again. They saw Deer running ahead; and when 

 they drew near, he poured the silver-perch oil on the ground. All 

 of a sudden there was a great lake between them, and Deer ran again, 

 while the Wolves had to swim across. Now Deer came toward the 

 beach; here he saw Periwinkle, and said to him, "Periwinkle, open 

 your mouth, take this fire into it, and hide it from the Wolves, 

 for I have stolen it from Chief Woodpecker's house. Do not tell 

 them which way I went." Periwinkle took the fire in his mouth and 

 hid it; and Deer ran on ahead. 



After a while the Wolves came and saw Periwinkle sitting down on 

 the roadside. They asked him if he knew which way Deer had gone; 

 but he could not answer, for he could not open his mouth. He only 

 said, with his mouth shut, "Ho, ho, ho!" pointing here and there; 

 so the Wolves lost track of him and went home without catching 

 him. Ever since the fire has been spread all round the world. 



At the time when Chief Woodpecker was the guardian of the 

 fire, he had a long pole standing outside of his great house; and when- 

 ever he used his fire-drill, it squealed when it got hot. The people 

 asked one another, "What is it that squeals every morning?" 

 And Chief Woodpecker would say, "The eagle on top of my pole is 

 screeching." He had put this eagle on the top of the pole for this 

 purpose. 



When Chief Woodpecker knew that his fire was spreading all 

 over the world, he said to his slave Kwa'tiyat", "Get some sand. 

 We will make iron, and then make sea-otter spears ; and do not let 

 the Mowa'tc!ath a see how we make iron, or where we get it." So 

 Kwa'tiyat' went out of the house with a basket, took some of the 

 sand, and carried it into the house. Then they made a fire, into 

 which they put the sand, and made iron out of it, and afterward 

 they hammered it into sea-otter spears. The chief used to make 

 many things out of his iron. After they had finished the iron- 

 making, they went out sea-otter spearing, and caught many. Then 

 he made sea-otter-skin blankets. 



One fine day they went out to sea to spear sea otters; and Wood- 

 pecker said to his slave Kwa'tiyat', "Let us go farther out to 

 sea, for it is a fine day, and there is no wind!" And Kwa'tiyat' 



