boas] APPENDIX I NOOTKA TALES 901 



" O friend ! the bait that I put on my halibut hook I can not give away; 

 for after I have finished using it for bait, I shall have to take it from 

 my hooks and put it where it belongs. You have the same thing on 

 you. Why don't you take yours off and put it on your hook for bait ?" 



Bear replied, "What have you put on your hook for bait, that the 

 halibut bite it so much ? " and Raven said to him, " If I were to tell you 

 what I have done to myself, you would not do as I did." But Bear 

 said, "O friend! I would do any tiling to myself rather than go home 

 without getting one fish, and be laughed at by our friends." 



Then Raven laughed, and said, "I will tell, I have used my privates 

 for bait. Therefore I am getting all the halibut to bite at my hook." 



Then Bear asked him how he could take off his privates ; and Raven 

 said, "I cut them off." Bear replied, "Does it not hurt you when 

 you cut them off?" but Raven said, " I think it would hurt me more 

 if my people should come to the beach and laugh at me because I 

 came without any halibut. I think it best to stand the little pain 

 of cutting off my privates rather than be laughed at by our people, 

 for it would hurt my feelings enough to kill me." 



While they were talking, a man came paddling out to them in a 

 canoe. It was Comorant (Altsets). He anchored close to where 

 Raven was fishing, and he could hear every word they were saying. 

 After he had let down his anchor, he put some octopus bait on his 

 hooks, and dropped the line overboard. While he was waiting for a 

 bite, he heard Bear say, "Come and cut my privates off; for I believe 

 I could stand the pain for a short time better than being laughed at 

 by our friends." Raven said, "Why can't you cut them off yourself 

 as well as I can?" Bear inquired, "After I have cut them off, how 

 shall I put them on again?" Then Raven laughed while he was 

 chewing gum, saying, "Why, of course, I can put them on; for you 

 see that I always chew this gum, and after I finish using my privates 

 for bait, I gum them on; and when I want to use them again, I pull 

 them off without any pain." 



"Well," said Bear, "come and cut them off, for you know how 

 to do it." Raven said, "I will give you a chance to get some halibut, 

 for I don't want our people to laugh at you until they kill you; it is 

 better to stand a little pain now than to be killed slowly by shame; " 

 and he took his large mussel-shell knife from the stern of his canoe, 

 where Bear was sitting. When he came up to him, he said, "Now, 

 my friend, lie on your back, with your two legs as wide apart as you 

 can get them, so that I can make a clean cut." 



Then Bear lay on his back, as he was told; and just as Raven was 

 taking hold of his friend's privates to cut them off, Bear asked if it 

 wouldn't hurt when the cutting began. "Well," said Raven, "you 

 must be foolish if you think that a cut from a knife doesn't hurt for 

 a short time. When I cut my privates off, it hurt me, I know, but 



