FEACHTENBERG] ALSEA TEXTS AND MYTHS 81 



began to chew the whale (meat), whereupon he said, "Here, I am 

 going to the house to see; perchance, indeed, my son may have come 

 back." Then he started out, saying, ''Do you two watch me care- 

 fully!" He was just staggermg about (like) a very, very old man. 

 Then after he came to the liouse he went inside and almost fell into 

 the fire. Finally lie sat down and asked his son, ''How didst thou 

 come back ?" — "Well, the Thunders let me down again, wrapped up in- 

 side the skin of a whale." In the meantime the stones were already 

 (getting hot) . And when these stones were very hot he (S^u'ku's son) 

 took them out. Then he laid them down carefully, just the length of a 

 person. And after he finished (piling them) that old man was seized 

 and wrapped up in the whale's skin. Then he was thrown there on 

 top of the rocks. Then the skin began to draw in with him, and not 

 long (afterward) not a single part of his body showed anywhere. 

 Tlien he was seized again and thrown into the sea. Then (a wind) 

 fi'om the east began (to blow) and blew him in the (wrapper) far out 

 into the ocean. Then when he arrived in (the wrapper at the sea) 

 he kept on floating in the sea for a long time by means (of the skin 

 of the whale) and finally started to spout. Then he looked back to 

 the shore and began to revolve in his mmd: "I wonder where can I 

 go now? Forsooth, I will first travel in the water (as a) whale, and 

 then after I arrive here agam I will go back to the land. (And) then 

 I will examine the world thoroughly, so that wherever somethuig bad 

 will live I may cause it to disappear entirely." Then he went in a 

 southerly direction. And whenever he came to a river he would just 

 float (there) for a long time and would look around. 'And after finish- 

 ing (this) he would start out again. Then he would come again to a 

 river and would likewise float around for a long time. He traveled 

 thus for a long time. Then not long (afterward) he came back (to 

 the starting point) and floated m the ocean for a long time. Then 

 (it was) not long when a whale was seen floating in the sea. This is 

 why a whale (always) acts thus. Whenever he travels around (and) 

 whenever he arrives at the mouth of a river he usually floats around 

 (there) for quite a little while. Now (S^u'ku) floated in the ocean 

 for quite a while and then began to think in his mind: "I wonder m 

 what direction will I go now should I arrive at the shore? Indeed, I 

 will go first in a northerly direction." Then, indeed, the whale began 

 to go toward the shore, and when he arrived inland, (S^u'ku) stepped 

 out from inside that whale. And after he arrived at the shore he 

 sent the whale back into the sea, saying: "Thou wilt just travel m 



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