BOAS) TSIMSHIAN TEXTS 237 



of a deer, ties pitchwood to his tail, and steal.s fii-e. He strikes the 

 butts of the trees with liis Tmriiing tail, and therefore the wood burns. 

 Txil'uisEm then marries a salmon woman and thus oljtains salmon. 

 She makes his hair grow long. He scolds her. and all the salmon and 

 his long hair disappear. 



Txa'msem 



Txii'rasEm is born, but can not lie induced to eat. Two old men 

 chew salmon for him, and put a scab into it. Then he i)ecomes vora- 

 cious and is deserted. He tries to catch a bullhead )>ut can not, so he 

 curses it and makes its tail thin. Believing that he sees a beautiful 

 dancing-blanket in the woods, he tears his raven blanket and finds that 

 what he believed to be a blanket is moss. Then he takes a slave. 

 They reach a chief's house. The slave says that Txii'msEm does not 

 like food that has been offered, and eats it all himself. Txa'msEm 

 indvices his slave to cross a can^'on on a bridge made of the stalk of a 

 skunk cabbage. The bridge breaks, the slave falls down, his belly 

 bursts, and Txii'msEm eats the contents of his stomach. He tinds 

 children playing 1)all witli a .slice of blublier. and eats it. The children 

 tell him that they obtain blubber by throwing themselves down from a 

 tree and shouting '"Piles of blubber!" He does so and kills himself. 

 He comes to life again and goes tishiug with Cormorant, t•ake^< a louse 

 from his neck, and pretends that he wants to put it on his tongue. 

 He tears out Cormorant's tongue and .steals the tish that C'ormorant 

 has caught. He exchanges the chief'.s club for one of rotten wood, 

 and induces the chief to strike him with the club, but in an ensuing- 

 fight he kills the chief with his own club. Seal invites Txii'msEm 

 into his house and lets grease drip from his hands into a dish. A 

 bird strikes its ankle and pulls out fi.sh roe. Another Inrd makes 

 salmon berries liy his .song. Txii'msEm tries in vain to imitate his 

 hosts. He steals bait of the fishermen from their hooks. His jaw is 

 caught and torn ofl', but he recovers it. He calls a .salmon and kills it. 

 He is advised l\y his excrements to steam the .salmon in a hole. A 

 stump sits down on the hole and eats the salmon. Txii'msEm then 

 invites Grizzly Bear to go fishing with him. He pretend.s to use his own 

 testicles for bait and induces the bear to cut off his testicles for bait, 

 thus killing him.self. He makes the wife of Grizzly Bear swallow red- 

 hot .stones to secure good luck for her husband, and thus kills her. He 

 a.sks Pitch to go fishing and lets him melt in the hot sun. Pitch runs 

 over a halibut and makes one side Mack. When he reaches the town 

 of the air, he tries to steal provisions, hut is beaten oft' l)y inx'isible 

 hands. He asks Deer to accompany him and .split wood. He kills Deer 

 by stiiking his head with a hannner. He then enters the liou.se 

 of smoke-hole, who prevents iiis escape by ordering the door and 

 the amoiie-iiole to close. Txii'msEm, caught in the smoke-hole, puts 



