swANTuN] HAIDA TEXTS AND MYTHS 129 



And he asked to taste of Eagle's. " Cousin, why does 3'ours taste 

 like cedar ^ Cousin, I will l)ring- you a small bundle of bark from 

 the woods. When a stump comes to you, rub this [black cod] upon 

 its face." As soon as he went off Eagle put some stones into the 

 Hre. When the}^ became red-hot, the stump came toward him. He 

 then picked up a stone with the tongs and rubbed it upon the stump, 

 and the stump went back into the w^oods out of sight. By and b}-, 

 lo, he came to him with bark on his shoulder. His face was blackened 

 all oyer. " Why, cousin, what has happened to 3'our face?" " Well, 

 cousin, I pulled some bark down upon my face." " Why, cousin, it is 

 as if something had burned it." "No, indeed, cousin, bark dropped 

 upon me." 



[Continued by John Sky] 



On the way from this place he begged for canoe companions.'''' He 

 begged all kinds of birds to come. Then Blue-jay offered himself to 

 him. and he said: "No; you are too old to come." But he insisted. 

 He then seized him by the top of his head and pulled him into the 

 canoe. For that reason the top of his head is flattish. And he com- 

 pleted his ])egging for comrades. 



They all got then into the canoe. And it set off. It went. It went. 

 It went. It went. They stopped in front of the Halibut people. 

 Hu-hu-hu-hu-hu,"'* they, came down to the beach in crowds, "Rayen 

 is going to war," they said one to another as the}" came down to meet 

 him. And he asked them to go, too, as companions, and they went. 

 The}' fixed themselyes along the l)ottom of the canoe like skids" and 

 started. They went. They went. And before daylight they landed 

 at the end of his (the enemy's) toAvn. Then his Halibut people lay [in 

 two rows], with their heads outward, along the path which extended 

 down from the house. Outside of them the birds also stood in lines. 

 They hid themselves behind the halibut. After they had been there 

 a while he came out wearing his dancing hat. When he came out one 

 of the halibut flopped his tail at him. He fell down. The next one, 

 too, wriggled his tail. So they continued to do until they brought 

 him in.''' Then he asked them why they did this to him. And they 

 said they did it because he blew too long. They then let him go. And 

 they started back. This was Southeast-wind, they say. After they 

 had gone along for a while they set down the halibut at their homes, 

 and the birds also went away. 



And after he had traveled about for a while he came to some chil- 

 dren playing and offered to join them. "1 say-y-y, playing children, 

 let me play with you-ou-ou." "No-0-0; you would eat all of our hair 

 se-e-e al." And he said: " My grandfather has gone after some for 

 me. ]\Iy father has gone after some for me." They then let him play 

 with them. Then he devoured all of the children's hair seals, and 

 they were all crying for them. 

 17137— Xo. 29— 05 9 



