282 BUKKAU OF AMERICAN KTHNOLOOY [buix. 29 



The one they abandoned because he was the first to spear 



SEA lions 

 [Told by Walter McGregor of the Sealion-town people.] 



A good carpenter had two children. People went to a reef to hunt, 

 and he made spears for this. And ho fastened them with cords, lie 

 used an}' sort of strong thing for this purpose. He fastened a point 

 on the spear. Then the}- drove the sea lions into a pool of water on top 

 of the reef. He spearedthe sea lions. And he pulled in the spear handle 

 and put another point into it. He killed the sea lions in this way. 



And, after he had done this for a while, one day they went thither, 

 let him otf first, and abandoned him. But his 3^oungest brother-in- 

 law paddled toward him. When he was far off he (the youngest 

 brother-in-law) tried to take awa}' their paddles. He was fighting to 

 do so. He saw it. He called after them. They paid no attention to 

 him. The}^ were unable to kill the sea lions. He only could kill 

 them. That is wh}' they left him. 



Then he cried for his children on top of the island. After he had 

 cried for a time he lay down near the pond. As he slept there some- 

 thing said to him: "The chief asks you to come in." He looked for 

 the cause of it. He saw not a sign of a thing. He saw something- 

 dive into the lake. And, after he had lain a while longer, something 

 spoke to him as before. Then he looked through the eyeholes in his 

 marten-skin blanket. He saw a grebe ' come to the surface of the 

 pond. After it had swum about for a while it said: "The chief asks 

 you to come in." Then it dove. 



Then he took a whetstone he had and jumped into the pond. He 

 stood in front of a big house, and they asked him to come in. He 

 entered, and they inquired of him: "Why did you kill my servants?" 

 And he said: "1 did it to feed my two children." 



And he saw two small killer whales blowing about in a pool of water 

 in the corner of the house. Those were the chief's two children at 

 play. He saw killer-whale fins hung up in bunches in the four corners. 



Then they gave him something to eat. They dragged a sea lion 

 sitting on the side toward the door to the fire and put hot stones that 

 were in the fire into its mouth. And they also put halibut into its 

 mouth. When [the latter] was cooked they gave it to him to eat. 



And after he was through eating the}' brought one of the fins which 

 were in the corner. And they warmed the lower end of it. And, 

 after they had bent him over, he put a whetstone on his back. When 

 the}' struck it on it fell off. On top of the stone floor planks the fin 

 lay shaking. They went to get another. After they had warmed 

 that in the same way at the fire they had him bend over. And he 



