sWANTox] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 11 



So he let it go. That is why we always know, when we see fog coming 

 out of an open space in the woods and going right back again, that 

 there will be good weather. 



Leavmg this place, Raven came to another where he saw some- 

 thing floating not far from shore, though it never came an}'^ nearer. 

 He assembled all kinds of fowl. Toward evening he looked at the 

 object and saw that it resembled fire. So he told a chicken hawk 

 (kA!k'^) which had a very long bill to fly out to it, saying , "Be very 

 brave. If you get some of that fire, do not let go of it." Tlie 

 chicken hawk reached the place, seized some fire and started back 

 as fast as it could fly, but by the time it got the fire to Raven its 

 bill was burned off. That is why its bill is short. Then Raven 

 took some red cedar, and some white stones called neq! which are 

 found on the beach, and he put fire into them so that it could be 

 found ever afterward all over the world. 



After he had finished distributing the fire he started on again 

 and came to a tow^i wdiere there were many people. He saw wdiat 

 looked like a large animal far oflp on the ocean with fowl all over 

 the top of it. He wondered very much what it was and at last 

 thought of a way of finding out. He said to one of his friends, 

 "Go up and cut a cane for me." Then he carved this cane so as to 

 resemble two tentacles of a devil fish. He said, "No matter how 

 far off a thing is, this cane will ahvays reach it." 



Afterward he went to the middle of the town and said, "I am 

 going to give a feast. ^Lj mother is dead, and I am going to beat 

 the drums this evening. I want all of the people to come in and see 

 me." In the evening he assembled all of the people, and they began 

 to beat drums. Then he held the cane in his hands and moved it 

 around horizontalh", testing it. He kept saying "Up, up, up."" He 

 said, "I have never given any feast for ni}' mother, and it is time I 

 did it, but I have nothing with which to give a feast. Therefore I 

 made this cane, and I am going to give a feast for my mother with 

 this wonderful thing." 



Then he got the people all down on the beach and extended his 

 cane toward the mysterious object until it reached it. And he began 

 to draw it in little by little, saying to the people, "Sing stronger all 

 the time."^ ^Vlien it struck land, a wave burst it open. It was an 

 everlasting house, containing everything that was to be in the waters 

 of the world. He told the people to carry up fish and they did so. 

 If one had a canoe, he filled it; if he had a box, he filled that; and 

 those that had canoes also boiled eulachon in them. Since then 

 they have known how to boil them. With all of these things Raven 

 gave the feast for his mother. 



a A song goes with this. b A song goes with this also. 



