s WAN-TON] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 41 



In the town to which these people l)elono;ed once Hved a Httle l)oy 

 who was always crying. His parents tried to rear him properly, yet 

 he cried, cried, cried all the time. Finally his father shouted out, 

 "Come this way DjinAkAxwA'tsIa.'' Pull this boy away, for he 

 cries too much." Toward evening; he repeated the same words, and 

 this time a land-otter-man behind the house shouted out stutteringly, 

 "Bring my grandchild here and let him eat gAlkAdaxA'k!" to keep 

 him quiet." So the little boy was taken away and given what 

 appeared to him to be blackberries. 



Two days afterward they began searching for him, and they 

 finally found him far up in the woods. When they brought him 

 down he had a big belly and did not cry as loudly as he had before, 

 so they thought that something was wrong. Then they boiled 

 some dried salmon and gave him broth made from it. The heat of this 

 broth expelled all of the small creatures that had been given him to 

 eat under the appearance of blackberries. wSpiders began running 

 out of his mouth, ears, nose, eyes, and buttocks. His insides were 

 filled with them, and they had eaten out all of his flesh. When 

 these were expelled, nothing was left but the skin which they threw 

 away. 



12. THE WOIVIAN WHO WAS KILLED BY A CLAM 



There was a famine at a certain town and many people had to 

 depend on shellfish, so the women went down to the beach at low 

 tide every day to gather them. One time a chief's daughter went 

 down and reached far under a rock to find some clams. Then a 

 large l)ivalve called xit closed upon her hand, holding her prisoner. 

 Presently the tide began to rise, and, when it had almost reached 

 her, she began singing a song about herself. She kept on singing 

 until the tide passed right over her. Then all felt sad and held a 

 feast for her at which they put food, blankets, and other things into 

 tlie water. 



13. ROOT-STUMP" 



There was a certain town in which many people were dying of 

 sickness, but those who felt well used to play shinney on the beach 

 every day. Then something came down through the air and one of 

 them seized it and was dragged up from the ground. Another per- 

 son grasped his feet, endeavoring to pull him back, but he, too, was 

 carried up antl another and another until there were ten. All of 

 these were taken up out of sight. 



The next day the same thing came down a second time, and ten 

 more were carried off. This happened every day until all the men 



a The name of some man that had been captured by land otters. b Soe story 49. 



