sWANTON] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 43 



14. THE PROTRACTED WINTER 



One time some bo^^s pulled a piece of drifting seaweed out of the 

 water on one side of their canoe and put it in again on the other. It 

 was almost summer then, but, for having done this, winter came on 

 again and snow was piled high in front of the houses so that people 

 began to be in want of food. One day, however, a blue jay perched 

 on the edge of a smoke hole, with elderberries in its mouth, and cried, 

 "KilnA'xe." This was the name of a neighboring town. So the 

 people took all the cedar bark they had prepared to make houses out 

 of and went to IvlhiA'xe where they found that it was already summer 

 and the berries were ripe. Only about their own town was it still 

 winter. This happened just beyond the town of Wrangell. 



I tell you this story to show how particular people used to be in 

 olden times about things, for it was only a piece of seaweed that 

 brought winter on. 



15. BEAVER AND PORCUPINE « 



A porcupine and a beaver were once very close friends.'' They 

 traveled about everywhere and reported to each other all that 

 happened. The bear is very much afraid of the porcupine, but he 

 hates the beaver. Wlierever the beaver has a dam the bear breaks 

 it up so as to let the water down, catches the beaver and eats him. 

 But he is afraid of the porcupine's sharp quills, so the porcupine 

 sometimes stayed in the beaver's house, which is always dry inside. 



When the lake began falling, they knew it was caused by the l^ear, 

 and the porcupine would go out to reconnoiter. Then he would come 

 back and say to his friend, "Do not go out. I will go out first." 

 Then the bear would be afraid of the porcupine's sharp f[uills and go 

 away, after which all the beavers began repairing their dam while the 

 porcupine acted as guard. 



By and by the porcupine said to the beaver, ''I am hungry. I 

 want to go to my own place." Porcupine got his food from the 

 bark and sap of trees, so he told the beaver to go up a tree with him, 

 but the beaver could not climb. Then the porcupine told him to stay 

 below while he went up to eat. Soon they saw the bear coming, and 

 the beaver said, "Partner (xo'ne), what shall I do? The bear is 

 getting near." Then the porcupine slid down ([uickly and said, 

 "Lay your head close to my back." In that way he got the beaver 

 to the top of the tree. But, after a while, the porcupine left him, 

 and the beaver did not know how to climb down. He began to beg 

 the porcupine in every way to let him down, but in vain. After 

 quite a while, however, the squirrel, another friend of the beaver, 



a See story 63. b WutcyAqa'wu, signifying friendship between people regardless of relationship. 



