swANTON] . TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 45 



bear traps. While he was endeavoring to tighten the release of one 

 of these, the dead fall came down and struck him in the neck, making 

 his head fly off. Wlien he had been absent for two days they searched 

 for him and found him in his own trap. This was what the ground 

 hog had predicted when it said, "My poor little head.'' They took 

 his body down to the beach, beat the drums for him, and had a feast 

 on the ground hogs and other animals he had trapped. 



IB. THE POOR MAN WHO CAUGHT WONDERFUL THINGS 



There was a long town from which all the people used to go out 

 fishing for hahbut and other large fish every day. In those times, 

 before bone was used, they made hooks of two pieces of spruce from 

 young trees, sharpened the point and hardened it in the fire. For 

 hnes they dried slender kelp steins. 



A very poor man living at one end of the town fished among the 

 others, luit did not catch anything. While they were having a good 

 time fishing he remained perfectly quiet, and they kept laughing at 

 him. One day, when he pulled at his line, it acted as if it were fast 

 to something. He thought it had caught upon a rock and pulled it 

 al)out in the endeavor to free it. All at once it began to come slowly 

 up, and, although every one laughed at him, he held on. 



After 'he had brought it close to the canoe, he looked down and 

 saw that it was a great live abalone caught in the flesh. Its color 

 shone out of the water. As it ascended it was so big that all the 

 canoes seemed to come inside of it, and it shone in every one's face. 

 Then some people who wanted to take this valuable tiling away from 

 him, said, ''Cut the line. It is a great thing that you have caught. 

 You better let it go." After a while he became tired of the people's 

 talk, so he cut his Kne. Then it began to go down very slowly, 

 shining all over. 



Then others came to liim and said, "You did not do the right 

 thing. It is a very valuable tiring you let go." He said, "Has it 

 sunk?" So nowadays, when a person has lost a valuable thing, they 

 say to him, "Is it an abalone that has sunk?" (De'ca gu'nxa ak we 

 wutla'q!) Whenever he thought about tliis he cried at the riches 

 he had let go. 



Another time they went out fishing, and he was with them. He 

 had a sponge in his hand, and taking a piece of flesh out of his nose 

 inside so as to make it bleed, he filled the sponge with blood and let 

 it down into the ocean. When he began to pull up his hook, it was 

 again fast. He pulled it up slowly, for it was very heavy. It was 

 another valuable thing, the nest of a fish called icqe'n. Then he 

 filled his canoe with these fishes, called the other canoes to him and 

 filled them. After that ho stood up in his canoe and said, "The 

 abalone has not been drowned from me yet. I still have it." He 



