86 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 39 



Then he came to the snipes and said to them: "You will alwaj^s go 

 in flocks. You will never go out alone." Therefore we always see 

 them in flocks. 



He said to the asq!aca'tci, a small bird with greenish-yellow 

 plumage: "You will always go in flocks. You will always be on the 

 tops of the trees. That is where your food is." 



To a very small bird called kotlai', about the size of a butterfly, 

 he said: "You w411 be a very respectable bird. You will be seen only 

 to give good luck. People will hear your voice always but never see 

 you." 



Then Raven came to the blue jay and said: "You will have very 

 fiiie clothes and be a good talker. People will take patterns (prob- 

 ably "colors") from your clothes." 



Then he went to a bird called xiinkAha' and said : ' ' You will never 

 be seen unless the north wind is going to blow." That is what its 

 name signifies. 



He came to the crows and said: "You will make lots of noise. 

 You will be great talkers." That is why, when you hear one crow, 

 you hear a lot of others right afterward. 



He came to a bird called guslyiadu'l and said to it: "You will be 

 seen only when the warm weather is coming on. Never come near 

 except when warm weather is coming." 



He came to the humming bird and said : "A person will enjoy seeing 

 you. If he sees you once, he will want to see you again." 



He said to the eagle: "You will be very powerful and above all 

 birds. Your eyesight will be very good. Wliat you want will be 

 very easy for you." He put talons on the eagle and said that they 

 would be very useful to him. 



And so he went on speaking to all the birds. 



Then he said to the land otter: "You will live in the water just as 

 well as on land." He and the land otter were good friends, so they 

 went halibut fishing together. The land otter was a fine fisherman. 

 Finally he said to the land otter: "You will always have your house 

 on a point where there is plenty of breeze from either side. Whenever 

 a canoe capsizes with people in it you will save them and make them 

 your friends." The land-otter-man (ku'cta-qa) originated from 

 Raven telling this to the land otter. All Alaskans know about the 

 land-otter-man but very few tell the story of Raven correctly. 



If the friends of those who have been taken away by the land otters 

 get them back, they become shamans, therefore it was through the 

 land otters that shamans were first known. Shamans can see one 

 another by means of the land-otter spirits although others can not. 



