92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 39 



Then all of the people believed him and left their oil there. It became 

 his." 



Next Raven went to a place where many sea lions, seals, and 

 porpoises were Ij'ing about. Among these there were a number of 

 children, who cut pieces of fat from the animals and threw them 

 back and forth. So he made himself look like a child and, when 

 the}' threw him a piece of fat, he ate it. Finally the children 

 missed their fat and said, "What is becoming of all the fat we 

 were playing with? It is all disappearing."'' 



Then Raven came to a large town where everyone appeared to 

 have died. He entered the largest house, and saw no one inside, 

 yet he coidd feel a person continuall}^ pushing against him. It was 

 a ghost house, and the town was called the Town of Ghosts 

 (Qayahayi' ani')- Afterward Raven loaiUnl a canoe with provisions 

 from the ghosts' houses and started to paddJe away, but he did not 

 notice that a ver}' long line was fast(>netl to the stern of the canoe 

 and secured at the other end round a tree. When he reached the 

 end of this rope the canoe was pulled right l)ack to the beach, and 

 the goods were all carried up to the house by invisible hands. One 

 of the ghosts also tlropped a ver}" large rock u])on his foot, making 

 him lame.^' 



Next Raven went among the Athapascan Indians of the interior 

 beyond the place he had reached before. There he saw a giant 

 cannibal called Cannibal-man. Knowing that this cannibal was 

 very smart he tried to get the better of him, so he won his confi- 

 dence and learned that he was married to the black pine (IaI).'' 

 In the morning the canni])al bathed. After that the two became 

 very good friends, and the cannibal said to Raven, "I am going 

 hunting, and I am going to get four animals, two mountain goats 

 and two ground hogs." So tlie cannibal took a hide rope such as 

 the interior Indians used to make and started. On the way Raven 

 said to the cannibal, "Where is that man called TsA^maya?" He 



o The writer's informant added, "In our days when a person is making a living dishonestly by 

 lying and stealing he is not told so directly, but this story is brought up to him and everyone 

 knows what it means." 



b " When older people were giving their children advice they would bring up this part of the story 

 and tell them not to be greedy and selfish, but honest. They would say they did not want them to 

 be like Raven, who ate up all his playmates' fat. When people went about trading they would also 

 bring up this story to a person who wanted to make all the jirofit himself. They would tell him he 

 was like Raven, who wanted to enjoy everything himself." (From the writer's informant.) 



<■ •• This episode is brought up to a child people desire to make honest. They say that just as these 

 goods were taken back from Raven, and he was made to feel shame at having been discovered, a thief 

 will always be foimd out. If the child becomes a thief when he grows up, they tell him that he will 

 be classed among the very lowest no matter how well born he was. They also tell the little ones that 

 there is a Creator watching them all the time, just as these ghosts watched. The Raven could not 

 see them, but they saw him. They say that a person who does evil things is like a crippled or deformed 

 person, for he has disgraced his family. They tell them that a person who gets that low is nobody 

 and that the Creator despises him." (From the writer's informant.) 



d Wliat inunediately follows was probably considered by my informant too indecent to relate. 



