swANTON] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 113 



arrived at a house where was an old woman. She opened the door, 

 and the old woman said, "Come in." Then she said to the old 

 woman, "Let us cook this red snapper head." "Yes, let us cook 

 it," said the latter. After they had eaten it, the old woman said to 

 her, "Go along the beach and try to find something else." So she 

 went out and found a sculpin (weq!). Then she came back to the 

 house and cooked that, but, while they were eating, she heard many 

 boys shouting, and she thought they were laughing at her because 

 she was naked. She looked around but saw no one. Then the old 

 woman said to her, "Take it (the food) out to that hole." She 

 went outside with the tra^^ and saw an underground sweathouse 

 out of which many hands protruded. This was the place from which 

 the shouting came. She handed the tray down and it was soon 

 handed up again with two fine fox skins in it. Then the old woman 

 said to her, "Make your clothing out of these furs," and so she did. 



After she had put the skins on, this old woman said, "Your father 

 and mother live a short distance away along this beach. You 

 better go to them. They are living at a salmon creek." So the 

 girl went on and soon saw her father and mother in a canoe far out 

 where her father was catching salmon. But, when she ran down 

 toward the canoe to meet them, her father said to his wife, "Here 

 comes a fox." As he was looking for something with which to kill it, 

 she ran back into the woods. 



Then she felt very badly, and returned to the old woman crying. 

 "Did you see your father?" said the latter. "Yes." "What did he 

 say to you?" "He took me for a fox. He was going to kill me." 

 Then the old woman said, "Yes, what else do you think you are? 

 You have already turned into a fox. Now go back to your father 

 and let him kill you." 



The woman went to the same place again and saw her father still 

 closer to the shore; and she heard him say, "Here comes that big 

 fox again." Then she ran right up to him, saying to herself, "Let 

 him kill me," and he did so. Years ago all the high-caste people 

 wore bracelets and necklaces, and each family had its own way of 

 fixing them. Now, as this woman was skinning the fox, she felt 

 something around its foreleg. She looked at it and found something 

 like her daughter's bracelet. Afterward she also cut around the 

 neck and found her daughter's necklace. Then she told her hus- 

 band to come and look saying, "Here on this fox are our daughter's 

 necklace and bracelet." So they cried over the fox and said, "Some- 

 thing must have made her turn into a fox." They knew how this 

 fox ran toward them instead of going away. 



Now tliey took the body of the fox, placed it upon a very nice mat, 

 and laid another over it. They ])ut eagle's do\\ai, which was always 

 kept in bags ready for use, on the body, crying above it all the time. 

 49438— Bull. 3U— 00 S 



