s WANTON] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 115 



been after a wife and we have her." "Which chief's daughter is 

 that?" they inquired, because in oklen times peo})le never went for 

 any woman by canoe except the daughter of a chief. "It is TACAkl- 

 tuA'n's daughter," said they. "It isCuda'xduxo"s (Barked-hemlock's) 

 daughter." All of the killer whales believed this. 



After that, the killer whales began to notice that their food was 

 disappearing very rapidly, although they were always out fishing and 

 hunting and had had their house ])iled full of boxes of grease. They 

 said, "Wliat is wrong? Wliat has become of all the grease and fat 

 in these boxes?" They could not find out for a long time. Raven 

 wore a labret at that time set wdtli abalone shell which was formerly 

 very valuable, and it is from him that high-caste people afterward 

 used these. After some time they found this labret in one of the 

 boxes of grease and said, "Just look at this labret in here." Then 

 Raven exclainied, "Ih! my labret, that is always the way with my 

 labret. Wlienever it feels like doing so, it will leave my lip and 

 go off anywhere." 



By and by Raven said, ' ' I wonder what is wrong that I have such bad 

 dreams. I dreamt that all the people of this village were asleep, and 

 my husband went to sleep and never woke up. My dreams always 

 come true. Wliatever I dream surely happens." Late the next 

 night she got a stick, sharpened the ends, and killed her husband; and 

 early in the morning they heard her crying, "My husband, CawA't- 

 kaLA'qdage's father." Years ago, before the white laws came in 

 force, when a chief used these words in his speech, people knew that 

 he had a grudge against some one and was going to murder him. The 

 killer whales, however, did not know what she meant. 



Then Raven told the people that her husband had said, "Take me 

 and place me quite a distance from the town." They did so, and she 

 said, "When you hear me cry, I don't want any of you to pass the 

 place where I am mourning. Tie up the fingers of my right hand. 

 Allow me to eat with my left hand only. You people must also 

 wait upon me. You must bring me everything I eat. Also paint my 

 face black. ' ' She being the widow, they had to do everything just as she 

 told them, ami these are the regulations people have observed up to the 

 present time. Wlien they heard her crying around the spot where 

 her liusl)and's body had been laid, no one dared go near, and to this 

 day those who go by a house where people are mourning have to be 

 very quiet. Nor do they pass it at all unless they arc compelled to. 



Raven stayed there mourning for a long time, but she was really 

 eating the killer-whale's body. After she had remained by it for a 

 very long time, she would come home chewing gum, but, when the 

 husband's relations asked her for a piece, she would say, "No, no 

 one can chew this gum but Maca'," which was the name she gave to 

 herself. 



