SWAXTOX] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 147 



He looked round and saw the same man, and the man said, "Come 

 over this way. Come over to me." Then they seized one another, 

 and as soon as the short man felt his grip, he said, "Don't throw me 

 down. Now you have strength. You are not to go into the water 

 again. Go from here right to that tree and try to pull the limb out." 

 So he went to the tree and ]')ulled it right out. Then he put it back 

 again. After he had done so, the man told him to go to the other tree. 

 "Twist it right down to the roots," he said. So he did. Afterward 

 he untwisted it and made it look as before. 



Just after he got to bed the people started in bathing. As they 

 passed him the bo3's would pull his hair saying, "Come on and go in 

 bathing, too;" but he paid no attention. After they had bathed they 

 went up to this limb as usual, and GAlwe't! pulled it out with ease. 

 Black-skin lay in beil, listening to the shouting they made. Then 

 GrAlwe't! ran to the other tree and twisted it to the very root. When 

 they came home, they told the story to one another, saying, "GAlwe't! 

 pulled out that limb." The chief himself felt very proud, and the 

 people of the village were very happy that he had done so, especially 

 his two wives. Then they tried to get Black-skin out of bed. They 

 laughed at him, saying, "Your chief has pulled out the limb. Why 

 couldn't you? He has also twisted that tree. You sleep like a chief 

 and let your chief go bathing in the morning." They laughed at him, 

 saying, "He is sleeping in the morning because he has jmlled out that 

 limb and twisted that tree." 



They had been bathing in order to hunt sea lions, so the young men 

 said, "To-morrow we are going after sea lions. I wonder which part 

 of the canoe Black-skin will sleep in. He is such a powerful fellow." 

 And one boy said, "Why this Black-skin will sit in the bow of the 

 canoe so that he can land first. He will tear the sea lions in two." 

 Black-skin listened to all this, but he paid no attention to them. The 

 whole town was going all day long to see the place where the limb had 

 been pulled off and the tree twisted down to the root. Those people 

 almost lived on this sea-lion meat, but it was very scarce and only 

 powerful people could get it. For this reason they picked out only the 

 strongest fellows from among those who had been bathing with the 

 chief, to go after them to the sea-lion island. This island was very 

 slippery because the sea lions stayed there all of the time and very few 

 could get up to the place where they were. That is why they went 

 through such hardships to get at them. 



The elder of the chief's two wives had had pity on Black-skin, and 

 would do little favors for him on the sly. So Black-skin, after he had 

 bathed secretly, came to his uncle's wife and said, "Will you give me 

 a clean shirt; it doesn't matter much what it is so long as it is clean, 

 and something for my hair ? " "Are you asked to go ? " she said. He 

 replied, "I am not asked, but I am going." So she prepared food for 



