SWAXTON] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 199 



that her brother thought so much of him and left him tliere with his 

 uncle. 



Immediately after his mother had gone, however, the uncle deter- 

 mined to make away with him, because his wife seemed to like him. 

 So next morning he said, "We are going down right away to get some 

 devilfish to eat. The tide will soon be low enough." Then the boy 

 prepared himself, for he was very anxious to go, and they set out. 

 His uncle said, ''Walk right along there," pointmg to a high ridge 

 parallel with the beach. "Walk ahead, and I will follow you." 



The boy did as he was directed and soon saw something large on the 

 beach, that kept opening and closing. It was a very large clam. His 

 uncle told him to get right on top of the ridge to watch it, for it w^as 

 the first time he had seen anything of the kind. As the boy was very 

 anxious to examine it, he got up there and leaned far over. When 

 he did so, however, the clam opened and remained open, and his 

 uncle pushed him right down into it. Then the clam closed u]>on him 

 and killed him. The boy's parents soon found out what had hap- 

 pened to their son, and, although his uncle declared that it was an 

 accident, they knew that he was jealous and did not believe him. 



Some time after this the uncle turned his thoughts to his second 

 sister's son who was still handsomer. His wife had seen this youth, 

 and had told her husband how fine he was. This made him very 

 jealous, and he sent to this sister, saying that it was about time she 

 sent one of her sons to help him, for he had no children and needed 

 help. He knew that the oldest child would be sent, because the next 

 was a girl. So the boy came, and he threw him down into the big 

 clam like the other. The uncle w as very jealous of his wife because he 

 knew^ that everyone fell in love with her on account of her beauty. 



After this the uncle sent for the third sister's child who was older 

 than the last he had killed, but he would not go for a long time, and 

 his parents did not ask him to. He was a flighty youth, however, and, 

 after his uncle had sent for him several times, he thought of his uncle's 

 handsome wife and made up his mind to visit them. 



All of the time this boy was with him the uncle watched him and his 

 wife very closely and would not leave the house for a minute. His 

 wife was very anxious to give him warning, l)ut her husband feared it 

 and watched her too closely. She made signs to the boy, but he did 

 not understand them. When his uncle took him down to the beach, 

 he said, "I must go back to the house after a drink of water." He 

 thought that his uncle would wait for him, but instead he followed 

 him right back to the house. Then the boy said to his^uncle's wife, 

 "Where is the water?" She pointed it out, but, as her husband stood 

 close by, she could not say anything more. So they went down to the 

 beach, but, when the youth saw this clam moving in the distance, he 

 ran by it very quickly, and his uncle was disappointed. Then they 



