232 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 39 



73 STORY OF THE FROG CREST OF THE KlKSA'Dl OF 



WRANGELL « 



A man belonging to the Stikine KiksA'di kicked a frog over on its 

 back, but as soon as he had done so he hiy motionless iina]:)le to talk, 

 and they carried his body into the house. This happened at Town- 

 of-the-frogs (Xixtc!-xa'yikA-an), so named because there are many 

 frogs near by. 



The reason why this man lost his senses was because the frogs had 

 taken his soul. They had it tied to a house post, and some of them 

 said, "Let him starve right there where he is tied." Others said, 

 "No, don't let him starve there. Feed him and let us see what the 

 chief says." This chief'sname was Frightful-face (YAkii'ldi). When 

 he at last came in his canoe, they said, "Frightful-face has come." 

 Then all went down to his canoe to welcome him, and, when he reached 

 his house, they told him the news. They said, ' ' This man d isgraced us 

 terribly. He threw one of our women down and kicked her over." 

 The woman was called Woman-in-the-road (Deyexca'g"). When the 

 chief looked up, he said, "Untie him and bring him here." Then he 

 said to the man, "We belong to your clan, and it is a shame that you 

 should treat your owm people as you have done. We are KiksA'di, 

 and it is a KiksA'di youth who has done this. You better go to 

 your own village. You have disgraced yourself as well as us, for this 

 woman belongs to your own clan." 



As soon as he had left the frogs' house, his body lying at home 

 came to. He had thought all the time that his body also was in the 

 house of the frogs. Then he got up and began to talk. He said, 

 "Something strange has happened to me. The frog people captured 

 me on account of that frog that I kicked over in front of the house the 

 other day. They had tied me to the chief's house-post, and some 

 wanted to kill me at once, while others wanted to starve me, and still 

 others wanted to wait until their chief. Frightful-face, came home. 

 When the latter at length arrived, they said to him, 'We have a man 

 in here who has been throwing down one of our women. We have been 

 waiting for you to see what shall be done with him.' I listened to 

 all they said. Then the frog chief said, 'Untie him,' and all minded 

 him. As soon as he had heard about it, he said, 'See here, young 

 man, what is this you have done? Don't you know that we belong 

 to your clan and that this woman you have done that to is of the same 

 clan. If it were not for that, we would not let you go. As it is you 

 may go.' " 



All of the KiksA'ili were listening to what this man said, and it is 

 because the frog himself said he was a KiksA'di that they claim the 

 frog. 



a A similar story is told by ttie GaiiAxA'dl of Tongass. 



