swANTox] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 243 



wait upon her when she bathed, and she was so large that this girl 

 could bathe only one leg at a time. 



After she had finished bathing, the large woman came out and 

 gave the youth an eagle's tail across which ran a single streak of red 

 paint. Then she said, "Right around the point from your father's 

 village you will see land otters running up from the water. As soon 

 as the white one among them steps up on the beach, raise your eagle's 

 tail and see whether she will stand still. If she stands still and does 

 not run away go right past without touching her. Then you may 

 know that you will get your wife and that she will never leave you 

 again; otherwise she will never come back, ^^^len you get to the 

 village, that woman you are having a hard time with will come 

 directly to you." 



The young man did as this woman had tokl him, and, sure enough, 

 when he reached the village his wife was very anxious to see him. 

 She tried to fight against the inclination, but finally she had to go. 

 Wlien she entered, however, her husband refused to take her back. 

 Instead he went to another village along with his father and mar- 

 ried somebod}' else. His first wife took all this hardly, and, when 

 they returned, came to him to demand property. Then the young 

 man gave her some of his own and some of his father's property and 

 some slaves so that she would not bother his new wife. At the same 

 time the girl felt very badly. Not a day passed but she cried to think 

 that the husband who had formerly thought so much of her now had 

 another wife. 



84. THE REJECTED LOVER 



Somewhere to the north lived a chief who had a daughter and a 

 nephew who was in love with this daughter. In olden times when a 

 man married a woman with a marriageable daughter he married the 

 daughter as well, so the youth wanted to marry this chief's wife in 

 order to get her daughter. The boy's father was chief of a certain 

 clan. When he found that he could not get this woman by himself 

 the young man told his mother, and his mother worked hard for 

 him. They carried in slaves and goods of all kinds to the chief. 

 Still the chief would not consent, for he wanted his daughter to marry 

 some great chief from outside. He would not let anyone in the village 

 have her. It was really the girl, however, that had induced her father 

 not to give his consent. She must have been in love with some- 

 body else or her father would not have spoken in that way. 



The boy's father had him ornamented wdth abalone shell, in his 

 ears and all over his shirt, but, just as soon as he came in decorated in 

 this way, along with his mother, the girl would jump up, raise her 

 marten robe in front of her face, run to meet them before they sat 

 down and say to him, "You may be decorated with all kinds of valu- 

 able shells, but I will not have you." The boy and her mother were 



