swanton] tlingtt myths and texts 423 



14. The Protracted Winter 



For treating a piece of seaueed disrespectfully a certain town was 

 buried deep in snow at the ver}" beg-innino- of summer. The people 

 were in want until informed by a bird that berries were ripe in a neigh- 

 boring town. So they repaired thither and found it midsummer. 



15. Beaver and Porcupine 



Porcupine stayed with Beaver to protect him from Bear. By and 

 by Porcupine went home and Beaver with him, and when Bear 

 approached, Porcupine carried Beaver up to the very top of the tree 

 and left him. Finally Squirrel came and helped Beaver down. Then 

 Beaver carried Porcupine out to an island, from which he escaped only 

 by calling on Wolverine, who caused the surface of the lake to freeze 

 over. After that happened, Porcupine went to live with Ground hog. 

 A man caught a ground hog, but, as he was about to cook its head, 

 the head spoke. He was scared, stopped trapping ground hogs, and 

 went up to see his bear dead falls, when one of these fell upon him 

 and killed him. 



16. The Poor Man avho Caught Wonderful Things 



A poor man could catch no halibut, although others were very suc- 

 cessful. One day he pulled up a huge abalone, but he became so tired 

 at what people said to him al)0ut it that he let it go again. By and 

 by he baited his hook with a sponge saturated with blood from his 

 nose and pulled up a nest in which were multitudes of fishes called 

 icqe'n. From these he became very rich. 



IT. The Finding of the Blue Paint, and How a Certain Creek 



Received its Name 



Four brothers were forced In' a storm to take refuge at a place 

 uear Mount Edgecumbe, and one of them discovered a blue sut)stance 

 out of which they made paint. When they started back with some of 

 this the w^eather became stormy, and one of them suggested it might 

 be best to throw the blue substance overboard, but the eldest held on 

 and they reached home safe. 



One day some women were gathering shellfish at a place not far 

 from Sitka. While they were down on the beach the bab}^ belonging 

 to one of them began crj-ing, and its mother shouted to an older 

 child to give it something to eat. Misunderstanding her words, the 

 child rolled the baby into the tire and burned it up. Thereafter the 

 stream at that place was named Creek-where-a-person-was-burned 

 (K.A'xsigAnihIn). 



