534. REPORT—1899. 
I speak pi’ latci’na, to paint qi’kas. 
I cut nikata’na, to see miki’q. 
I know cEuksta’na. to trap ko’qEm. 
to help ki’ntEm. to watch tzomi/ntEm. 
to lend kwaku’mstEm, 
FOLKLORE. 
In recording the following folk-tales of the N’tlaka’pamua, I have 
sought throughout to keep them as true to the spirit of the Indian mind 
as possible. I was the better able to do this as my informant possessed a 
more than common knowledge of English for an elderly Indian. Having 
acted as interpreter for many years to the missionaries, and also in the 
law courts, he had a fair command of words. Much, therefore, of the 
wording of the stories is his own. I have not sought to curtail or shorten 
in any way the details of the longer stories, believing these to be of the 
highest value in comparative studies. Mischelle is a born raconteur, and 
has always taken the deepest interest in the stories and old customs of 
his people. My method of recording was in the shorter tales to write 
the story almost verbatim as he related it. In the case of the longer 
detailed ones I wrote down the chief incidents of the story at the time of 
recital, filled in the rest from memory immediately afterwards, and then 
read the whole over to Mischelle next day to see that I had got it cor- 
rectly. By this means, although I am responsible for the English, the 
spirit of the stories is Mischelle’s. 
Story of the Elk-maiden. 
Tn the remote days of long ago, when the animals spoke and behaved 
like human beings, there lived in the far north an elk-man and his wife. 
They possessed an only daughter, and the one grief of their lives was that 
no husband could be found for her. The daughter, who had no wish to 
remain single all her days, grew dissatisfied with her lot, and determined 
to leave home and seek an old aunt, a sister of her father’s, who lived 
somewhere in the far south. She accordingly set out and travelled by 
herself for many weeks and moons. She had not, however, gone far 
before her aunt, who was a very wise woman, learnt in a dream that her 
niece was on her way to seek her. 
Now, in the old elk-aunt’s village, of which she was chieftainess, and 
which consisted of many keekwilee-houses, or semi-subterranean winter 
dwellings, there were no women or females of any kind. The whole 
community, except herself, was composed of males. Being a wise old 
woman, she foresaw that as soon as her niece should arrive she would be 
pestered to death by suitors for the maiden’s hand, and that trouble and 
discord would arise upon her appearance among them. She therefore 
set her wits to work to devise some plan by which she might keep her 
niece to herself and prevent discord and jealousies from disturbing the 
peace and harmony of the village. And this is the way she did it. She 
straightway sent for young Night-hawk, because he had a strong voice, 
and bade him make known to all his companions that if they desired to 
win a beautiful young elk-maiden for wife they should come to her on a 
certain day. Night-hawk soon made the news known to his companions. 
His tidings caused much commotion in the village, and not a youth was 
missing on the appointed day. When all were assembled the old aunt 
told them briefly that her niece was about to pay her a visit, and as she 
