Here is another story of the Tlingit Indians, and in these
stories you will often find the Raven playing the part of
friend and helper, just as the Fox does in Japan, and Brer
Rabbit in 'Uncle Remus.' The Raven is always kinder than
anybody else, besides being cleverer, and those who take his
advice can never go wrong.
One day the Raven was flying about, and he saw a girl
sitting with her baby in the woods, and he stopped to talk
to her.
'That is a fine little boy of yours,' he said, cocking his head
on one side.
'Yes, he is,' replied the girl; 'but I wish he was old
enough to get food for us. It is so many years to wait.'
'That is easily cured,' said the Raven. 'You have only
to bathe him every day in the cold spring at the back of these
rocks, and you have no idea how quickly he will grow up.'
So the girl bathed him every morning in the pool and let the
water from the rock pour over him, and it was surprising
how soon he was able to help her in work of all kinds as well
as to shoot with his bow and arrows.
'Why are we all alone with grandmother?' he inquired at
last, for he was fond of asking questions. 'Did you never have
friends like other people, and have those houses over there
always stood empty?' Then they told him that once a large
tribe had lived at that place, but they had gradually gone
away to hunt or to fish and had never come back. Only the
woman and the girl and the baby remained behind.
After this the boy was quiet for a time, and for a while he
was content to stay at home, only going out in the mornings
to bring back a bird from the forest for their dinner. But
at length he said to his mother: 'If I could only paddle in the
lake, I could catch you fish and water-fowl; but all the canoes
here are old and broken.'
'Yes; you must not go out in them. You will get drowned,'
answered she, and the boy went sadly to his mat to sleep.
As he slept, his father, whose name was Fire-drill, appeared
to him and spoke:
'Take one of those old canoes into the woods and cover
it with bushes. It does not matter how worn-out it seems to
be; do as I tell you.' Then the boy got up and did as his
father bade him, and went home again.
Early next day he ran quickly to the place where the
canoe was hidden, but found that the old one full of holes
had vanished, and a new one, packed with everything he
could need, was in its place. While he was admiring it, his
father stood before him, and pulled the root of a burnt
tree out of the ground, which he turned into a little dog. It
was called Gant or 'Burnt,' and could smell things miles
away, and, though it was so small, it was as strong as a bear.
After that, Fire-drill gave his son a fresh bow and arrows and
a great club.
Then the boy remembered what his grandmother had
said, and he carried the canoe and his father's presents to the
wigwam.
'I am going away,' he told his mother, 'and may be absent
two days or much longer. Take care of this fire-stick, or
else if the fire goes out, how will you make it again? Hang it
in a safe place high on the ceiling, and if I am killed, it will
fall. So you will know. And now farewell.' Thus speaking
he climbed into the canoe and pushed off.
As he went he saw from afar another canoe coming to
meet him, with a man paddling it.
'That is the man who killed all my mother's friends,'
thought he, and he told it to his dog, his club, his bow and
his arrows, for they had the gift of magic and could understand
his language.
The Girl bathed him every morning in the Pool.
By this time the man had drawn near, and the boy saw
that he had only one eye, which was placed in the middle
of his face, and that he was more than commonly tall.
'Is it you, my nephew?' asked he, and the boy answered:
'Yes; it is I.'
'Where did you come from?'
'From my uncle's village.'
Then the man read what the boy had in his mind and
said:
'It was not I who killed your uncles and your mother's
friends; it was the East Wind and the North Wind.'
But the boy did not trust the man's words, and knew
that in his heart he wished him evil. And while he was
thinking this the big man said to him:
'Let us exchange arrows.'
'Not so,' replied the boy. 'My arrows are better than
yours.' And his words were true, for they were all different,
and pointed with different things. The point of one was a
porcupine quill, and of another bark, but the best of all was
called Heart-stopper, because the moment it touched a man's
body his heart ceased to beat.
'My arrows are pointed with sea-urchins; behold how they
move,' said the man; but again it was not true what he told
the boy, for the points were made of weed.
'My arrows are not like that,' answered the boy. 'They
are only good for shooting birds;' but though he did not trust
the man, he never guessed that his desire was to get Heart-stopper.
They talked for some time longer, and at length
the boy lost patience and cried out:
'You call yourself my uncle, yet you made away with my
mother's friends. Now know that you will never make away
with me like that.'
His words angered the one-eyed man, and, quick as
lightning, they both held their arrows in their hands; but the
boy was the quickest, and with the help of the dog, soon killed
his enemy. Then he burned the body, and paddled on
still further, never thinking that his mother at home was
wondering why he did not come back.
At last he heard a voice calling to him. 'That is another
bad man,' said he; but he paddled to the place where the
sound came from, and found a cliff rising straight out of the
water. In the middle of the cliff was an opening with a circle
of red paint round it, and devil-clubs fastened to a ring which
was driven into the rock.
'Come in! Come in!' cried the voice, and the boy entered
and saw a woman there with a knife in each hand. He guessed
who she was, and said to her:
'I have seen your husband;' but she took no heed of his
words, and begged him again to enter and she would give him
some food before he went on his way.
'I do not like that sort of food,' he answered as soon as he
had seen it; and she exclaimed, 'Well! if you want to quarrel
let us fight till one of us is killed.'
'Willingly!' replied the boy, and he heard her go to the
rock at the entrance and sharpen the knives in her hands.
When she had finished she threw one of them at him, but he
jumped aside and it stuck in the stool where he had been
sitting. Then he seized the knife and threw it at her, and it
stuck in her heart and she died. He let her lie where she fell,
and lifting his eyes he noticed with dismay that the hole at
the end of the cave was quickly growing smaller and smaller.
Hastily he snatched up some ermine skins that lay on the
ground and tied two or three in his hair, and shrank himself
till he managed to get into one of them, and squeezed through
the entrance just before it closed entirely. Once out of
the cave he shot some deer and brought them down in his
canoe to his mother and his grandmother, who had spent
their time in grieving over him and wondering if they would
ever see him again.
'I am all right,' he said to them when he got home; 'and
I have slain the people who put your friends to death.'
But in spite of his words, he did not know yet for certain
whether the man and woman he had killed had been the
murderers of his uncles also, and that he was determined to
find out. So he soon went back into the forest and began
hunting again. From afar he saw smoke rising up, and he
walked towards it till he came to a house. At the door was
Old Mole-woman, and very old she was, but her face looked
kind and honest and the boy felt he might have faith in her.
'What is it you want, grandson?' said she, politely, and
the boy answered:
'I am seeking for the slayer of my uncles.'
'It is not easy to get at them,' she replied. 'It was the
hawks that did it, and first you have to find their nests which
are very high up, and next you must wait till the old birds go
away, and only the young ones are left.'
Thus spoke Old Mole-woman, and the boy thanked her
and set off to find the nests.
It took him a long time, but at length he discovered them;
then he hid himself and waited till the parent birds flew off
and the young ones were alone. After that, the boy came out
of his hiding-place and climbed up the tree and said to the
little birds:
'What do you live on?' and the little birds led him
to a place that was full of human skulls, and answered, 'That
is what we live on.'
'How long will your father and mother be away?' asked
the boy.
'Till daybreak; but you will not be able to see them,
because they come in clouds. My mother flies over the
mountain in a yellow cloud, and my father in a black cloud.'
'Well, I am going now,' said the boy, 'and take care that
you do not tell them that I have been here, or I will kill you.'
'Oh, no, no! We will be sure not to tell,' cried the little
birds, fluttering their wings in a fright.
Just as it was getting light the boy saw the yellow cloud
coming, and by and bye he made out the mother-bird carrying
a dead body in her beak. He aimed an arrow at her and she
fell dead at the foot of the tree, and the body fell with her.
Soon after, he saw the black cloud coming fast, and when it
reached the nest the father flew out of it and said to the little
ones:
'Where is your mother?'
'Our mother dropped the body she was carrying and fell
down after it,' answered they, and as they spoke the boy hit
him with an arrow, and he fell to the ground also.
Then the boy cried up to the little birds: 'You must never
kill people any more, or live on human flesh. I will go and
get food for you until you are strong enough to look after
yourselves,' and he went out hunting, and he and his dog
killed some pigs and brought them to the little birds. And
when the little birds grew to be big birds, they killed the pigs
for themselves by letting stones fall on their heads, and never
more did they eat anything else. After that the boy went
back to Old Mole-woman.
'I have killed the birds,' said he, 'and because you have
helped me, I have brought you some food which will last
you a long time. Now I must hurry home to my mother and
grandmother.'
Very glad they were to see him again, and for some
time he stayed with them and collected grease for candles
and provisions of all sorts, enough to last for many, many
years. When this was done he said to his mother: 'Mother,
I am going to leave you for ever, for I was not meant to be
with you always, and I have finished that which I set myself
to do. If what is hanging overhead should fall, you will
know that I am dead. But as long as it remains where it is,
do not trouble about me.'
With that he went out.
As he walked along the path, the son of Fire-drill beheld
someone in front striding very fast; and the boy chased him
till he came first to the Mink people and then to the Marten
people. Both of them begged him to stay with them and
help them, but he would not, and hurried on after the figure
he had seen ahead of him, whose name was Dry-cloud. But
when Fire-drill's son came to the Wolf people they begged
him so hard to stop that at last he agreed to do so for a while;
besides he was very tired, and wanted to rest.
The Wolf Chief thought much of the boy, and they had
great talk together. One day a large company of the Wolf
tribe was present, and they spoke of the beasts which could
run the fastest.
'The swiftest of all is the mountain goat,' said one; 'and
it can jump from rock to rock, and none can come up with it.
To-morrow,' he added, turning to the boy, 'we are going to
hunt them, and if you are there with us you will see if there
is any animal that can outrun a mountain goat.'
'I will be there,' answered the boy.
So they started in the morning and hastened to the place,
and each tried to be the first to kill one of the goats. But
Fire-drill's son's dog got there before any of them, and killed
many goats and the rest galloped away out of reach. Then
the Wolves went up and carried the dead goats back to
their people, and much ashamed they were that the dog
had slain them all and they, the noted hunters, had got
nothing.
'Men will speak ill of us if they know of this day's work,'
said the Wolves, whispering together. 'How can we get
the better of this son of Fire-drill?'
Now one, cleverer than the rest, thought of a plan, and
he bade the others cut a quantity of the long stringy creepers
that grow on the mountains, and make them into hoops.
These hoops they were to roll down the sides of the mountains,
and jump backwards and forwards through them, when they
were at full speed. It was a good game for their purpose,
because anyone who touched the side of the hoops would be
cut in two, because of the sharp edges.
But the dog guessed this, and said to the boy: 'Friend, do
not go near those people who are playing. You know nothing
of the game, and those things may kill you.'
'No; I will not play with them, but let us watch them,'
answered the boy, and they watched them for some time, till
the boy said to the dog:
'You take one of those rings and throw it up in the air as
high as you can.' And the dog took it in his mouth, and
stood on his hind legs and threw it upwards with all his
might, and he threw it so high that it never came down
again but stayed up round the moon, where you may still
see it any night that there is going to be a change in the
weather.
And as soon as he heard this that the dog had done, the
Wolf Chief called the rest of the Wolves, and bade them
treat the son of Fire-drill as a friend, 'for,' said he, 'he is a
wonderful fellow.'
A little while after, Fire-drill's son and the wolf went away
together. When they had gone a short distance, the wolf
raised his head and looked about him.
'Some strange creature walks about here,' he exclaimed
suddenly. 'Take my advice and do not try to follow him
or he will have your life.'
And though he did not say so, the boy felt it was Dry-cloud
that the wolf meant.
'Don't be afraid for me,' he answered; 'I only play with
him. Well I know that it is impossible to kill him, but it is
also impossible for him to kill me; but follow him I must, for
this my father bade me.'
So they set off after Dry-cloud, and curious to say, the
swift-footed wolf was forced to run with all his might, while
the boy did not seem to himself to be walking faster than
usual. Indeed, so rapid was their pace that if in crossing
a stream the wolf got his tail wet, he was too tired to shake it
himself, and he cried till the boy shook it for him. In this
manner they travelled till they came to a house where an old
woman lived, and this was the end of their journey for that
time, as Dry-cloud lived near by also and they could watch
him in peace. And while they were there Fire-drill's son saw a
girl whom he thought he would like for his squaw, and he
married her and they had a baby. But when the baby was
born the father shook his head and said to his wife:
'This is going to be a very bad boy.'
And the fire-stick is still hanging on his mother's ceiling.
[Tlingit story.]