He who gathered food for an eagle
[Told by Jackson, late chief of Skidegate.]
He had ten uncles. They gathered food at a certain salmon creek. Then he went up, got very many salmon, and filled his canoe. An eagle sat on a sand bar. He split open the salmon, threw them off there, and paddled away with an empty canoe. On the next day he again went out, split the salmon open, and threw them off. After a long time the people came to know about the eagle.
They then gathered all kinds of berries. His mother was a widow. His mother looked after his youngest uncle’s wife. For that reason he picked wild crab apples and cranberries and gave them to his uncle’s wife. And, when they moved away, since he and his mother had done the best that they could for his youngest uncle’s wife, they stayed with them. The minds of the rest of his uncles became different toward him, because he had gathered food for the eagle.
Now they came to the town. After they had stayed in the town for some time, and it was spring, they became hungry. He then went to the wife of one of his uncles, but she said to him: “Live upon the food that you gathered for the eagle.” He went out and entered another house. There they said the same thing to him. He went into the houses of his ten uncles, and every time they said the same thing to him. When he went into the house of his youngest uncle’s wife, they gave him the dorsal fin of a salmon, and he chewed it.
Now, when it was near the end of spring, they moved away from him. They did not leave even a small piece of old cedar bark in the town. And his youngest uncle’s wife explained to his mother. “When they start off, dig about in the place where I sit down to defecate.”
Now, when they pushed off, she was the last. And he dug about in the place where she had sat to defecate. He then found a bag holding a humpback split open and small pieces of food of various kinds. That was the only food obtainable where they were.
And his youngest uncle left them a little old canoe. And the boy also started off, not knowing whither he was going.[1]
[Told by Wī′nats, chief of the Seaward-gîtî′ns.]
Far away from where they left him was a rock. One day a young eagle sat on the top of the rock. When it flew away, he (the boy) went to the place. Beside the rock lay the tail of a spring salmon. He picked it up and brought it to his mother. She steamed it, and they drank the soup. [[357]]
The next day he again looked toward the place where the eagle had sat. It sat there again. And he again went thither. A larger piece lay there than the one he had found before. Every morning they became larger until a whole spring salmon lay there.
One day, just at dawn,[2] he looked for the eagle that helped him. It sat there, and he went thither and found a porpoise tail lying there. He then took it to the house, and she (his mother) steamed it. There was a larger piece every morning until a whole one lay there.
One day the eagle sat there again, and he went thither. The tail of a black whale lay there. He cut it up and took it over to the house. The pieces of whale became larger every time until a whole one lay there. Then there were more whales. At last there were ten.
Then the slaves of his uncles went out to look for him. He felt their presence, brought them to the house, and gave them some food. And he watched them while they ate. He watched to see that they did not hide any mouthfuls. When they went away he told them not to say that he was being helped. And they went off.
The slaves returned home. They said that they had not seen him. They then went to bed. In the night something choked the child of the head slave, and they made a light for him. They tried to take out the object with their fingers. They pulled something fat out of his mouth. They then put it on a hot stone. It sizzled.
They then began to ask them about the thing, and they answered: “You ought to see how the one you abandoned is living. Black whales are floated ashore in front of him like driftwood.”
His uncles then dressed up their daughters, because each thought he would have his nephew marry his child. But the daughter of his youngest uncle was lame. She was the one who had left food for him. They then went to him, but he refused the women and waited for the one who was lame.
Her father brought her last. And he invited her father into his own house. He then married her. She was not pretty, but he married her because she had left food for him.[3] And because the woman helped him to live coals he brought down food to her father. But his nine [remaining] uncles began to buy food from him. Because he gathered food for the eagle they (the daughters) did not marry him. For that reason he, too, would not give them food.
This is said to be the family story of a Tsimshian family called Nîstoy. As the two parts were obtained from different sources there are several inconsistencies, and I suspect that the first story-teller would have completed the tale somewhat differently. [[358]]
[1] But according to Wī′nats (see below) he and his mother continued to remain in the town. Possibly Jackson would have finished the myth like “How something pulled a row of eagles into the water” and “Story of one who saw an eagle town.” [↑]
[2] Old words are used here. [↑]
[3] According to Jackson it was this girl’s mother who left it. [↑]