Slaughter-lover.
[Told by Richard of the Middle-Gîtî′ns.]
A chief in a certain town was married. Then he asked a good-looking woman in a neighboring town in marriage. After a while he married her. On her account he rejected the one he had first married, and she sat around in the corner of the house weeping.
Then the uncles and the brothers of the one he had just married came to him, and he gave them food. They were unable to consume the cranberries and berries of all kinds which he gave them to eat. During the same time, his brothers-in-law[1] gave him much property.
Once, when they went to bed, the one he disliked was weeping in the corner for her dead child with pitch on her face. And in the night she went to one of the chief’s brothers-in-law of medium age who had paint on his face and feathers on his head. Then the woman rubbed herself against the paint upon his face, and she rubbed herself upon his hair. Then she went to where she had been lying.
Next morning the woman’s nose and face had paint upon them, and her face had feathers upon it. And the man’s face also had spots of pitch upon it. Then the chief took to his bed [with grief]. She did this because she wanted to see whether he had really rejected her. Then his brothers-in-law went away.
Some time after that he sent out to call his brothers-in-law, and his brothers-in-law came to him. Then he gave them food. And they went to bed. All slept. Then he put water on the fire, and he spilled it on them. And their bodies lay there motionless. Then he dragged the dead bodies of his wife’s brothers[1] and uncles[1] to the bases of the trees. And he again refused to have her.
Now her mother (the mother of his second wife) was saved and cried about. She wept continually, holding her arms toward the sky. Then the chief went to the town and killed all the old people in it. And her mother went inland, made a house out of old cedar bark at a certain mountain, and wept there. All that time she held her hands toward the sky.
By and by her thigh swelled up. Before ten nights had passed it burst, and a child came out. Then she washed him. And not a long time afterward he wept for a bow. Then she broke off a hemlock branch and made one for him. Then he went out and brought in a wren.[2] He skinned it and dried the skin.
The next time he went out he killed and brought in a song sparrow that went whistling along. And he also skinned that. He went out [[349]]after that and brought in a robin,[3] and he ate its meat. There was nothing [else] to eat.
After he had been bringing them in in this way for a while, one day he killed a black bear. After he had killed all kinds of animals, he killed a grizzly bear. That he also brought in to this mother.
By and by he asked his mother: “Mother, why do you live here all alone?” Then she said to her son: “My son, they destroyed your uncles. Your sister was married. Then your uncles went to her. There they were destroyed. They also came after us. I escaped from them. Therefore I am very careful where I go. I am afraid to look at the town.”
Then he asked his mother: “Where is the town?” And she said to him: “It lies over there.” And he said: “Mother, to-morrow, I am going to see it.” “Don’t, my child, they will kill you also.” “Yet I will see it.”
And next day he went down to see his sister. With his copper bow he went down to help her. He had concealed it outside from his mother, they say, and, when he went out, he threw away that she made for him just outside and took his own.
Now he went to the town. And he sat behind it and thought of his sister. He had something round his neck. It was made of copper. Then his sister came to him and he asked her questions. He asked her how he treated her. And she told him that he treated her badly.
Then he pulled off what he had round his neck and gave it to his sister. “Tell him you found this for him. And, when it begins to burn a little, run out from him with it and come to me again.”
Then the woman went in and said: “Here is something I found for you.” When he took it, fire flashed out from it, and she ran out from him. Then her brother handed her his bow: “Say the same thing to him and run out from him.” Then she went in and she gave him the copper bow. And at once she ran out. And behind her there was a great noise of burning inside of the house. The whole town burned the way (i.e., as rapidly as) a grouse flies away.[4] Not even one was saved out of it. He did it on account of his uncles.
Then he went with his sister to where his uncles had had their town. And he asked his sister: “Where do my uncles’[1] bones lie?” And she said: “They lie behind the burned town.” Then they went there and put their bones together. And, after he had spit medicine upon them four times, they sat up. Then his uncles[1] settled in the empty houses.
Then he went to get his mother. Now his mother was already an old woman. And he spit medicine over her, and she became young. Then he settled his mother down in the town. And he spit medicine upon the old people they had killed, and they also became young.[5]
And he went out in the evening and came in next morning, and he [[350]]told his mother he had killed a whale. And, when they went down to see it, a whale lay there. Then the town people cut it up. And the next evening he went out and came in in the morning. And he pulled some strings of halibut in in front of the town.
One day he called the people. At that time he gave them all kinds of food. The things in the trays were not consumed. Then they went away. Those he restored to youth were married. Then he said: “I will give you ten whales to eat.” And, after they had returned home and the next morning had come, ten whales were floating in front of the town.
And after that he looked about in the neighboring towns for a wife. In the evening he went out. He came in very early. All that time he concealed the things with which he was born. Only his sister knew about them. By and by he prepared to ask the chief’s daughter in a neighboring town in marriage. Presently he was accepted and all the town people went with him to get her. And she came in with him.
Then his uncles gave him the town. And he frequently gave them food. When he sent to call them in he told them to go out aimlessly and get things for him. It was as if things flowed in through the doorway, and he fed them.
After some time had passed he went to his father-in-law. Then all his uncles again went with him. But instead of receiving him kindly they used supernatural powers against him. Before anything they tried against him came to him, it was gone. By and by his father-in-law pulled him against a cloak he wore which was covered with needles. Then the needles dropped from it, and he threw it into the corner.
Then he said: “Did you lie to me formerly?” And he began to give his son-in-law something to eat. And, after he had got through feeding him, he arose very early next morning, and, when he went to the fire, something near him made a thundering noise. Now he sent his uncles home. And he remained behind. After he had received food there a while he asked his father-in-law to take him over. Then he took him over, and his father-in-law [returned without] going into the house. Then he said: “I am giving you ten whales.” And the morning after they got back ten whales floated in front of the town.
And he again feasted the people. By and by one of his uncles came in to him, saying he was not in good circumstances. And he said to him (his uncle): “Live over there. You will be well off over there.” And, after he had given his uncle food, he told his uncle he had better go. “Go. You will cease being poorly off. When I have food brought to you, invite your elder brothers.” He went at once. Food came in of itself after him. Then he called the people for it. [[351]]
And then his wife became pregnant. And her thigh was swollen, as that of his mother had been. Out of it came a woman. Within ten nights she started to walk. She was he himself born again.
And before he went away he stole a look at his father-in-law. Then he prepared to leave [him]. “I will go to renew my town, which has become old.” And one evening he started. He was gone for good.
And he came to his town. His town was old, and he spit medicine upon it. It was as it had been before. Then his wife went back to her father’s town.
And one of his uncles who was in the town went out one evening. Something took him up. Then he took their wives also to the town. That was the Moon who was helping them, because she raised her hands and wept. Then he took all of his uncles up and let them become his servants. There he took good care of them.
This was told me by an old man who had spent much of his youth among the Kaigani, and it is probably a mainland story. [[352]]
[1] Brothers-in-law, brothers, and uncles are to be understood as applying to large bodies of men who are members of the same or of the opposite clan. ↑ [a] [b] [c] [d] [e]
[2] See the story of [He-who-was-born-from-his-mother’s-side], note [4]. [↑]
[3] The Western Robin (Merula migratoria propinqua, Ridgw.). [↑]
[5] Although restoration to life is common enough, restoration to youth is spoken of nowhere else in the stories I have collected. [↑]