The story of him whose sister brought him food from the land otters
[Told by Abraham of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o, as related to him by an old Ninstints man]
He went out from the town to make a canoe. He had two children. His wife was also with him. When he came in from making the canoe he said: “Would that I had a sister to bring in food to me.”
One time at evening burning pitchwood came toward him.[1] His sister, who had long ago been carried away by something[2] in the woods, came in to him with good food. She talked to him as she used to. Then she said to him: “Your brother-in-law is going to watch your canoe [to see when it is time to move it]. When you are ready to turn it over do not go to it for some time after daybreak.” So she spoke to her brother.
When he was ready to turn it over he did not go to it for some time. When he did go to it his canoe had been turned over. Then he worked the bottom of it.
After that his sister again brought him food. Then his wife wanted to give her something. She refused it. And they saw her put one of the arms of a crab[3] they had eaten which was lying near the fire inside of her blanket. Then they gathered some for her, and, when she again brought food, they gave them to her. She even took their hands along with them [for joy]. Every evening his sister came in to him with food.
Then she said to her brother: “When you are going to launch the canoe your brother-in-law says that you had better not go out to it for some time after daybreak.[4] Your brother-in-law says he and his friends will bring it out. When he has brought it out, your brother-in-law says he wants you to bring it to him.” She also told him whither he should go.
As soon as he had it ready for launching he did not go to it. When some time had passed after daybreak he saw it sticking half out of the woods near him. Immediately he and his wife launched it. Then he went to the place whither his sister had directed him.
Soon he came to a town. They landed in front of those who had come out of the houses to meet him. They placed his canoe where he was going to finish it, and his sister led them into the house.
After she had given them food they went to bed. When he awoke in the night [he found] he was pressed in by something. He could in no way stretch out. Those were the roots of a large tree. When it was day, a good house again stood there. [[270]]
Now, he lived there for a long time. All the while he worked on his canoe. Every night the earth changed for him. In the morning the house stood there just as it ought to appear.
By and by four persons went out by canoe to hunt coots. They called bullheads coots. After they had been gone for a while only three came back. He (the fourth) was killed because he forgot the mat to cover his knees. When they forgot this they never escaped.[5]
When his canoe was finished he steamed and spread it. At that time his brothers-in-law helped him. After that he started to go out in it. All that time she (his sister) made the child dance. Already it began to have a tail. Then she gave them directions. She said that when they went outward they should not look back. She said that the child, who was just able to talk, must not speak about that country. And she also gave the same directions to him.
One time, after that, they started off. When they were some distance away the child remembered the town. And, when he said “How [well] we lived among them,” they were back again in front of the town. When they again started and had passed beyond the place where the boy first spoke he repeated the same thing, and again they were back in front of the town. When they went away again they kept straight on. Then they came to [their own] town.
Here it draws to an end.[6]
This is one of the numerous and popular land-otter stories and the only type of story in which that animal appears in a rôle at all benevolent. Usually he is represented as trying to steal away some human being and make a slave of him, to deprive one of his senses or turn him into a gā′gix̣īt (see story of [Supernatural-being-who-went-naked], note [19]). Nevertheless, his peculiar nature brought him into intimate relations with the shamans, especially among the Tlingit. [[271]]
[1] Pitch wood supplied the place of a lantern. [↑]
[2] That is, by the land otters. One had looked at her while she was drinking water. When this happened one was seized with fits, soon died, and went to live among the Land-otter people. [↑]
[3] Haida, kꜝał, identified by Doctor Newcombe, of Victoria, as the kelp crab (Epialtus productus, Randall). [↑]
[4] Another version says that the land-otter brother-in-law also turned the man’s canoe over when he was ready to work upon the inside. Canoes were first roughly shaped upon the outside and then turned over so as to be hollowed out on the inside. [↑]
[5] If a land otter forgot to take along the mat used to cover the knees of a canoe-man while paddling, he was sure to be killed by human beings. [↑]
[6] One way of concluding a story. More often they say Hao ʟan l’ g̣e′ida, “Here it comes to a stop,” Hao ʟ a′sga-i kundjū′ga, “Here it comes to a point,” or something similar. See the conclusions of the various stories. When a story is too long to be told at one sitting, they break it off by saying, Lᴀ ʟ sītꜝē′djî, “Let us make a knot.” [↑]