Those who were fasting to become shamans
[Told by Tom Stevens, chief of Those-born-at-House-point.]
At the town of Skedans two own brothers fasted to become shamans. After they had fasted for many years, the elder went out when the time came for them to go to bed. And, when he entered, he said he had come in from lying with a woman. He was telling a lie. He let him feel between his legs. It was wet [as if washed]. That was how he fooled him. Then his younger brother also went out, but he really lay with a woman. When day came, he lay dead.
Then they put him into a box, and they placed him on a point,[1] and he (the second) kept crying near his younger brother. After he had sat there for a while he heard the sound of a drum proceeding from the ocean. Presently it got nearer. The canoe came in sight and landed bow[2] first in front of Skedans.
Then two paddling in the bow wearing shamans’ hats[3] jumped off. And they went toward the light coming from the doorway of the house they used to inhabit. They ran inside. They came back. When they got into their canoe they turned around. “They are not in the house,” they said.
And, when they started off, one saw where the body was laid. He said: “One of those we spoke through lies there dead.” Then the two with shamans’ hats got off quickly and took off the cover. He really lay there. His elder brother did not see that they pulled off his skin.
Then they went down to the canoe, and he got in with them. When they got in he got into the stern. They did not see him. And with him they started seaward. Something round hung from the armpit of the one who sat next to him. He saw that all had the same.
Then he squeezed that belonging to the one nearest to him strongly. He almost died and acted as shaman for himself. When he blew[4] on himself he let it go. At once he sat up in the canoe. There was not the least thing the matter with him.
Then he moved slowly to the one in the middle and squeezed his also. Then he, too, was about to die and acted as his own shaman. After he had blown on himself for a while, he also let his go. The chief had his nest[5] in the middle. He sat in it.
After he had done this to all in the canoe he also seized the chief’s. He, too, began to die. His canoe companions acted as shamans for him. They blew upon him. But he did not let his go. They tried to hurry each other. “Quick, paddle away with the chief to get a shaman for him.”
Then they landed, and they got shamans for him. And they acted around him, but he squeezed it all the more. All the shamans could [[295]]not heal him. Instead he squeezed it tighter. Then he began to die, and they said “Quick, go and get the chief,” and they went for him.
Then they went to get him, and they landed. But he was a great shaman, and, as soon as he put his head in, he saw the one who had seized him. And he said to him: “Look out for yourself, grandson. Those on the other side are not chiefs.”[6] He was chief among the shamans, they say. His name was Sîndjā′ña-i.
And, when he began to perform around him, he slackened his hold. But, when another shaman began to act around him he squeezed it harder, and he was dying. And, when still another acted around him he squeezed it more again, and again he almost died.
And, when the chief shaman again performed, he let go his hold. Then he got strong. All the time he said the same thing to him: “Take care, grandson. They are not chiefs on the other side.”[6] And, when a different one performed around him he squeezed it harder, and he began to die.
Then he acted around him again, and they said to each other: “Give the chief whatever he wants.” Then they brought a box from near the wall and took his younger brother’s skin out of it. Not a part of it was lost. His finger-nails and toe-nails were all there.
Then they put it before the big shaman and turned over to him all kinds of property. These and the human being he put inside of his blanket and went out. Immediately he took him over to Skedans, and he gave him directions: “I will cause sickness at Skedans. When one first falls sick and they do not get you, do not pay any attention to him. He will die. And, when another is sick and they take property to you, save him. And, when another is sick and they do not take you, pay no attention to him. He, too, will die. When one again falls sick, you will receive two pieces of property. When another falls sick, yours will become three, then four. It will increase until you receive ten pieces. When there are many sick, every time one falls sick they will go for you alone. On the other side they are not chiefs.”
Then they landed, and he put his younger brother’s skin on him. He became alive. And what he told him happened. When many fell sick they employed him only. In exchange for what he got he became a chief. With it he potlatched.
I also obtained versions of this story at Masset and in Alaska. [[296]]
[1] Unlike other people, shamans’ bodies were set up in little houses on points distant from the town. [↑]
[2] See the story of “[The one abandoned for eating the flipper of a hair seal],” note [15]. [↑]
[3] These were generally roof-shaped with the gable ends at the front and back. [↑]
[4] The usual way of removing disease. [↑]
[5] Compare the story of the “[Canoe people who wear headdresses],” pp. [38], [40]. [↑]
[6] That is, he was able to accomplish more for the human being than the others because he had more power and more property. ↑ [a] [b]