Two Children’s Stories
[Told by my interpreter, Henry Moody, of Those-born-at-Qā′gials]
I. “Habababē⁺, here is younger brother [or sister] crying.” “Give your younger brother the large clam’s head (qꜝoñg̣osqadjā′⁺) that I put away for him.” “Where is younger brother?” “I do not know. I destroyed him (qꜝoñg̣osqa′djîg̣ᴀn) as you told me to do.”[1]
II. Song-sparrow[2] lived with his grandmother. Whenever his grandmother soaked salmon Grizzly-bear[3] stole the soaked salmon. One day Song-sparrow saw Grizzly-bear doing this. He said then to his grandmother: “Grandmother, I will kill him.” And his grandmother said to him: “Do not try, my child; he will swallow you.” “That will be all right, grandmother, for I shall have a fire drill in his belly.”
He then made a bow and arrows. The people did not like him and his grandmother. By and by, when Grizzly-bear came there again, he shot him. He did not know then what happened to him. And, when he was in his belly, he came to himself. He then thought of his fire drill and made a fire in his belly. When it burned it burned through his belly. And he killed Grizzly-bear.
He then brought the news to his grandmother. “Grandmother, I have killed Grizzly-bear.” And his grandmother told him that he lied. Then he went again to it and cut some pieces from it. As soon as he showed it to his grandmother his grandmother put on her belt. He and his grandmother began at once to cut it up.
After they had taken all into the house he went to the neighboring town for some live coals. When he came through the doorway they asked him: “What do you come for, Song-sparrow?” And he said: “I come for live coals, skia′ldjîgut skā′ldjigut skētcꜝē′gut.”[4] After he had said this he spat out the blood of a piece of the grizzly bear that he had in his mouth.
They were surprised at this, and the townspeople ran toward his house. They took away at once all of the grizzly bear. As he also ran toward it he said to his grandmother: “Grandmother, keep hold of the biggest piece.” And, while he was running, they took all of his meat away.
After he and his grandmother had cried for a while his grandmother went to sleep. Then, while his grandmother slept, he cut off his grandmother’s vulva. And he put grease and feathers upon the place. He then cooked this. And when it was cooked his grandmother woke up. “Grandmother, get up. I found a small thing in the dirt of the trail where they have been walking. I cooked it for you.” His grandmother got up at once and ate it. [[363]]
Then he took his grandmother’s urinal and went up to the top of the house with it. And he used his grandmother’s urinal as a drum. He began then to sing: “Ha′haha hē′eee, grandmother ate her cut-off vulva. In the place [I put] grease. In the place [I put] feathers.” His grandmother then used hard words toward him: “He was born at the roots of the salmon-berry bushes.[5] He is a wizard. He was born at the roots of the ferns.[5] He is a wizard.”
[The following version of the latter was obtained by Prof. Franz Boas]
Once upon a time a boy and his grandmother lived in a hut made of twigs. The boy was always going out to shoot birds. One day he saw a large bear, which he tried to kill with his arrows. Then the bear snuffed him in. The old woman waited in vain for her grandson, and finally thought he had died. The boy was not dead.
While he was in the bear’s stomach, he thought: “I wish grandmother’s fire drill would come to me!” It came at once. He made a fire in the bear’s stomach, which killed him. He then carved the carcass and carried the meat to his grandmother’s house, which he filled entirely. The old woman had no fire; therefore she sent her grandson to the town to ask for some fire. Before he left he cut off a piece of the meat and took it into his mouth. He then went to the door of one of the houses. He put down a piece of skin near the fire, chewed the meat which he had taken along, and spit the fat into the fire, so that it blazed up. The people asked him: “What are you holding in your mouth?” He then showed them the bear’s meat. Then they all went to his grandmother’s house, and they received presents of meat and of fat. They distributed almost all of it.
He then said to his grandmother: “Gather some fuel.” She did so, and started a fire. Then the old woman fell asleep sitting near the fire. While she was asleep the boy cut off a piece of her vulva and put down upon the wound. When she woke the next morning he sent her again to gather fuel; and, while she was away, he roasted at the fire the piece that he had cut from her body. When his grandmother returned he said to her: “I roasted a little of the bear meat for you.” She entered, and he gave her her own flesh to eat. As soon as she had eaten it he ran out, singing: “Grandmother ate her own vulva!” [[364]]
[1] Repeated over and over to a crying baby. The point is in a play upon two Haida words. [↑]
[2] The word used here, Tcꜝa′tcꜝagusga-i, is the story name of this sparrow; the common name is tcꜝa′tcꜝa. See the story of [He-who-was-born-from-his-mother’s-side], note [5]. [↑]
[3] The grizzly bear appears in this story because it was a great bugaboo to children. To quiet a crying child they said to it: “The grizzly bear might get after you.” [↑]
[4] The meaning of these words, if they have any, is unknown. [↑]
[5] These birds always lay their eggs among the salmon-berry bushes and the ferns. ↑ [a] [b]