And, after he had stayed at the town for a while, he went out while they slept and put on his wā′sg̣o skin. Then with his hands he merely reached for something at the end of the town. He got half a spring salmon. [[285]]
And his mother-in-law always hated him. She always got up very early. He laid it down for her in front of the house. Then his mother-in-law went out very early. She found half a spring salmon. She was glad to have it.
The same night he put on his wā′sg̣o skin. He let the water come up even with his elbow. He took out half a halibut. Then he laid it down for his mother-in-law, and in the morning she found it. The town people had become hungry.
And in the night he again entered his wā′sg̣o skin and plunged his whole arm into the water. He seized a whole spring salmon. Then he again left it for the woman, and she found it in the morning.
That night he again entered his wā′sg̣o skin. And he let the water come up as far as his shoulders. Then he took a whale jaw and put it down for his mother-in-law. And she found that also.
Then his mother-in-law began acting like a shaman. And they fasted with her for four nights. He was with them. His mother-in-law was going to get power from him.
In the night he put on the wā′sg̣o skin. He swam seaward. He killed a whale. A spear stuck out of the nostrils of the wā′sg̣o.[4] He killed the whale with that. Then he put it between his ears and swam landward with it. And he laid it in front of the house, because she said a whale would float ashore.
And again, while they slept, he swam out in the wā′sg̣o skin. And he took two whales. He swam landward with them. He put one between his ears, and he also put one near his tail. Swimming landward, he placed those also in front of the house.
The next night he swam far out to sea with the wā′sg̣o skin on, and he took ten whales. He had them on each side of his head between his ears. He also had some lying crosswise near his tail. And he piled them upon himself and had one in his mouth. Then he came shoreward.
While he was still out at sea daylight came. When he reached shore his mother-in-law came down to him wearing a dancing hat. Then he stood up out of the wā′sg̣o skin and said to her: “Why is your face hard? Does some supernatural power come through you by my help?” And he made her die of shame. The wā′sg̣o skin went off of itself. Then he gathered his ten whales and told no one to cut them. What he received from the sale of the whales made him rich. He potlatched ten times for his youngest brother-in-law. He kept him like a chief’s son. [[286]]