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. [↑]