Now they went after water again, and the last to come in fell down with the water. A big stream ran into the fire. Then a great steam arose. And he ran over for his wife. He took her up in his arms. Then he ran back with her.
[The house pole had three heads. Their voices sounded an alarm. They say they were always watching.][8]
Then they found out that she was gone, and they went after her, all the people in the town. Fast-rainbow-trout pursued him above. Marten pursued him below.[9] The two slaves ran in advance. Now they almost caught him, when one slave let himself fall. He let his belly swell up. Then Mouse[10] gnawed through his belly.
Again they pursued him. When they had nearly caught him again the other slave let himself fall. Then Weasel[11] burst his belly with his teeth.
Now he came to the place where he had gone down. He entered his canoe. The one left to take care of the canoe had become an old man. Now he fled. And the killer whales came in a crowd to his stern. They pursued him. Then they almost upset him. And then he spilled out the blue hellebore. They sank down from him. Now they again came near him, and he again spilled some out. Now he came with her to Qꜝadō′.
Then he came to the house with his wife. And he kept his wife in the bottom of a box. There were five boxes fitting one inside the other. Day broke. Now he watched his wife closely. One day, when he looked for his wife, she was gone from the box. There was a hole in the bottom of the box.
This is part of the famous Tsimshian story of Gunaqanē′semgyet or Tsag·atilâ′o (see Boas in Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, pp. 294–300). The same episodes occur in one or two of my Masset stories, and in the story of [He-who-got-supernatural-power-from-his-little-finger] of the present series, and it is noteworthy that in all Haida versions the adventure with the killer whale occupies a disproportionately large space. That is also the section which is always taken for artistic representation. [[341]]