He then went down again upon the arrows. Now he sat erect in his father’s house, and all the town of Qꜝadō′ came in to look at him. Then the one with whom he had been in love looked in at him, and he turned his back upon her. By and by, fascinated by the sight of him, she died.

The first part of a longer Masset story resembles this. See Memoirs of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, volume V, pages 228 and 229. Also compare the story of [Big-tail] of the present series. The scene of this, like many others, is located at the Tsimshian town of Qꜝadō′; see the last episode in the story of [A-slender-one-who-was-given-away]. [[356]]

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He who gathered food for an eagle

[Told by Jackson, late chief of Skidegate.]

He had ten uncles. They gathered food at a certain salmon creek. Then he went up, got very many salmon, and filled his canoe. An eagle sat on a sand bar. He split open the salmon, threw them off there, and paddled away with an empty canoe. On the next day he again went out, split the salmon open, and threw them off. After a long time the people came to know about the eagle.

They then gathered all kinds of berries. His mother was a widow. His mother looked after his youngest uncle’s wife. For that reason he picked wild crab apples and cranberries and gave them to his uncle’s wife. And, when they moved away, since he and his mother had done the best that they could for his youngest uncle’s wife, they stayed with them. The minds of the rest of his uncles became different toward him, because he had gathered food for the eagle.

Now they came to the town. After they had stayed in the town for some time, and it was spring, they became hungry. He then went to the wife of one of his uncles, but she said to him: “Live upon the food that you gathered for the eagle.” He went out and entered another house. There they said the same thing to him. He went into the houses of his ten uncles, and every time they said the same thing to him. When he went into the house of his youngest uncle’s wife, they gave him the dorsal fin of a salmon, and he chewed it.

Now, when it was near the end of spring, they moved away from him. They did not leave even a small piece of old cedar bark in the town. And his youngest uncle’s wife explained to his mother. “When they start off, dig about in the place where I sit down to defecate.”

Now, when they pushed off, she was the last. And he dug about in the place where she had sat to defecate. He then found a bag holding a humpback split open and small pieces of food of various kinds. That was the only food obtainable where they were.