In the village T’ano[93] there was a chief whose name was Qîng·. The boy said: “I want Qîng· to come here to be my father.” His uncle, who was sitting in the rear of the house, heard what he was saying. He asked his sister to command the boy to be silent, but he continued to say it. One day many canoes arrived on the beach. Then the boy said to his uncle: “The chiefs are coming. What are you going to do?” His uncle did not reply because he was afraid. When they approached the house the boy threw off his skin, and he was beautiful. [[141]]
The chief who arrived here was called Qoēqqu′ns.[94] He lived in the middle of the ocean. He was his mother’s father. The boy had visited him and had borrowed his people, whom he took to his uncle’s house. He had put on his woodpecker blanket, and he flew to his grandfather’s house. He painted his face with a design of Ts’agul[95] and made himself very beautiful. When he returned he walked about inside the house scolding his uncle: “Why is there nobody staying with you? Now, all the chiefs are coming, and there is nobody to receive them.” Then Nenk·îlsʟasʟiñgai stamped his feet, and immediately the house was full of people. He had transformed the dirt on the floor of the house into people by stamping once. In one corner of his house were Qoēqqu′ns’s people, who spoke the Tsimshian language. When he stamped with his foot in another corner of the house people appeared who spoke Heiltsuk (or Wakashan). In the next corner, when he stamped the ground, the Haida arose, and in the last corner he also created Haida.
After a while Qîng· arrived. They performed a dance, and Nenk·îlsʟasʟiñgai gave them to eat. Then Qîng· returned to his own country. The boy accompanied him. When he made the Tsimshian he wore a flicker[96] (Sqaldzit) blanket. Then he changed and wore a woodpecker (sʟodz’adang) blanket. Afterward he used a Sixasʟdᴀlgang[97] blanket. This is a large bird with yellow head, which flies very rapidly. Finally he used a T’in[98] blanket. This is a bird that is eaten in Victoria. When they arrived in Qîng·’s house Nenk·îlsʟasʟiñgai sat between Qîng· and his wife. The chief asked him: “Are you hungry?” But he did not want to eat. He was chewing gum all the time. In the house there were many people. Two youths were standing on one side of the door when the chief was eating. The chief sent some food to them. Their skin was quite black. Their name was Squl (“Porpoise”). They were eating ravenously. The boy asked: “How is it that you can eat so much?” They replied: “Don’t ask us. We are very poor because we are hungry all the time.” But he insisted. He said: “I can not eat, and I must learn how to eat. You must assist me to learn.” They refused, but Nenk·îlsʟasʟiñgai insisted. They said: “We are afraid of your father. If we tell you, you will have bad luck.” But the boy would not accept their statements. Then they became angry and said: “Go and bathe, and when you do so scratch your skin and eat what you scratch off. Do so twice.” The youth did so, and then he became very hungry. He told his father: “I am a little hungry.” Then the old man was very glad. He called all the people to see how his child was eating. The people came, and when they had seen it they returned. After a very short time the youth was hungry again. His father invited the people, and after they had eaten they went away. [[142]]It was not long before the boy was hungry again. He could not get enough to eat. He ate all the provisions that were stored in the house. Then Qîng· turned the boy out of his house and he was very poor. He asked to be admitted again, but Qîng· did not allow him to enter. Then he took his raven skin and put it on. He knocked the walls of the house with his beak, asking admission, but he was refused.
He promised to give them fox, mountain goat, and other kinds of animals. Then he went down to the beach, where he ate some excrements. After a while he returned to the house and asked again for admission. Then the boy grew angry, and wished the waters to rise. The waters began to rise, and rose up to Qîng·’s throat. Then Qîng·’s sister and her ten children began to climb up his hat, which was transformed into a mountain, which may still be seen near the village. There is another mountain near by which is called Qîñg·i xa′ñginᴇñ gutas’wa′s.
Then the boy returned to his uncle, and the people returned to their villages. The boy was in love with his uncle’s wife, and his uncle was jealous. Then he called upon the waters to rise, intending to kill his nephew. The waters were coming out of Nenk·îlsʟas’s hat. Then the boy took the skin of a waterfowl (Q’ē′sq’ut),[99] which he put on. The house began to fill with water. Then he swam about on the water. He was carrying the raven skin under his arm. When the water rose still higher, he flew up through the smoke hole and reached the sky. He shot an arrow up to the sky, which stuck in it. Then he continued to shoot, hitting the nock of the first arrow; and thus he proceeded, making a chain which reached almost down into the waters. Finally he fastened his bow to the lowest arrow and climbed upward. When he reached the sky, he broke it, went through, and saw five countries above. First he came to an open place in which many berries were growing. There were salmon in the rivers, and the people were singing. He was chewing gum. He tried to find the singers, but he could not discover them. He passed the place whence the noise proceeded, and turned back again. Finally, after a long time, he found them. He saw a number of women who were singing. He asked them, “Where did you obtain this song? I like it very much.” Then they laughed at him, and said, “Did you never hear that there are five countries up here, and that the inhabitants use this song? They are singing about Nenk·îlsʟasʟîñgai′, who is in love with his uncle’s wife.” At that time he received the name Nenk·îlsʟasʟîñgai′. He wandered about in heaven for many years, singing all the time.
He came to a large river, where he heard the people singing. He came to a town near which he saw a pond. The chief’s daughter went out to fetch water. Then Nenk·îlsʟasʟîñgai′ transformed himself into the leaf of a hemlock, and dropped into the bucket of water which [[143]]the chief’s daughter dipped from the pond. When she attempted to drink, the hemlock leaf was in her way, and she tried to blow it away, but did not succeed. Finally she grew impatient and swallowed it with the water. After two months she had a child, and her father was very glad. The child slept at his mother’s side, but at midnight, when all were asleep, he traveled all over the country and came to a town. The people were all asleep, and during the night he ate their eyes. When the people awoke in the morning, they found that they were blind. They asked one another, “Did not you hear a story about such a thing happening?” But the old people said they never had heard of such a thing. The next night he proceeded to another town, where he also ate the eyes of all the people. Then he did the same in a third town. The people did not know how they lost their eyesight. Finally he went to a fourth town and ate the eyes of the people.
There was an old man in the corner of the chief’s house. He did not sleep because he wished to discover how the people in the various towns were blinded. One night he saw the boy arise from the side of his mother and return early in the morning. He returned with his skin blanket filled with something. The old man saw him sitting down near his mother’s fire and taking out something round from his blanket. While doing so he was laughing. Then the old man knew that he had taken the eyes of the people.
When, the next morning, the people heard that the inhabitants of another town had lost their eyes the old man said that he had seen how the young man ate the eyes while his mother was asleep, that he had carried them back to the house in his blanket, and that he had eaten them sitting near the fire.
The floor of the house was made of stone. The chief then broke it, took the boy, and threw him down to our earth. At that time the water was still high, and only the top of his totem pole was seen above the surface of the water. The boy dropped upon the top of the totem pole, crying “Qa!” and assumed the shape of a raven. The pole split in two when he dropped down upon it. Then the waters began to subside, and he began his migrations.
He went to a rock from which the wind was blowing all the time. He intended to kill the [s. e.] wind, Xēiō′. He tried to make canoes from various kinds of wood, but they did not satisfy him. Then he asked the birds to carry him there, but they could not do it. Finally he took the maple tree, and he succeeded in making a good canoe. He vanquished the wind and made him his slave.