This island was once all covered with grass, they say. Woodpecker was traveling about upon it. He had no feathers. And in the middle of the islands stood a large tree without bark, on which he began hammering. Now, after he had done this for a while, something said to him: “Your powerful grandfather says he wants you to come in.” He looked in the direction of the sound. There was nothing to be seen.
And when something said the same thing to him again, he looked into a hole at the foot of the tree and [saw] an old man sitting far back, white as a sea gull. Then he entered.
The old man looked into his small box. After he had pulled one box from another four times he took out a wing-feather. Wā-ā-ā-ā.[21] And he also stuck his tail into him and dressed him up. He made him red above, and he said to him: “Now, grandson, go out and start life anew. This is what you came in to me for.” Then he went out and flew. And, as he was going to do in the future, he took hold of the tree with his claws and hammered on it.[22]
[Another version of the third section of this story, told to Professor Boas to explain the carvings on the pole of “Nasʟᴇʟzu′s’s house” in Masset.]
There was a man of the Eagle clan, a great hunter. For a whole year he was unsuccessful. His name was Gāts.[23] He had two dogs. One day he saw a bear. He took his bow to shoot it. Then the bear turned back and took hold of the man and carried him to his den. [[187]]After they reached there he gave the man to his wife, who hid him between her legs.
The bear went hunting again. When he returned he asked his wife, “What became of the man whom I caught?” She replied, “I think you did not bring a man; you only brought his belt. Here it is.”
Every time when the he-bear went hunting she took the man out of his hiding place, and he became her lover. The two dogs had returned to the village. The people followed them, discovered the bear, and killed him. Then the she-bear married the man. They had a child.
One day Gāts recalled his friends, and he asked his wife to let him return to his own village. She agreed and said: “I am going hunting all the time, I will go and give food to my child.” Then Gāts returned to his own village, where he had left a wife. But before he returned the bear told him not to look at his former wife, else she would kill him.
One day the man went hunting with his two sons. On the hills he met the bear. He went to meet her, and gave her some food. The people were afraid to accompany him on his visit to the bear. When she saw him approaching she raised her ears and was glad to see him.