After that he let himself be seen upon this island. The supernatural beings were glad to see him because he saved the people from the thing that made the south end of the island empty. Only two treated him differently.
He went into Nastō′’s house,[52] also. After the latter had given him food, he let him go feeling happy. After that he let out the crab in Naden harbor. That is why there are so many crabs there.
After that Na-iku′n let himself dry up before him.[53] Then he entered his halibut skin and flopped his way across overland. That is the inside passage used by canoes. And, after he had gone on farther, Spit-point also dried itself up in front of him. Then he entered his halibut skin and passed it in the same way. That is the place through which they pass by canoe.
Then he entered the house of Many-ledges. After he, too, had given him something to eat, he went on. [Many-ledges] was pleased to see him. Afterward Qî′ñgi[54] asked him to come in. The supernatural beings invited him in because they wanted to see Qꜝā′g̣awa-i’s skin. All that time he let them see his skin.
After that he went inland and sat down at point Skwai. After he had sat there for some time something occurred like the quick passage of a strong wind. When he looked toward it an eagle had his halibut skin. But when he said “Alas!” all the forest beings told him not to go after it. “It was not yours. Your mighty grandfather, ‘Chief,’[55] let you have his skin. It was he who took his own back.” It was an islet lying in front of point Skwai that lent him his clothing so that he might use it to kill Qꜝā′g̣awa-i.
And after that he again arrived at the town of Łg̣adᴀ′n. Now he left his Qꜝā′g̣awa-i skin there. He took his copper bow and four arrows, but the weasel skin he tied in his hair. He wanted to show them to his mother so that she would be pleased. [Because he wore them] Those-born-at-Skedans have them as crests.
Then he went to his mother. And his mother was pleased with him. Now he showed the copper arrows and the [skin of] Qꜝā′g̣awa-i he had killed to his mother and said that future generations coming out from her should wear them as crests, besides possessing the songs.
And his mother asked him: “Did they call you lakꜝî′l?”[47] And he said they did. Then he explained to her. “When I was of some height, and had been killing all sorts of birds, I said I would kill Qꜝā′g̣awa-i,” whereupon they used to say of me: “Put coals on the lips of that common person.” Instead [of being angry] his mother laughed at him. His mother foretold what they would say to him when he set out to help them.
This story, which practically includes three, is one of the most important and interesting of all Haida stories, for, while two of the preceding are largely Tsimshian and the Raven story is by no means confined to the Queen Charlotte islands, here we [[207]]have heroes and places dealt with which are strictly insular, forming true Haida “hero tales.” The first two sections are of particular importance and were especially well known. The second version of the story of Stone-ribs is of peculiar interest as coming from a man of the town of Ninstints, where the descendants of the people of Łg̣adᴀ′n afterward lived, and where this particular myth appears to have been especially treasured. Sī′xa, the word which I have translated “Upward,” means more strictly “About-in-the-air,” referring perhaps to the escape of this hero from his house in the form of a cinder. “Stone-ribs” was the translation given me for G̣odᴀñxē′wat by my interpreter, but g̣ō′dᴀñ is also applied to one who discovers hidden things. The word for rib is xē′wī. [[210]]