Tlingit (Wrangell)
ONCE Raven came to a large town which was deserted. Every one seemed to have died. Raven entered the largest house, but he felt some one continually pushing him away. Yet he saw no one there. It was a ghost house. The place was called Ghost Town.
Raven then loaded a canoe with provisions from the empty houses and started to paddle away. He did not notice that a long rope was fastened to the stern of the canoe and to a tree on the shore. When Raven had paddled the length of the rope, the canoe was pulled right back to the beach. All the provisions were carried back to the houses. Yet Raven could see no one. Then a ghost dropped a large stone on Raven’s foot. This made him very lame.
HOW RAVEN STOLE THE LAKE
Haida (Queen Charlotte Islands)
AFTER Raven had made the crows black because they had eaten his salmon—crows had always been white before that, they say—he met some people with feathers on their heads and gambling-stick bags on their backs. They said, “What is the matter?”
Raven said, “Oh, my father and mother are dead.”
Then they started home with him. These were the Beavers, they say. They were going out to gamble, but turned back on account of him.
The next morning they put their gambling-stick bags upon their backs and started off again. Raven flew around behind a screen. Lo, a lake lay there! In a creek flowing from it was a fish trap. The fish trap was so full of salmon it looked as if some one were shaking it. There were plenty of salmon in it and in the lake were very small canoes passing each other. Several points of land were red with cranberries.