Natsiane made two more whales out of alder. He tried to put the spirit of his clan into them. As he put them in the water, he whistled four times like a spirit, “Whu, whu, whu, whu.” When they floated to the surface they were only alder wood. Then he tried hemlock, then red cedar. Afterward he tried yellow cedar. These whales swam right away like large killer whales. They swam out a long distance. When they came back they turned into wood.
Then Natsiane made holes in their dorsal fins, seized one of them with each hand, and let the killer whales tow him out to sea. He said to them, “If you see my brothers-in-law in canoes, you are to upset them.” After the whales had towed Natsiane to sea for some distance, they returned to the island. They became wood again.
The next time Natsiane saw his brothers-in-law in their canoes, he put the spirit of his clan into the killer whales. Then they overturned the canoes and broke them to bits. They killed the people in them. After that Natsiane said to his killer whales, “You are not to injure people again. You must be kind to them.”
So these two killer whales became the canoes of the spirits. Shamans are lucky if they can get the spirit canoes.
It is through this story that the Daqlawe clan have the killer whale crest.
THE DISCONTENTED GRASS PLANT
Eskimo (Bering Straits)
NEAR the village of Pastolik, at the mouth of the Yukon, grows a tall, slender grass which the women weave into baskets and mats.
A grass-stalk which had almost been pulled up by the women became much frightened. He wished he were something else. Close to him was a bunch of herbs, living peacefully and quietly. Grass said, “I wish I were an Herb.” At once it became an Herb, and lived peacefully.