Tsimshian texts / by Franz Boas.

  • Boas, Franz, 1858-1942.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Tsimshian texts / by Franz Boas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    his voice as an echo into a cliff and scolds the chief, who allows the smoke-hole to open again. Txa'msEm flies away in the shape of a raven. He catches seals and steams them. A stump eats them. Txa'msEm makes the stump his slave, and finally he calls all the fish ashore and kills them. The Stone and the Elderberry Bush The Stone and the Elderberry Bush gave birth nearly at the same time, but the children of Elderberry Bush were born first. There- fore man is mortal. The Porcupine and the Beaver The Beaver invites the Porcupine to his house, carries him over the water, and gives him sticks to eat. They agree to plai' together. The Beaver carries the Porcupine through the water and almost drowns him. The Porcupine then invites the Beaver to visit him and takes him over slippeiy ice to^ a tree which he climbs and lets himself fall down. He carries the Beaver up. The Porcupine lets go of the tree and shouts “Space!” and is not hurt when he strikes the ground; but the Bea.ver shouts “Rock!” and his belly bursts when he lauds on the ground. The Wolves and the Deer The Wolves and the Deer have a feast. They play laughing at each other. The Wolves laugh first. The Deer fear the large teeth of the Wolves. The Deer are told to laugh aloud. When the Wolves see that the Deer have no teeth, they devour them. The Stars A bov ridicules a Star and is taken up by it to the sky where he is tied to the smoke-hole of the Star’s house. The boy’s father is told by a woman how to recover his boy. He shoots arrows up to the sky, making a chain, which he climbs. He sees a man, to whom he gives tobacco, red paint, and slingstones in return for advice. The father then carves figures in the shape of his son, of different kinds of wood, finally of yellow cedar. He ties this figure on the roof in the place of his son. The figure cries when sparks fall on it. The father escapes with his son. Finally the figure stops crying, and the escape of the boy is dis- covered. The Stars pursue the fugitives, who throw away the tobacco, paint, and slingstones. The Stars stop and paint their faces. There- fore the Stars are red and blue. The man who had given advice swells on receiving more paint and tobacco and obstructs the way of the Stars. The father and his son safely descend the chain of arrows.