[Told by Moses] There was a boy who had lost his father and his mother; only his mother's brother, the chief of the village, remained. One day this chief was purifying himself by drinking a decoction of devil's-clubs. He did so repeatedly because he intended to give a potlatch. One evening he went down to the beach; there he sat down and looked up to the sky. Behold, fire came down from the sky like a shooting star. It came right down. A tree was standing behind the house of the chief, and a branch was standing out from the tree. The fire came right down to it and hung on the end of the branch. The chief Early the next morning they went up behind the house of the chief. The old men also went to look. The young men took stones, and threw all day long until their hands were quite sore; then they stopped for a while and ate. Then they went up again and tried to knock the copper down, but they did not succeed. It grew dark. Then the poor little boy went down to the beach in front of the house and sat down near a canoe, where he urinated. Then he saw a man approaching who said, "What are the people talking about?" The boy replied, On the following morning the people went again and began to throw. The poor little boy went up with them and said he would throw too. When it was evening, the growling of a white bear was heard behind the house of the chief. The chief said, "Whoever kills the white bear shall marry my daughter." Then all the young men rose and ran out very suddenly because the chief had said, "Whoever kills the white bear shall marry my daughter." The young men did not sleep because they wanted to pursue the white bear. In the evening the poor little boy again went down to the beach. He sat down there, and again a person approached him who asked, "What are the people talking about?" The poor little boy replied, "Last evening a white
Then the poor little boy went up. When it grew dark, all the young men were in the house of the chief. The latter took down to the fire a quiver holding bows and arrows. He gave one bow and two arrows to each man. Then the poor little boy, the chief's own nephew, went down to the fire too. His father and his mother were dead, therefore he was poor. Only his old grandmother took care of him.
He caught many salmon, and the house was full. Then he filled another house. He went into the sea, and caught bullhead. He dried many. Then he went to catch halibut, and they dried many. He obtained every kind of fish, and caught a great many. Four houses were full of provisions. Then he went to catch seals, and he caught a very great number. He put them into another house. Now he went to catch porpoises, and placed them in another house. Then he went to catch sealions, and they obtained a great many large water Now, many of the people who, with his uncle, had deserted him After he had finished, he again put on his frog blanket, intending to catch seals for food for the people. He found it very difficult to take off his frog blanket. Then he went to bed and told his wife, and she began to cry. He said, "When I put it on again, I shall not be able to take it off, and if I do so, I may not return; I shall only bring seals and halibut and place them in front of the town. I shall not
One morning his wife went down to the beach in front of the town, and he was lost. He did not come ashore again. He stayed at the bottom of the sea. Therefore the woman, every morning when she rose, went down to the beach and cried, accompanied by her two children. They saw two halibut, and they took them up to the house. One morning she went out again, crying, and she looked seaward, crying, because her husband was lost in the sea. Then she 148:1 He split a large tree and opened the crack, which he spread apart by means of two short sticks, placing the whole on the trail which led up to the lake.
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