XXXIX. THE SUN TESTS HIS SON-IN-LAW ™

(Betta Coota: Boas, Fesup North Pacific Expedition, i, 73) 

N a place on Bella Coola River, there used to be a salmon- 
| weir. A chief and his wife lived at this place. One day the 
wife was cutting salmon on the bank of the river. When she 
opened the last salmon, she found a small boy in it. She took 
him out and washed him in the river. She placed him near by, 
entered the house, and said to the people, “Come and see what 
I have found in my salmon!” She had a child in her house, 
which was still in the cradle. The little boy whom she had 
found was half as long as her fore-arm. She carried him into 
the house, and the people advised her to take good care of him. 
She nursed him with her own baby. When the people were 
talking in the house, the baby looked around as though he 
understood what they were saying. On the following day the 
people were surprised to see how much he had grown, and in 
a few days he was as tall as any ordinary child.“* Her own 
baby also grew up with marvelous rapidity. She gave each of 
them one breast. After a few days they were able to walk and 
to talk. 

[When they mature, the boys go on adventures.] 

The two young men were passing by the houses, and looked 
into the doorways. There was a house in the centre of this 
town; there they saw a beautiful girl sitting in the middle of 
the house. Her hair was red, and reached down to the floor. 
She was very white. Her eyes were large, and as clear as rock 
crystal. The boy fell in love with the girl. They went on, but 
his thoughts were with her. The Salmon boy said, “‘I am going 
to enter this house. You must watch closely what I do, and 
imitate me. The Door of this house tries to bite every one who 
enters.”’ The Door opened, and the Salmon jumped into the 

house. Then the Door snapped," but missed him. When it 
opened again, the boy jumped into the house. They found a 
number of people inside, who invited them to sit down. They 
spread food before them, but the boy did not like their food. 
It had a very strong smell, and looked rather curious. It con- 
sisted of algae that grow on logs that lie in the river. 

When the boy did not touch it, one of the men said to him, 
“Maybe you want to eat those two children. Take them down 
to the river and throw them into the water, but do not look.”’ 
The two children arose, and he took them down to the river. 
Then he threw them into the water without looking at them. 
At the place where he had thrown them down, he found a male 
and a female Salmon. He took them up to the house and roasted 
them. The people told him to preserve the intestines and the 
bones carefully. After he had eaten, one of the men told him 

to carry the intestines and the bones to the same place where 

he had thrown the children into the water. He carried them in 
his hands, and threw them into the river without looking. 
When he entered the house, he heard the children following 
him. The girl was covering one of her eyes with her hands. 
The boy was limping, because he had lost one of his bones. 
Then the people looked at the place where the boy had been 
sitting, and they found the eye, and a bone from the head of 
the male salmon. They ordered the boy to throw these into 
the water. He took the children and the eye and the bone, and 
threw them into the river. Then the children were hale and 
well. 

After a while the youth said to his Salmon brother, “I wish 
to go to the other house where I saw the beautiful girl.” They 
went there, and he said to his Salmon brother, “Let us enter. 
I should like to see her face well.’’ They went in. Then the 
man arose, and spread a caribou blanket for them to sit on, 
and the people gave them food. Then he whispered to his 
brother, “Tell the girl I want to marry her.” The Salmon boy 
told the girl, who smiled, and said, “He must not marry me. 
Whoever marries me must die. I like him, and I do not wish to 
kill him; but if he wishes to die, let him marry me."* 

The woman was the Salmon-berry Bird. After one day she 
gave birth to a boy, and on the following day she gave birth 
to a girl." She was the daughter of the Spring Salmon. 

After a while the girl’s father said, “Let us launch our canoe, 
and let us carry the young man back to his own people.” He 
sent a messenger to.call all the people of the village; and they 
all made themselves ready, and early the next morning they 
started in their canoes. The young man went in the canoe of 
the Spring Salmon, which was the fastest. The canoe of the 
Sock-eye Salmon came next. The people in the canoe of the 
Calico Salmon were laughing all the time. They went up the 
river; and a short distance below the village of the young man’s 
father they landed, and made fast their canoes. Then they sent 
two messengers up the river to see if the people had finished 
their salmon-weir. Soon they returned with information that 
the weir had been finished. Then they sent the young man and 
his wife, and they gave them a great many presents for the 
young man’s father. 

The watchman who was stationed at the salmon-weir saw 
two beautiful salmon entering the trap. They were actually 
the canoes of the salmon; but they looked to him like two 
salmon. Then the watchman put the traps down over the weir, 
and he saw a great many fish entering them. He raised the 
trap when it was full, and took the fish out. The young man 
thought, “I wish he would treat me and my wife carefully”’; 
and his wish came true. The man broke the heads of the other 
salmon, but he saved the young man and his wife. Then he 
carried the fish up to the house, and hung them over a pole. 

During the night the young man and his wife resumed their 
human shape."? The youth entered his father’s house. His 
head was covered with eagle-down. He said to his father, “I 
am the fish whom you caught yesterday. Do you remember 
the time when you lost me? I have lived in the country of the 
Salmon.” The Salmon accompanied me here. They are stay- 
ing a little farther down the river. It pleases the Salmon to see 
the people eating fish.” And, turning to his mother, he con- 
tinued, “You must be careful when cutting Salmon. Never 
break any of their bones, but preserve them, and throw them 
into the water.”’ The two children of the young man had also 
entered into the salmon-trap. He put some leaves on the 
ground, placed red and white cedar-bark over them, and cov- 
ered them with eagle-down, and he told his mother to place 
the Salmon upon these. 

As soon as he had given these instructions, the Salmon began 
to come up the river. They crossed the weir and entered the 
traps. They went up the river as far as Stuick, and the people 
dried the Salmon according to his instructions. They threw the 
bones into the water, and the Salmon returned to life, and went 
back to their own country, leaving their meat behind. The 
Cohoes Salmon had the slowest canoe, and therefore he was 
the last to reach the villages. He gave many presents to the 
Indians. He gave them many-colored leaves, and thus caused 
the leaves of the trees to change color in the autumn. 

Now all the Salmon had returned. The Salmon-berry Bird 
and her children had returned with them. Then the young 
man made up his mind to build a small hut, from which he 
intended to catch eagles. He used a long pole, to which a noose 
was attached. The eagles were baited by means of Salmon. He 
spread a mat in his little house, and when he had caught an 
eagle he pulled out its down. He accumulated a vast amount 
of down. Then he went back to his house and asked his younger 
brother to accompany him. When they came to the hut which 
he had used for catching eagles, he gave the boy a small staff. 
Then he said to him, “Do not be sorry when I leave you. I 
am going to visit the Sun. I am not going to stay away a long 
time. I staid long in the country of the Salmon, but I shall 
not stay long in heaven. I am going to lie down on this mat. 
Cover me with this down, and then begin to beat time with 
your staff. You will see a large feather flying upward, then 
stop.” The boy obeyed, and everything happened as he had 
said. The boy saw the feather flying in wide circles. When it 
reached a great height, it began to soar in large circles, and 
finally disappeared in the sky."* Then the boy cried, and went 
back to his mother. 

The young man who had ascended to heaven found there a 
large house. It was the House of Myths."* There he resumed 
his human shape, and peeped in at the door. Inside he saw a 
number of people who were turning their faces toward the wall. 
They were sitting on a low platform in the rear of the house. 
In the right-hand corner of the house he saw a large fire, and 
women sitting around it. He leaned forward and looked into 
the house. An old woman discovered him, and beckoned him to 
come to her. He stepped up to her, and she warned him by 
signs not to go to the rear of the house. She said, “Be careful! 

The men in the rear of the house intend to harm you.” She 
opened a small box, and gave him the bladder of a mountain- 
goat, which contained the cold wind.” She told him to open 
the bladder if they should attempt to harm him. She said that 
if he opened it, no fire could burn him. She told him that the 
men were going to place him near the fire, in order to burn him; 
that one of them would wipe his face, then fire would come 
forth from the floor, scorching everything. The old woman 
told him everything that the people were going to do." Now 
the man in the rear of the house turned round. He was the 
Sun himself. He was going to try the strength of the visitor. 
When he saw the young man, he said to the old woman, “Did 
anybody come to visit you? Let the young man come up to me. 
I wish him to sit down near me.’” The young man stepped up 
to the Sun, and as soon as he had sat down, the Sun wiped his 
face and looked at the young man (he had turned his face while 
he was wiping it). Then the young man felt very hot. He tied 
his blanket tightly round his body, and opened the bladder 
which the woman had given him. Then the cold wind that 
blows down the mountains in the winter was liberated, and he 
felt cool and comfortable. The Sun had not been able to do 
him any harm. The old man did not say anything, but looked 
at his visitor. 

After a while he said, “I wish to show you a little under- 
ground house that stands behind this house.’’ They both rose 
and went outside. The small house had no door. Access was 
had to it by an opening in the centre of the roof, through which 
a ladder led down to the floor. Not a breath of air entered 
this house. It was made of stone. When they had entered, the 
Sun made a small fire in the middle of the house; then he 
climbed up the ladder and closed the door, leaving his visitor 
inside. The Sun pulled up the ladder, in order to make escape 
impossible. Then the house began to grow very hot.%° When 
the boy felt that he could not stand the heat any longer, he 
opened the bladder, and the cold wind came out; snow began 
to fall on the fire, which was extinguished; icicles began to 
form on the roof, and it was cool and comfortable inside. 
After a while the Sun said to his four daughters, “Go to the 
little underground house that stands behind our house, and 
sweep it,’ meaning that they were to remove the remains of 
the young man whom he believed. to be burned. They obeyed 

at once, each being eager to be the first to enter. When they 
opened the house, they were much surprised to find icicles 
hanging down from the roof. ° 

When they were climbing down the ladder, the youth arose 
and scratched them. The youngest girl was the last to step 
down. The girls cried when the youth touched them, and ran 
away. The Sun heard their screams, and asked the reason. He 
was much surprised and annoyed to hear that the young man 
was still alive. Then he devised another way of killing his 
visitor. He told his daughters to call him into his house. They 
went, and the young man re-entered the House of Myths. In the 
evening he lay down to sleep. Then the Sun said to his daugh- 
ters, “Early to-morrow morning climb the mountain behind 
our house. I shall tell the boy to follow you.” The girls 
started while the visitor was still asleep. The girls climbed up 
to a small meadow which was near a precipice. They had 
taken the form of mountain-goats. When the Sun saw his 
daughters on the meadow, he called to his visitor, saying, “See 
those mountain-goats!” The young man arose when he saw 
the mountain-goats. He wished to kill them. The Sun advised 
him to walk up the right-hand side of the mountain, saying that 
the left-hand side was dangerous. The young man carried his 
bow and arrow. The Sun said, “Do not use your own arrows! 
Mine are much better.” Then they exchanged arrows, the 
Sun giving him four arrows of his own. The points of these 
arrows were made of coal." 

Now the young man began to climb the mountain. When 
he came up to the goats, he took one of the arrows, aimed it, 
and shot. It struck the animals, but fell down without killing 
it. The same happened with the other arrows. When he had 
spent all his arrows, they rushed up to him from the four sides, 
intending to kill him. His only way of escape was in the direc- 
tion of the precipice.*? They rushed up to him, and pushed 
him down the steep mountain. He fell headlong, but when he 
was halfway down he transformed himself into a ball of bird’s 
down." He alighted gently on a place covered with many 
stones. There he resumed the shape of a man, arose, and ran 
into the house of the Sun to get his own arrows. He took them, 
climbed the mountain again, and found the mountain-goats 
on the same meadow. He shot them and killed them, and threw 
them down the precipice; then he returned. He found the 

goats at the foot of the precipice, and cut off their feet. He 
took them home. He found the Sun sitting in front of the 
house. He offered him the feet, saying, “Count them, and see 
how many I have killed.”” The Sun counted them and now he 
knew that all his children were dead. Then he cried, “You 
killed my children!” Then the youth took the bodies of the 
goats, fitted the feet on, and threw the bodies into a little river 
that was running past the placé where they had fallen down. 
Thus they were restored to life. He had learned this art in 
the country of the Salmon. Then he said to the girls, “Now 
run to see your father! ‘He is wailing for you.’’ They gave 
him a new name, saying, “He has restored us to life.’’ The 
boy followed them. Then the Sun said, when he entered, “‘ You 
shall marry my two eldest daughters.”’ 

On the next morning the people arose. Then the Sun said 
to them, “What shall I do to my son-in-law?” "3 He called 
him, and said, “Let us raise the trap of my salmon-weir.” 
They went up to the river in the Sun’s canoe. The water of 
the river was boiling. The youth was in the bow of the canoe, 
while the Sun was steering. He caused the canoe to rock, in- 
tending to throw the young man into the water. The water 
formed a small cascade, running down over the weir. He told 
the young man to walk over the top of the weir in order to 
reach the trap. He did so, walking over the top beam of the 
weir. When he reached the baskets, the beam fell over, and 
he himself fell into the water.%4 The Sun saw him rise twice 
in the whirlpool just below the weir. When he did not see him 
rise again, he turned his canoe, and thought, ‘Now the boy 
has certainly gone to Nuskyakek.’’ The Sun returned to his 
house, and said to his daughters, ‘“‘I lost my son-in-law in the 
river. I was not able to find him.’’ Then his daughters were 
very sad. 

When the boy disappeared in the water, he was carried to 
Nuskyakek; and he resumed the shape of a salmon while in 
the water, and as soon as he landed he resumed human shape 
and returned to his wife. The Sun saw him coming, and was 
much surprised. In the evening they went to sleep. On the 
following morning the Sun thought, “How can I kill my son-. 
in-law?” After a while he said to him, “Arise! We will go and 
split wood for fuel.’” He took his tools. They launched their 
canoe, and went down the river to the sea. When they reached 

there, it was perfectly calm. There were many snags embedded 
in the mud in the mouth of the river, some of which were only 
half submerged. They selected one of these snags a long dis- 
tance from the shore, and began to split it. Then the Sun in- 
tentionally dropped his hammer into the water, and thought 
at the same time, “Do not fall straight down, but fall sideways, 
so that he will have much difficulty in finding you.” Then he 
sat down in his canoe, and said, “Oh! I lost my old hammer. 
I had it at the time when the Sun was created.’’ He looked 
down into the water, and did not say a word. After a while he 
said to the young man, “Do you know how to dive? "5 Can 
you get my hammer? The water is not very deep here.”” The 
young man did not reply. Then the Sun continued, “I will 
not go back without my hammer.” Then the boy said, “I 
know how to dive. If you so wish, I will try to get it.’” The 
Sun promised to give him supernatural power if he was able 
to bring the hammer back. The youth jumped into the water, 
and then the Sun ordered the sea to rise, and he called the cold 
wind to make the water freeze. It grew so cold that a sheet of 
ice a fathom thick was formed at once on top of the sea. “Now,” 
he thought, “I certainly have killed you!” He left his canoe 
frozen up in the ice, and went home. He said to his daughters, 
“T have lost my son-in-law. He drifted away when the cold 
winds began to blow down the mountains. I have also lost my 
little hammer.’ But when he mentioned his hammer, his 
daughters knew at once what had happened. The young man 
found the hammer, and after he had obtained it he was going 
to return to the canoe, but he struck his head against the ice, 
and was unable to get out. He tried everywhere to find a crack. 
Finally he found a very narrow one. He transformed himself 
into a fish, and came out of the crack. He jumped about on 
the ice in the form of a fish, and finally resumed his own shape. 

He went back to the Sun’s house, carrying the hammer. 
The Sun was sitting in front of the fire, his knees drawn up, 
and his legs apart. His eyes were closed, and he was warming 
himself. The young man took his hammer and threw it right 
against his stomach, saying, “Now take better care of your 
treasures.” The young man scolded the Sun, saying, “Now 
stop trying to kill me. If you try again, I shall kill you. Do 
you think I am an ordinary man? You cannot conquer me.”’ 

The Sun did not reply. 

In the evening he said to his son-in-law, “I hear a bird 
singing, which I should like very much to have.” *° The young 
man asked, “What bird is it?”” The Sun replied, “I do not 
know it. Watch it early to-morrow morning.” The young 
man resolved to catch the bird. Very early in the morning he 
arose, then he heard the bird singing outside. He knew at 
once that it was the ptarmigan. He left the house, and thought, 
“I wish you would come down!” Then the bird came down, 
and when it was quite near by he shot it. He hit one of its 
wings, intending to catch it alive. He waited for the Sun to 
arise. The bird understood what the young man said, who 
thus spoke: ‘“‘The chief here wishes to see you. Do not be 
afraid, I am not going to kill you. The chief has often tried to 
kill me, but he has been unable to do so. You do not need to 
be afraid.’”’ The young man continued, “When it is dark I 
shall tell the Sun to ask you to sit near him, and when he is 
asleep I want you to peck out his eyes.’””? When the Sun arose, 
the youth went into the house carrying the bird, saying, “I 
have caught the bird; now I hope you will treat it kindly. It 
will awaken us when it is time to arise. When you lie down, 
let it sit down near you, then it will call you in the morning.” 

In the evening the Sun asked the bird to sit down next to 
his face. When he was asleep, the bird pecked out his eyes 
without his knowing it. Early in the morning he heard the 
bird singing. He was going to open his eyes, but he was not 
able to do so. Then he called his son, saying, “The bird has 
blinded me.’’ The young man jumped up and went to his 
father-in-law, and said, ““Why did you wish for the bird? Do 
you think it is good? It is a bad bird. It has pecked out your 
eyes.”” He took the bird and carried it outside, and thanked it 
for having done as it was bidden. Then the bird flew away. 

When it was time for the Sun to start on his daily course, he 
said, “I am afraid I might fall, because I cannot see my way.” 
For four days he staid in his house. He did not eat, he was very 
sad. Then his son-in-law made up his mind to cure him. He 
did not do so before, because he wanted to punish him for his 
badness. He took some water, and said to his father-in-law, 
“T will try to restore your eyesight.’’ He threw the water | 
upon his eyes, and at once his eyes were healed and well.279 
He said, “Now you can see what power I have. The water 
with which I have washed my face has the power to heal 

diseases. While I was in the country of the Salmon, I bathed in 
the water in which the old Salmon bathed, in order to regain 
youth, therefore the water in which I wash makes everything 
young and well.’”’ s° From this time on, the Sun did not try 
to do any harm to the young man. 

Finally he wished to return to his father’s village. He left 
the house, and jumped down through the hole in heaven. His 
wife saw him being transformed into a ball of eagle-down, 
which floated down gently. Then her father told her to climb 
as quickly as she could down his eyelashes. She did so, and 
reached the ground at the same time as her husband. He met 
his younger brother, who did not recognize him. He had been 
in heaven for one year.