2. The Meeting of the Wild Animals[1]
A long time ago, when the Tsimshian lived on the upper Skeena River, in Prairie Town, there were many people. They were the most clever and the strongest among all the people, and they were good hunters, and caught many animals, going hunting the whole year round. Therefore all the animals were in great distress on account of the hunters.
Therefore the animals held a meeting. The Grizzly Bear invited all the large animals to his house, and said to them, “We are distressed, and a calamity has befallen us on account of the hunting of these people, who pursue us into our dens. Therefore it is in my mind to ask Him Who Made Us to give us more cold in winter, so that no hunter may come and kill us in our dens. Let Him Who Made Us give to our earth severe cold!” Thus spoke the Grizzly Bear to his guests. Then all the large animals agreed to what the chief had said, and the Wolf spoke: “I have something to say. Let us invite all the small animals, -even such as Porcupine, Beaver, Raccoon, Marten, Mink, down to the small animals such as the Mouse, and the Insects that move on the earth,—for they might come forth and protest against us, and our advice might come to nought!” Thus spoke the large Wolf to the large animals in their council.
Therefore on the following day the large animals assembled on an extensive prairie, and they called all the small animals, down to the insects; and all the small animals and the insects assembled and sat down on one side of the plain, and the large animals were sitting on the other side of the plain. Panther came, Grizzly Bear, Black Bear, Wolf, Elk, Reindeer, Wolverene—all kinds of large animals.
Then the chief speaker, Grizzly Bear, arose, and said, ‘Friends, IT will tell you about my experiences.” Thus he spoke te the small animals and to the insects. “You know very well how we are afflicted by the people who hunt us on mountains and hills, even pursuing us into our dens. Therefore, my brothers, we have assembled (he meant the large animals). On the previous day I called them all, and I told them what [ I had in my mind. I said, ‘Let us ask Him Who Made Us to give to our earth cold winters, colder than ever, so that the people who hunt us can not come to our dens and kill us and you!’ and my brothers agreed. Therefore we have called you, and we tell you about our council.” Thus spoke the Grizzly Bear. Moreover, he said, “Now I will ask you, large animals, is this so?”
Then the Panther spoke, and said, “I fully agree to this wise counsel,” and all the large animals agreed. Then the Grizzly Bear
turned to the small animals, who were seated on one side of the prairie, and said, “We want to know what you have to say in this matter.” Then the small animals kept quiet, and did not reply to the question. After they had been silent for a while, one of their speakers, Porcupine, arose, and said, ‘Friends, let me say a word or two to answer your question. Your counsel is very good for yourselves, for you have plenty of warm fur, even for the most severe cold, but look down upon these little insects. They have no fur to warm themselves in winter; and how can small insects and other small animals obtain provisions if you ask for severe cold in winter? Therefore I say this, don’t ask for the greatest cold.’ Then he stopped speaking and sat down.
Then Grizzly Bear arose, and said, “We will not pay any attention to what Porcupine says, for all the large animals agree.” Therefore he turned his head toward the large animals, and said, ° Did you agree when we asked for the severest cold on earth?” and all the large animals replied, “We all consented. We do not care for what Porcupine has said.”
Then the same speaker arose again, and said, ‘Now, listen once more! [ I will ask you just one question.” Thus spoke Porcupine “How will you obtain plants to eat if you ask for very severe cold? And if it is so cold, the roots of all the wild berries will be withered and frozen, and all the plants of the prairie will wither away, owing to the frost of winter. How will you be able to get food? You are large animals, and you always walk about among the mountains wanting something to eat. Now, if your request is granted for severe cold every winter, you will die of starvation in spring or in summer; but we shall live, for we live on the bark of trees, and our smallest persons find their food in the gum of trees, and the smallest insects find their food in the earth.”
After he had spoken, Porcupine put his thumb into his mouth and bit it off, and said, “Confound it!” and threw his thumb out of his mouth to show the large animals how clever he was, and sat down again, full of rage. Therefore the hand of the porcupine has only four fingers, no thumb.
All the large animals were speechless, because they wondered at the wisdom of Porcupine. Finally Grizzly Bear arose, and said, “It is true what you have said.” Thus spoke Grizzly Bear to Porcupine, and all the large animals chose Porcupine to be their wise man and to be the first among all the small animals; and they all agreed that. the cold in winter should be as much as it is now. They made six months for the winter and six months for summer.
Then Porcupine spoke again out of his wisdom, and said, ‘In winter we shall have ice and snow. In spring we shall have showers of rain, and the plants shall be green. In summer we shall have warmer weather, and all the fishes shall go up the rivers. In the fall the leaves shall fall; it shall rain, and the rivers and brooks shall overflow their banks. Then all the animals, large and small, and those that creep on the ground, shall go into their dens and hide themselves for six months.” Thus spoke the wise Porcupine to all the animals. Then they all agreed to what Porcupine had proposed.
They all joyfully went to their own homes. Thus it happens that all the wild animals take to their dens in winter, and that all the large animals are in their dens in winter. Only Porcupine does not hide in a den in winter, but goes about visiting his neighbors, all the different kinds of animals that go to their dens, large animals as well as small ones.
The large animals refused the advice that Porcupine gave; and Porcupine was full of rage, went to those animals that. had slighted him, and struck them with the quills of his tail, and the large animals were killed by them. Therefore all the animals are afraid of Porcupine to this day. That is the end.
3. The Story of the Porcupine-Hunter
There was a great porcupine-hunter in one of the Indian villages. Every year, carly in the fall, he went to hunt porcupines, beeause they were excellent food in those days among the Indians. Every fall he killed many and dried their meat and fat; and in winter-time people from various villages came to him to buy dried meat from him, and he became a very rich man. He had many valleys for his hunting-ground, and he built a hut in each valley to dry meat and tallow. He had four valleys as his hunting-ground. Every year he went to his first camp: and after he had killed all the porcupines there, he went to the next camp; and when he had killed all there, he went to another camp; and so on—He made a good club of yew wood with which to club porcupines after smoking them out of their dens; and when they ran out, he clubbed them and slew them.
Therefore all the porcupines were in distress on account of this man. One year this hunter started earlier than other years. He went to camp in his four valleys, and obtained a great number of porcupines. When he had filled three of his huts, he went to his last hunting-ground; and as soon as he arrived there, he went out alone to look over the large rock above his hut; and when he arrived there, he saw a large porcupine of brown color going around the foot of a large spruce tree which stood in front of the rock. He ran after it, and, behold! there was a large door opened for him, and a large fire was burning in the center of a large house. He was invited in; so he entered. and they spread a mat on one side of the fire; and a great chief was there, seated in the rear of his house. He ordered his young men, and said, ‘Run around the village and invite all the women to my house, that I may dance and welcome my guest!’ So they went. When all the women were in, the Porcupine arose and began to dance; and the song-leader began to sing, ‘Pronounce my name, pronounce my name! Strike. strike!”
[Partition musicale non reprise.]
Porcupine ran around his own large fire; and after he had sung, he stood in front of his guest, and said to him, “Pronounce my name. brother! What is my name?” Thus he said, while he stood in front of him. Then the hunter said, ‘Your name is Little Porcupine.”—“Yes, my name is that,” said Chief Porcupine, and struck the hunter’s face with his spiny tail.
Then they began to sing again, and Chief Porcupine danced once more, while the hunter’s face was full of porcupine quills. At the end of the song the chief stopped in front of the hunter, and said. “Now, brother, what is my name?” The hunter said, “Your name is Little Ugly Porcupine.” Again the chief struck the hunter’s face with his spiny tail, and said, “That is my name.”
They sang again, and Chief Porcupine ran around the fire, while his attendants kept on singing. Again he stopped in front of the hunter, and said, “What is my name, brother?” The man said, “Your name is Little Burnt One.” Again the chief struck him with his spiny tail, saying, “Yes, that is my name,” and the hunter’s face was full of porcupine quills. It was swollen so that he could hardly see out of his eyes.
Again Chief Porcupine ran around the fire while they were singing, and again he stopped in front of the hunter, and asked, “What is my name, brother?” Then the poor hunter said, “Your name is Little Lean Fellow.”—“Yes, that is my name,” said Porcupine, and struck the hunter’s face with his spiny tail.
He ran around again, and his attendants kept on singing, for this was the last chance for the man’s life. Then somebody touched him softly. It was the Mouse Woman. She asked him, ‘Do you know who has punished you?” The poor blind hunter said, “No.’—‘It is the chief of the Porcupines,” said Mouse Woman, “because you killed so many in years past.” The Mouse Woman was speaking to him while Porcupine was singing. ‘Now, this is the last time. At the end of the song the Porcupines will strike you all over your body with their spiny tails if you do not give the right answer to the chief’s question. His name is Sea Otter On Green Mountain.”
While the Mouse Woman was still talking to him, the singing ceased, and all the Porcupines were ready to rush on him, Then the chief stopped in front of him, and said, “Now, what is my name, dear man?” Then the poor man answered in a low voice, ‘Your name is Sea Otter On Green Mountain.”
Then Chief Porcupine ordered his people to wash the face of the poor man; and all the Porcupines worked at his face, and took out the green contents of the stomach of the first wife of Chief Porcupine, and they rubbed it on the face of the hunter, for it was full of quills. Then the quills came out again by themselves: and they took the contents of the stomach of the second wife of Chief Porcupine and rubbed it on his face, and more quills came out, and the man’s face became better than it had been before. Then the contents of the stomach of the third wife was rubbed on his face, and the swelling on his face became less, the quills became loose and fell out. Then the contents of the stomach of the fourth wife was rubbed on his face, and all the quills came out. Not a single one remained in the face of the hunter.
Chief Porcupine had been chewing new green leaves. Then he spat in his hands and rubbed the face of the man, whose face became as beautiful as it had been when he was a boy. Then Chief Porcupine ordered his attendants to give food to the hunter. Therefore they brought fat mountain-sheep meat and many different kinds of food, and fruits of all kinds; and when the hunter felt satisfied after he had eaten, the chief said to him, “I will be your friend. My people are full of sorrow because you have slain great numbers of them, so I have taken you into my house to kill you right here; but since you have pronounced my chief’s name rightly, [ I will spare your life. Now, I will ask you kindly not to smoke the porcupines out of their dens; and if you need porcupine meat, do not kill so many of them; and when you have killed one or more, dry their meat in a good fire and eat them before winter sets in, so that my people may not have any sickness in winter, and cast their bones into the fire; and do not Jet your voung people eat the heads of young porcupines, lest they become forgetful.”
Therefore the Indians know how to use the contents of the stomach of the porcupine when porcupine quills stick in the bodies of our people.
Then the hunter went out from that place to his own hut, where his wife was sitting weeping because her husband had been away for many days. While the woman was sitting there, she heard a noise at the door. She turned her face, and saw her husband come in. She was surprised, and questioned him, and the hunter told her that he had been to the house of Chief Porcupine. Then they moved and went home. They took all the porcupine meat from the other camps; and when he had taken them all home, he invited the people to his house, and told them what had happened and how he had been punished in the house of Chief Porcupine.
Therefore the people nowadays know that the Porcupine is troubled by the people. Porcupine is an animal that knows how to sing. Porcupines know every tune in existence.