12. The Feast of the Mountain Goats

When the people lived in our own village on the upper course of Skeena River, which is named Prairie Town, there were many hunters among them. They often went out hunting, and succeeded in catching many animals. Among them were six brothers who were very good hunters. Every fall they used to go hunting mountain goats, and they killed many goats at a time. They took only the kidney fat and intestine fat of the goats, and left all the meat. behind.

The goats were distressed by their actions, for the hunters did not burn either bones or meat. The six brothers did this every fall. In the following spring they went up the same mountain and killed Many mountain goats, as they had done before, and they caught a kid and took it down to their home. Then the children took the kid to the river and threw it out into the water. The poor little thing tried to swim ashore; but as soon as it got ashore, the children took it again and threw it into the water, and they laughed when they saw how funny the little kid looked when it was swimming.

The children did so many times, and the little kid was very cold. Then the children built a fire, and let the kid Le down on one side of it to get warm; and some of the’ children pushed the kid into the fire, so that the hair began to burn, and then threw it again into the water, and they shouted with pleasure.

Then a young man came down to hear what the noise of the children meant. He went down to the children that were playing with the little kid, and he took the poor little kid out of their hands, and rubbed its hair with his hands to wipe off the water from the wool. The name of this young man was Really Black[1] He guided the kid way back from the village until they reached the foot of a high mountain, and he said, “Go on, supernatural one, go on!”

The people forgot what the children had done to the kid; and before the next fall drew near, messengers came down to the village. They went to every house, and invited everybody—men, women, and children and old people—and told them to go and build a new village at the foot of a high mountain, right on the prairie.

The people of the town received this message gladly, and the chiefs invited the messengers into their houses, as was the custom. On the following morning the people were ready to go. They followed the messengers until the evening, going along the prairie, as the messengers told them; and before evening they saw a large new house, and sparks flying out of the smoke hole of the large house. The messengers ran ahead, and a great multitude of people came out and stood on the prairie a little way from the front of the large house, waiting for the people to meet them. When the other messengers came up and met them, they went towards the building; and before the guests entered the building, the people all came out dancing, as is the custom when a chief invites another tribe. The dancers wore headdresses representing mountain goats, and their blankets were goat skins. After they had danced, the people went into the house: and while

going into the house, they sang a song, as is their custom and when they were all in, one of the young men came along and went to meet the youth whose name was Really Black, and spoke to him. “Friend, I want you to go with me, and let us sit on the other side of that post there!” They went together, and sat down behind the post. Then the chief began to dance, and they sang the first song accompanying the chief’s dance; and a beautiful mountain stood in the middle of the building, inside the house.

When the first song was ended, they began another one; and this is their song:[1]

When the next song began, behold! a mountain goat was seen coming along the mountain, with one horn on its head. It came down from the top of the mountain, jumping, until it reached the foot of the mountain; and all the people said, “It looks like a real mountain goat.”

When the last song was being sung, the Mountain Goat leaped in front of the guests, and kicked the front of the house. He leaped to one side and kicked it again; and the house and the whole floor broke down, and all the people were destroyed alongside the high mountain. Only the one youth, Really Black, was saved. He had been sitting behind the house post, which had now become a little spruce tree way up on a high mountain.

There was no way of escape for him, for the rocks were very steep above and below. He began to look down below, and on the next morning he was crying for fear; but his friend lay by his side, sleeping soundly, until the sun was high up in the sky. While the youth Really Black was still weeping, the young man who was sleeping by his side woke up, and said, “What is the matter with you, friend?” and Really Black, full of fear, said, “It is because all my people have been buried by this steep mountain, and I have no way of escape from this steep place.”

Then the youth who had been asleep said, “Do you know who invited your people in?” Really Black said, ‘No.’ Then the

youth replied, “The Mountain Goats have done it, because they were distressed by your people hunting them every year and catching them; for the hunters did not take them home, but left them among the mountains; and there the bones of the Mountain Goats would decay and be scattered about, instead of being burned—meat, skins, bones. and all. Therefore the Goats took vengeance on your people. You, however, are the one who took pity on me when the children of your people threw me out into the river last spring, and you kindly led me away, back to yonder village, to enjoy my freedom, and therefore L will help you from this steep mountain. Do not be afraid. You shall get down safely. I shall give you my blanket.”

Really Black felt encouraged by what his friend said to him, but still he was full of fear. The young Goat put on his skin, and said, “I shall show you what to do.” Before he leaped, he said, “On the thumb?!” and then turned his head towards a deep chasm in the rock. He leaped again, and said, *On the sand!” and so on, until he came down. Then Really Black lost sight of him.

He began to ery again and to weep, for he had lost sight of his friend, and he sat down by the little spruce tree; and while he was crying bitterly, a young Goat came down from above him from the top of a high sliding mountain, and he came to the man who was full of fear, and said, “You see there is no danger in it. Try it!’ Then the poor man took the Goat’s garment with fear and trembling, and put it on himself. The young Goat told him not to be afraid, and that no harm would befall him. He gave his friend good advice: “Before you leap, say these words, ‘On the thumb;’ and when you leap to the other side, then say, ‘On the sand;’ and repeat these words all along until you get down safely; and when you get down safely, pick out your relatives among the bodies. Put them in good order, as many as you want to live. When you have done so, jump over the bodies until they come back to life. You shall jump over them four times; and hang my blanket on a branch of the tree below, and then go home with your relatives and your people.” Thus spoke the young Goat to his friend Really Black.

As soon. as the speech of Really Black’s friend was ended, he started, and said, as his friend had commanded him. He said, ‘On the thumb!” Then he jumped, wearing the skin of the young Goat, and his foot stuck firmly to the rock. Then he turned his head another way; and before he leaped he said, “On the sand!” and his foot stuck. Then he went down without fear, and soon came to the foot of the high steep mountain. There he gathered the bodies of his relatives, (put them in good order as his friend the Goat had commanded him, and he jumped over them four times, and all the bodies came back to life.) Then the young man Really Black Raven Feather hung his friend’s blanket on the branch of a tree, and they all went home,

On the following day the young man called all his relatives, and they went to the foot of the steep mountain, where the bones of the goats lay, piled them up, and burned them all; and they walked around the burnt bones. They also burned the meat and the skins.

In those days the people did not speak badly of animals of any kind. They burned the bones and the meat of the animals, and did not leave the bones on the mountains. It is said that when a hunter burned the bones and meat, then the animals would recover from their sickness; but as long as the bones lay scattered on the ground, then the animals’ sickness would grow worse and worse, and they could not be cured. His is what the young Goat told his friend behind the little spruce tree on the slope of the sliding mountain. His is the end.