33. The Princess and the Mouse

It was soon after the Deluge. A new town was built in the same place where the old town had been before the Deluge, and the people grew up and became numerous in the same town at Prairie Town. They had a great chief who had a beautiful daughter. Her mother and her father loved her very much. The girl grew up, and many princes wanted to marry her; but her parents refused them, for the chief wanted his daughter to marry a high prince. The chief watched her in the night, lest some one visit her. Her father made her bed above his own bed. She went up early every evening, and woke up late every morning, as her parents ordered her to do, When she wanted to take a walk in her father’s village, she invited some young women to walk with her. She did so once every year. The name of this girl’s mother was G̣undâx, and her own name was Su-dā’°ł.

Thus many years passed. One night the princess felt that some one came to her, and she saw a young man by her side. Before daybreak the young man went out, and the princess staid in bed until very late. The following night the young man came again, and she loved him very much. Every night he came to her.

One night it occurred to the young princess that she wanted to know who the young man was who came to her every night. Therefore she watched him early in the morning; and when the young man arose, he was transformed into a mouse, which went through the knot-hole above her bed. Then she felt very much troubled.

She was with child; and when her time came, her father asked his wife the name of the man who had been with his daughter. Her mother asked the young woman, but she did not tell her. Therefore her father invited all the best woodworkers and told them to make a box. They did so, and calked it with gum. When they had finished it, they brought it to the chief. The chief ordered his attendants to take it down to the bank of the river.

Then the great chief told his men to bring down all his wealth; and they brought down ten costly coppers and many elk skins, marten blankets, and all kinds of expensive garments. They put the costly coppers in the bottom of the box, and spread over them elk skins and marten garments, and skins of many other animals. Then they put the princess into the box and tied it up, by order of the great chief, and they threw her into the river, and the strong current took the box down the river. The great chief was very much ashamed on account of what his only daughter had done. Then the whole village mourned for the young princess.

Now the box drifted down river to the sea. The young woman was still alive in the box. For many days she floated on the water. One day the young woman felt that her box was being moved by great waves. She felt it going up and down the great waves on a sandy beach, and soon she felt that her box struck the ground.

Now another noble family was encamped on this sandbar on Queen Charlotte Islands. His family had lost their young daughter not many days before, and the great chieftainess was mourning for her day by day. Early in the morning the chieftainess went out walking along the beach; and when she came round the sandy point, she sat down there, weeping; and while she was sitting there weeping, when she opened her eyes, she beheld a large object just under high-water mark. She stopped crying and went down to the place where the large object lay; and when she came to it, she recognized a large bundle of goods. She went back to her husband without touching the large bundle, and she said that she had found a large bundle on the beach.

They ran down together; and when they came to the place, they saw elk skins around it. They took their knives and cut the thongs with which it was tied. Then something moved inside. They opened the skins one by one; and as soon as the last one was off, many mice ran out of the bundle to the shore.

Then the chief and his wife ran back full of fear; but as soon as all the mice were out, they saw a lovely princess lying in there. She smiled when she saw the two people standing over her. Therefore they said, “His is our daughter that was dead. She has come back to life.” So they took her to their camp and carried up the costly things. They found costly coppers in the bottom of the box.

Now the noble family was very happy because they had found again their beloved daughter. They loved her very much. The chief invited all the chiefs on Queen Charlotte Islands, and he gave his newly-found daughter the name of his late daughter. The chief had a nephew, a very excellent young man. Therefore the chief’s nephew wanted to marry his uncle’s daughter.

Now we will turn to the mice. The many mice were the children of the young woman, which she had from her sweetheart in her father’s house at the head of Skeena River.

Now her cousin married her on Queen Charlotte Islands, and she had a son, whom she called Yoihetk; and another son was born to her, whom she called Gamalukt; and still another son was born to her, whom she called G̣ayaa. Then the chief, the father of the young woman, who had found her on the sand beach, died; and after the chief had died, another son was born to her, and she called him Bax.

Not very long after this the wife of the chief also died, when she was very old. Then another child was born to her, whom she called Su-dā’°ł. Now these children were growing up together. The youngest children were playing about in the house, while the mother of these children’s father was sitting by the fire. Then one of the little children fell against her grandmother’s back, so that she fell to the ground by the fire. As soon as she opened her eyes, she scolded her grandchildren, and said, “Nobody knows your family. You come from a country far away, you foolish, common people!”

All these children were of a noble family, therefore their mother had given them noble names. The children cried, and their mother asked them what had happened. Then the elder girl told her mother what their grandmother had said to them, and the young woman went out and cried in the woods behind the house late in the evening; and the young mother came in again when her eldest son came home from hunting. He asked her what made her so sad, and his mother told him what his grandmother had said to his younger sisters. Then the young man questioned her further, and his mother told her story. She said to him, “His is not our tribe. Our people live far away at the head of a great river. Our family is a noble family in a large town, where there are many people, and your grandfather’s house is in the center of the town. It is a large carved house, and my uncle’s houses are on each side of my father’s house. I want you to go back to my country and to my people. Take all your brothers and your two sisters with you!”

The eldest son agreed to do what his mother said. Therefore he asked his father to make for him a good-sized canoe. His father did as his son had requested. He made a very good canoe for him; and after the canoe was finished, they made ready to go. The father of the children was very sorry to know that all his children were going to leave him. Before they set out, their mother took them to the sandbar at Rose Point. She pointed with her finger a little south of sunrise, and said, ‘Keep the head of your canoe in this direction; and when you reach the mouth of a great river, make a pole with which to punt up the river; and after you have passed a great canyon up river, you will reach a great town. That is the town of your relatives.”

Soon after she had given them this advice, the children started across the sea. For two days they paddled across the strait. Then they came to a passage between two large islands. They still kept the head of the canoe a little south of sunrise, and then they arrived at the mouth of a great river which had been unknown to them before. They did as their mother had commanded them; and when they camped in a certain place, they prepared a pole to use on the river. On the following morning they started again, going up the river. Their father had loaded their canoe with meat of seals, sea lions, halibut, and all kinds of sea animals, also with shellfish. They went up the river day after day. Now they arrived at a large canyon, as their mother had told them, and after four days they had passed through the canyon. Another day passed, and they saw a large town before them. Toward evening they arrived below the large town and camped there; and before they walked up on the trail that led up to the town, they turned their good canoe upside down, and it was transformed into a little hill, and all the animals were changed into stones, which are there up to this day.

In the evening they walked up to the village. at the time when all the young people of the village were walking on the street. Then this noble family walked up and down, and nobody knew who these strangers were. They saw a large house in the center of the town, and their mother had told them that this was them grandfather’s house. They met a young man, whom they asked, “To whom does this large house belong?” The young man told them that it was a great chief’s house. The eldest son understood the language of his mother, while the rest used the Haida language. Then the young man ran into the chief’s house and told him that some strangers were standing outside—four young men and two young women. Therefore the chief sent four of his young men to call them in. The messenger went out on the street and told them that the chief invited them to come in. Then the chief ordered his men to spread a good mat by the side of his large fire, and they sat down there. Then the eldest son inquired if a chief of this town had cast out his daughter years ago on the river, and the new chief remembered that his uncle had cast out his only daughter on the river years ago. Therefore they said, “Yes, we do remember it.’ Then the eldest son said, “We are her children.”

The whole village was astir that night, and the new chief invited all the old men, and he told them that these four princes and two princesses were the grandchildren of his late uncle. The wise men asked the princes for their names, and the eldest one told-them his own name, Yoihetk; the second brother’s name, Gamalukt; the third brother’s name, G̣ayaa: the fourth one’s, Bax-gwan; the elder girl’s name, G̣undâx; and the younger girl’s name, Su-dā’°ł. He told them that their mother had given them these names. Then all the wise men received them gladly. They lived in their grandfather’s house, and all the people loved them very much.

Now we will turn again to the mother of the young princes and of the princesses on Queen Charlotte Islands. As soon as her children had gone away, she went into the woods weeping. She wandered away. While she was walking in the woods, she came upon a narrow trail. There she met some young people, good-looking young people, who asked her, “Why are you so sad?” She told them what had happened to all her children. She said, “All my children have gone to our old home, and I am left alone in this strange land, without relatives. I have only my husband.” Therefore these young people said, “We are your children, too. Don’t be so sorrowful! Come with us to our house, and you shall see how many children you have with you in this strange country!”

Therefore the woman went with them. They came to a large town, and crowds of people assembled around her. When all the people had assembled, one of them spoke: “Now, my dear mother, we all are your children. Our old grandfather cast you into the river, and us too. Therefore we are here. We can not go back to our own native country, therefore we built a town here. You shall stay with us here, for you brought us to this side. We will keep you as long as you live.”

The woman, however, wanted to bring her husband with her, but: they would not allow it. Then the woman agreed to their request. His town was the town of the many Mice—the children of the woman and her Mouse lover, who came to her in her father’s house in her native land, when she was young. Now they had a dance in their house to comfort their mother, and they danced day by day. Soon after their meal every morning they would dance.

One day the husband of this woman went into the woods to search for his wife, but he could not find her. He went on day after day. One day the woman went back of her children’s town to refresh herself, as she used to do every day. Then she thought that she heard a low moan a little distance away, that called her name. She recognized her husband’s voice, and went toward the voice secretly. She heard him, and then she called him to come. He embraced her, but his wife told him her whole story, and said that her children were dancing. So the man was very anxious to see the dance. She hastened to go home. Her husband would not let her go, but asked her to come back to his own home, but she would not go. She said, “Go away, for my children will kill you! They will soon come to look for me.” The man, however, still held her in his arms. At last four young men came to call their mother to the house. They saw the man with their mother, and they said that they must kill him. But their mother said, ‘Not so, my children! Be kind to him. He is my husband. He is like your father. He wishes very much to see your dance.” Then they agreed to their mother’s request. They said, “We will allow him four days in our midst. Then he must go away to his own house.” Evening came, and they began to dance until late at night. Thus this man learned their song and the dances that they had. The whole village was asleep in the daytime; but before dusk they awoke, took their meal, and after they had eaten they began to dance. All the people of the village came to the house where their mother was, and danced there all night until daybreak.

At the end of four days they sent the man back to his own home, and they said, “After four days more we shall send our mother back to you;” and the Chief Mouse commanded him: “Don’t maltreat any mouse when you human beings see one on your way or in your house, lest you be beset by dangers, for all the mice on this island are of noble blood. Therefore if any human being does something bad to a mouse, we shall kill him. I will give you a dancing-feather, a neckband, and a skin drum. Then you shall teach your people how to dance.”

As soon as the Chief Mouse had spoken, the man left and went to his own home. Then all his people came to him into his house, and the man taught them his song. When all his people knew how to sing this song, he put on his eagle feather and his necklace, then he began to dance; and all his people came to see him—men, women, and children—and everybody was delighted to see this dance.

At the end of four days the wife also came. She was a good singer, therefore all the women stood around her to learn her songs, and she taught them. Thus all the different villages on Queen Charlotte Islands learned how to dance, because the Mouse taught them. When the chiefs of all the tribes assembled at a dance in a chief’s town, the singers assembled in his house. Thus the chief became the head of his people, and they had dances all the time. That is the end.