40. The Story of Asdiłda and Ōmen

A long time ago there was a village called Dzī’gwa. There lived a chief and his wife. They had two children, a boy and a girl. The boy was called Asdiłda, and the girl was named Omen (Dirks).

One day the prince called his three friends, and they went up the river of Dzī’gwa in their canoe to fish for trout, as they used to do every spring. The prince was seated in the bow of the canoe, two of his friends in the middle, and one at the stern. They went up the river until they arrived at their fishing-ground. Then the prince looked down into the clear water, and saw many trout under the canoe. He took his two-pronged fishing-spear. The prince wore his valuable hat. The hat was very expensive, and was called Cormorant Hat. It was covered with costly abalone shells; and nobody was allowed to wear the hat except this prince, as a crest of his family. He speared a good many trout, and at last a large trout came up. He tried to spear it; but before he succeeded, his valuable hat fell down, and the trout was gone. He had missed it. He put his hat on, and looked down again, and saw a large trout come along slowly. He took his spear, and was ready to throw it; but before he could cast his spear, his valuable hat fell off, and he lost sight of the trout. Then he put on his hat again and looked down. He saw another large trout coming up, and he tried to spear it; but before he could do so, the trout was gone, for his hat fell down again, and he lost sight of it. Then he became angry, took off his valuable hat, tore it to pieces, and threw it into the water, and it went down. The steersman, however, took a long pole and fished up the pieces of the valuable hat, and placed them behind himself in the stern of the canoe. Now the prince said, “Let us camp here!” for it was getting evening. They camped at the foot of a large spruce tree, as they were in the habit of camping every spring. They built a fire, and were about to roast some trout for their supper. Soon the trout was cooked, and the friends got skunk-cabbage leaves and spread them on the ground. They used them as dishes to put the roasted trout on. Immediately a frog leaped on the cooked trout and remained sitting on it.

Then the prince became angry with the frog. He took it and threw it into the fire, but the frog jumped out of the big fire. He took the frog again and threw it once more into the fire. The poor thing tried to escape, but in vain, for the young man was stronger than it. At last the frog was killed in the fire; and one of the prince’s friends took the burnt frog away and secretly threw it into the bushes.

Then they had their supper. They lay down and slept; and on the following morning, very early, the prince said to his companions, “Let us go home!” They launched their canoe and started homeward. When they were all aboard, they paddled along. When they were a little distance from the camp, behold! a young woman was seen coming down to the beach behind them. She shouted, saying, “My dears, please take me along with you!’ The woman had her face blackened with charcoal, for she was in mourning. The young man turned back to her, for the prinee was much pleased by the beauty of the young woman. He jumped out of the canoe to take her, and stretched out his hands to embrace her; but the woman vanished, and only a frog leaped away from him.

He went down to his canoe, and they paddled on. When he had gone some distance, they heard somebody crying behind them, saying, “My dears, will you take me along with you?” and the young man stopped. They looked back, and the prince saw a beautiful girl. He said to his companions, ‘Let us turn back and take her along!’ So the canoe turned back toward her. When they arrived near the shore where she had come down to the beach, the prince jumped out of the canoe and walked up to the woman. He stretched out both his arms to embrace her, but she vanished again. Only a frog leaped away from him. He went down to his canoe, and they started again. After they had paddled some time, a woman came down to the beach and shouted, saying, “My dears, please take me along with you!” Then the men stopped, looked back, and saw a good-looking woman coming down. The prince asked them to turn back and to take her aboard. So they turned back and reached the place where she had come down. The prince jumped out and went to meet her, and the woman came down to the beach; and the prince stepped up to her quickly and stretched out his hands to embrace her, but she vanished, and just a frog leaped away from him. He went down to his canoe, and they paddled away; and after they had gone some distance, they heard some one erying behind them, saying, “My dears, take me along with you!” Then the prince answered, “No, you will vanish away from me.’ Thus said the prince to her. And she asked once more to be taken along, but they did not. heed her request. They paddled away as hard as they could.

Then the woman said to them, “My dears, listen to what I say to you!” They stopped and listened. ‘”.As you go along, when you arrive at that point yonder, your prince will fall back and die; when you reach the next point, one of those who sit in the middle of the canoe will die; and before you arrive at the beach of your village, the next man will die, too; and as soon as your steersman finishes telling to vour people the story of what has happened to you, he will die.”

Thus spoke the woman to them. They paddled away from her, laughing, and scorning her, “Ha, ha! you will soon die yourself!” They paddled along, and soon reached the point about which the woman had told. Then the prince fell back and died. His friends paddled along, weeping and sad; and while they were paddling along Weeping, one of those sitting in the middle of the canoe fell back and died also. Now, only two were left) who were paddling along. Before they reached the shore of their village, the next one fell back and died, and only the steersman remained.

When he arrived at the shore, crowds of people came down and questioned him about what had happened to those who had died. The steersman did not say a word, but went up to his father’s house. The people continued to question him as to what had happened to them. As soon as he came into his father’s house, the crowds followed him, and the house was full of the people of the whole village. Then the steersman began his story.

Yesterday, when we arrived at the fishing-ground, our prince, Asdiłda, speared many trout; and before he went to camp, he looked down and saw a large trout coming along. Immediately he took up his harpoon, ready to spear the large trout, but his hat fell over his eyes, and the trout disappeared. His valuable hat fell several times just when he was ready to throw his spear, and the trout was gone. At last he became angry, took off his hat and tore it to pieces, and he threw it into the water; and when I saw the hat sink slowly, I took my pole and fished it up, and put it behind me in the canoe, at the stern.

“In the evening we camped at the foot of a large spruce tree, and built a large fire, ready to cook our supper. We roasted some of the trout, and soon they were done. Then we went for skunk-cabbage leaves, and we spread them on the ground to serve as dishes. Then we put the roasted trout on them. As soon as we sat around there, a frog leaped on the fish; and our prince, Asdiłda, became very angry at the frog, took it, and cast it into the fire. The frog leaped out of the fire, but the prince took it again and threw it in. The frog tried to escape from him, but could not do so. Again the frog tried to leap out of the fire, but the prince took a long pole and pressed it into the fire. The frog tried to escape, but could not do so. He pressed hard, until the poor thing died and was burned.”

The steersman continued, “Then I took the body secretly and threw it into the bushes. Our fire was almost out, and we lay down in our camp to sleep until the following morning. Then we had our breakfast; and after we had eaten, our prince said that we should go back home.

“We started for home; and when we were paddling along from our camp, we heard some one shout behind us.’ Thus said the steersman while the people crowded about him in his own house.

“Then,” said the steersman, “we beheld a young woman, who stood on the beach of our camp, with her face blackened with charcoal as a sign of mourning; and she said, ‘My dears, will you take me along in the canoe?’ Our prince said, ‘Let us turn back and take her with us!’ So we turned back to her; and when we reached the shore, our prince jumped out of the canoe, went to her, and stretched out his arms to embrace her, for he was pleased with her. She had a lovely countenance, and was beautiful to look upon. Therefore the prince put forth his arms to embrace her; but she vanished from our sight, and the prince saw only a frog that leaped away from him. His happened to us three times.

“Then we paddled away from our camp, not heeding her words. She cried out repeatedly after us; and at last she said, ‘My dears, just stop for a while, until I have told you something.’ Then we stopped paddling, and she said, ‘hist listen to what I say. When you reach the point yonder, your prince will fall back and die; and when you reach the other point, one of those seated in the middle of the canoe will die; and the next one will also die before you arrive at home; and your steersman will die as soon as he has finished telling his story to the people.”

Thus said the steersman, and fell back and died.

Then all the people of the village moved away. They took the bodies of the dead and buried them. On the following morning an old woman who lived at the end of the town went to the house of the chief, of the father of the prince who had died. The old woman said, “Send for all the people of the village.” The chief obeyed, and invited all lis people in; and when all the people were in the house, the old woman said, “My dear people, [ I had a dream last night;” and all the people were very anxious to know what the old woman had dreamed. So the people questioned her, and asked what her dream had been. She said, “I had a very bad dream;” and she said to the chief who had lost Ms son, “Dig out the earth in the middle of your house. Dig a deep hole, and put your only daughter into it.” Therefore the chief ordered his people to dig out the ground; and after they had dug a deep hole, they put costly coppers into it first, painted garments, and much property. They put the costly coppers on each side of the pit, and also garments of sea-otter skins, of marten skins, and woven blankets, and many elk skins. Then the girl went into the hole, and they covered it over with blankets, and filled it in over the blankets. As soon as the old woman knew that the princess Omen had been covered with earth, she said, “I saw in my dream that fire fell from heaven and consumed this village. I saw a fire fall on top of that mountain yonder.” And as she pointed to the top of the same mountain, behold! a little firebrand fell down on top of the mountain, and it began to stream down quickly like water from the top of the mountain. The fire went around the village, and the water in front of the village burned like oil. The people of the village could not escape from it. They were all burned up. Only the princess, who was hidden in the hole, was saved; and the old woman also hid herself in the ground.

The princess Omen heard the noise of the fire passing over her while she was sitting in the pit; and when the noise had ceased, she heard the voice of a very old woman coming down erying; and Omen heard the mourning-song of the old woman, and Omen knew that the old woman was weeping on the ground above her; and this is the mourning-song of the old woman:

The girl heard it while she was in the pit. After a little while, she

heard another voice coming along. So she pushed away the cover,

and, behold! she saw a chief tainess holding a cane in her hand. There

was a live frog at the lower end of the cane, and a live person on top

of the live frog, and a live eagle was at the upper end of the cane; and the chieftainess was wearing her large hat made of spruce roots painted green. She walked slowly along, talking with the aged woman. She said to the old woman, “Don’t you know that Asdiłda cast my only child into the fire? Therefore I burned up this village.” She sang—

And she went along all alone, crying while she was walking. After she had repeated her song three times, she put her child’s name into the mourning-song, in the last line of her song. Her name was Dzilā’/°gins. His was the name of the frog that had been thrown into the fire by the prince while he was on his way to fish trout. While the chieftainess was going away, the girl Omen came out from her hiding-place. She had learned well the mourning-song of that chieftainess who had just gone. As soon as she was out of her pit, she looked around, and with deep sorrow she saw that nobody was saved, that the whole village was burned. She went along, not knowing which way to go; but before she went, she put on her garments of sea-otter and of marten skins and the chief’s woven dancing-blankets; and she put in order the costly coppers and the elk skins, which she left in her hiding-place. Then she went off full of sorrow, and singing her own mourning-song. It is as follows:

She went on and on until she came to a large lake; and while she was walking around the lake, she beheld a beautiful garment spread for her on the ground, glittering like the stars of heaven. The garment was full of the foam (4) of living persons; and she put this glittering garment into the mourning-song. She went along, weeping, past the garment: and while she was still going on along the lake, she suddenly heard a great noise coming forth from the water of the lake. It sounded like the rolling of thunder. She looked up, and saw a supernatural halibut coming up out of the water in the shape of a house with carved front, and she put it into her mourning-song. She passed by, going her way, struggling along until she felt weary and faint, because she was starving, and her voice was almost lost on account of her weakness.

After some time Omen came down on the other side of the lake, and she saw a fire burning under the root of a spruce tree. She went toward it, feeling very weak. Her garments were almost gone on account of her long journey. She sat down by the fire, with her back toward it.

On this fire the body of a dead princess of a town near by had been

burned. The only daughter of a chief and his chieftainess had died

and had been burned there. And while the wandering princess was

sitting by the funeral pyre warming herself, a canoe came along with

four people in it. When they saw the princess sitting by the fire,

they passed on toward the village on the other side, and they took

the news to the people of the village, saying that they had seen a

young princess sitting by the funeral pyre; and all the people were

glad, and said that the princess had come back to life. Therefore

the chief and his wife went over to see what had happened there.

They arrived at the beach, and, behold! a princess was sitting down

by the fire. They came ashore as quickly as they could, and the chief

and his wife went up to the fire. Then the whole company, and also

the chieftainess, embraced the girl; and the chieftainess asked her,

“What is your name??? The girl said that her name was Omen,

and so on: and this had been the name of the chieftainess’s only

daughter who had just been burned on the funeral pyre where the wandering princess was sitting.

Then the chief and his wife and his people took her home, full of gladness, and gave a great feast to the people, because his daughter who had been dead a little while previously had come back to life. So the princess lived with her new parents; and after she had been there for some time, her new parents loved her very much, and her father wanted to marry her to one of his nephews.

The following summer, when the strawberries were ripe, all the young women started to pick strawberries on a certain island a little distance away from their village. All the young women left the canoe and went to pick berries on one of these islands. The young princess was left alone in the canoe; and when the whole party began to pick strawberries, the princess, who was alone in the canoe, started to go out to the next island. While she was on her way, a southwesterly gale began to blow, and drove her away. The strong wind drove her canoe away from her new home; and so she arrived in the middle of the great sea, in an entirely unknown part of the world. Then she sang her mourning-song which she had been singing while she wandered away alone, after the fire had consumed her own father’s village. Then she looked, and, behold! a large object like a great eagle came forth from the water, with ten little eagles on the head of the large one. She drifted on until she landed a little distance outside of our old town of Metlakahtla. She reached the shore of the Gridwul-g·â’dz tribe, and their chief took her into his house and married her.

She bore him three sons and two daughters, and she was happy in her new home. The chief who had married her had five wives besides her, so he had six wives altogether. And one day the older wives of the chief quarreled with the princess because the chief loved her most; and the elder wives said to the young princess, “The chief ought not to have married you, for you were driven away by the southwest wind while you were picking strawberries, you Haida slave!’ Thus said the elder wives of the chief to Omen.

Her children grew up. The eldest son used to go out hunting, and they became rich in the foreign land. The boys gave a great. potlatch to all the Tsimshian tribes, and took their names. The eldest son took the name Asdiłda, and the second one took the name Younans. the third one G̣amqagun; and the first girl was named Lu-xsmâks, and the second one Alulał and Sagabin. Then they had another great feast, and Asdiłda made a cormorant headdress covered with abalone shells, like that of the former Asdiłda, which he wore when he was out fishing for trout at Dzī’gwa; and he made a cane like that of the Frog Woman, with the frog at one end, and the live person on the frog, and a live eagle at the upper end; and he made a glittering garment, like the one which his mother saw by the side of a lake, and a supernatural halibut, and the eagle that his mother had seen in midocean while she was being driven away by the southwest wind. Then they gave their mother a new chief’s name, Picking Strawberries and Great Haida Woman. She got these names on account of her quarrel with the elder wives of the chief a little while ago. Therefore these people have these names and crests, and they have their mother’s mourning-song which she sang while escaping from the burnt village.

Many years after this the mother called her children together and told them what had happened to her, She said, “These are not your people. Our people lived on the other side of this land, way out at sea.’ She told them the story about her brother Asdiłda what had happened to him when he was out fishing trout, and how the Frog had burned their village, and how she alone was saved when her father dug a pit and put her into it with much valuable property and six costly coppers, and so on, and how she came to the other village among her relatives who had the same crest, and how she was driven away by the southwest wind, and so on, until she had married the children’s father. Thus spoke the princess to her children.

As soon as she ended her story’, one of the boys said, “Let us go and visit our native land and our relatives there!” Then the eldest one said, “Let our younger brother and our younger sister go to visit them!’ So they made themselves ready and went. Their father the chief bought a new good-sized canoe, large enough to withstand the sea and the wind, and the mother went down with them to the beach. She pointed out the direction with her finger, saying, “You must keep ahead between Dundas Island and Stephens Island; and when you get out to sea, keep ahead in the direction where the sun sets, and the stern toward sunrise: and when you get to the islands, turn your canoe to the southwest. Then you will find your grandfather’s village.” Thus she said to her two children. The children started out, and six slaves went along with them. They went on and on until they passed between the two islands, Dundas and Stevens, and went out to sea, as their mother had told them. Then they turned their canoe to the southwest; and after some time, when the mainland sank out of sight, they saw land ahead of them, and they were glad. On the following morning they landed on the other shore and camped for a while. They went on, turning their canoe southward, as their mother had told them, and they went along the shore of the island; and when they passed the first point, they saw a village in front of them, and before evening they arrived in front of the village.

The young prince said to them, * My dears, have you lost a princess who was on her way to pick strawberries many years ago!” Then the people of the village called them ashore and took them into the house of the new chief; and they told the story how their mother was driven away by the southwest wind while on her way to pick strawberries; and some of the people who knew their mother were glad to hear the good news about the princess who was lost many years ago. Then the people told them how their mother had a good home among the Tsimshian tribe, and how the elder brothers had given great feasts, and that their father was a chief of one of the Tsimshian tribes; and at the end of their speech, their grandfather’s nephew invited in all the chiefs, and told them that the old man’s grandchildren had come safely, and they were all happy. The boy went on the following day to visit the old home of his mother, trying to find the costly coppers and the property that was hidden, as his mother had told him. He arrived at the old desolate village-site of Dzī’gwa, and he found all the things as his mother had told him. He found all the costly coppers and the other property, and that is the end. These are Omen’s mourning-songs. which she sang when she went along her way, after she had left the village that had been destroyed by fire: