52. Story of the Wolf Clan
There were two villages in the Strait of Metlakahtla. One was inhabited by the Eagle Clan, the other by the Wolf Clan; and they were on friendly terms, for the chief of the Eagle Clan was married to the princess of the Wolf Clan, whose name was Bidał. The chief’s name was Nēs-wa-nā’°:
Once upon a time these two friendly people agreed to build a weir between the two islands, so as to catch seals and fishes at low tide. After they had finished the weir connecting the two towns, they made an agreement that whoever should awake first in the morning should go down and take something caught by the weir. The people of the Wolf Clan would go down first almost every morning. Therefore the chief of the Eagle Clan was angry with his brother-in-law’s tribe, and war began between them.
The Eagle Clan gained the victory over their enemies, and the chief killed all his wife’s relatives. Then he took the weir as his own. Therefore his people went down every morning and brought up sometimes seals or halibut or other kinds of fish.
In the other village only women and girls remained. No men were there. After a while a princess, the wife of the chief, gave birth to a girl. So the chief asked the women who nursed his wife, “What kind of a baby is it?” They told him that it was a girl, and he was glad of this. He said to his slaves, “Keep her in good health.”
After a while the young woman was again with child; and when the time came, she gave birth again. The chief asked the women again, and they told him that the child was a boy. Then the chief ordered his attendants to kill his own son, and they did as he had ordered them. His wife’s grief was almost too much to bear.
Again she was with child; and when the time came, and she gave birth, the chief asked again his wife’s nurse, “What kind of a baby is it?” They told him that it was a boy, and he ordered them to kill him. They obeyed and killed him.
Now, the girl grew up. She looked into the sun, and her eyes became sore. Therefore her father named her Ya‘.
The mother was with child again; and when the tune came, she gave birth. When the chief asked the nurses, they told him that the child was a boy, and he ordered them to kill him. They killed him also, and the young princess’s grief was almost too great.
She was with child again; and when the time came, she called her own maid, and said to her, “When I give birth again, and the child is a boy, do not tell the chief when he asks you, but tell him that it is a girl, else he might kill him also.” The maidservant promised her to do so; and when the time came and she gave birth, a boy was born.
The chief asked the princess’s maidservant, “What kind of a baby is it?” and she deceived him, and said, “It is a girl.”” So the chief said, “Keep her in good health.” The child, however, was a boy.
The princess, the chief’s wife, kept her boy and trained him. The boy grew up to be a youth, and the father learned that his wife’s maidservant had deceived him. Therefore he was angry with her, and one day killed her,
The boy, however, grew up. His mother was always with him, for she knew that his father sought the child’s life. She told her son that his father had slain all her relatives and all her sons.
Now the chief’s hatred of his wife and of his son was so great that his wife and her son fled. The young man called three youths, his friends. Every day they went and hunted birds. The young prince was very skillful in making bows and arrows, and he gave them to his three friends. When they grew up to be young men, they were able to shoot large animals. Then the mother of the prince told her son all that his wicked father had done to her other sons, how he had killed them as soon as they were born, and she told her son how his father had killed all her brothers and uncles on account of the trap that had been built between the two villages, and she told him everything about her wicked husband.
The young man took pity on her and wept with her, and he hated his father; and one day he killed him to avenge his uncles and his mother’s uncles and his own brothers, but he was afraid lest the people should laugh at him.
Then his mother told him a story about an arrow with a living reptile-head, which was in another village far away in the uttermost parts of the world, in the northwest, in the house of a chief called Gutginsa’. She said, “Many brave men have tried to gain this arrow of supernatural power, but they all failed because it is so far away.” Thus spoke the woman to her son.
Then the young man left his mother. He called his four eompanjons who had always been with him ever since his youth. He told them the story that his mother had told him, and he said to his companions that he intended to go there. They all agreed.
They made a good-sized canoe; and when they finished the canoe, the prince asked his mother to collect as much food as she could. She did as her only son said. Then they loaded their canoe with all kinds of food—grease, fat, dried berries, meat—also with coppers, eagle down, and red ocher, and set out. They went toward the northwest.
One night they camped in a certain place. Then the young man, all by himself, went into the woods to wash, in order to gain success, while his companions started the camp-fire. While he was in the brook bathing, he beheld a young man who stood by the pool where he was bathing. The young man said to him, “What have you done with my bathing-place?” The prince, who was bathing, said, “O supernatural one, take pity on me! [ I did not know that this pool belonged to you. I came here to bathe because [ I wanted to have success and take revenge on the enemy of my relatives.” Then the supernatural being said to him, What do you want to have?” The young man replied, My mother told me that a chief in a far-away country has a live arrow. His name is Gutginsa’.”
The supernatural being replied, ‘Yes, it ts very far away from here, in the outermost part of the world, but you shall get there. I will let you have my blanket; and whenever you reach a village, you shall wear it, and you shall shout behind the houses. Then they shall tell you how many more villages there are before you reach the place where you want to go; but you shall hide vour canoe from every tribe that you pass. Don’t show yourselves, lest they tell you how difficult is the way that you are to go: and you shall order your companions always to offer burnt-offerings.”
After the supernatural being had said so, he handed him the skin of a sparrow and vanished from his sight.
Then the young man went to his companions, who were encamped, and told them to offer a burnt-offering. They did so.
On the following morning they went on, and toward evening they saw a Village in the distance. They camped near by and hid their canoe. Early the following morning the young man put on his sparrow blanket, flew up, and alighted on the branches of a tree behind the house of the chief of the village. Then the sparrow began to sing; and an old man in the chief’s house said, “O supernatural one, supernatural one! there are many more villages before you reach the place where you want to go.”
They started again, and reached the next village. The prince put on his sparrow garment, alighted on the top of the chief’s house, and began to sing, “Gisguuts gut ginsai!” An old man who heard the bird said, “O supernatural one, supernatural one! the country that you want to reach is very far away.”
The prince’s companion made a burnt-offering in every place where they camped.
They started again, and reached another village, and, sitting on the top of the chief’s house, he began to sing, as he had done before in the villages that they had passed. The same answer came from the mouth of an old man, who said that there were many more villages before they would reach there.
They went on, and passed many villages. Finally they came to a large village: and the prince put on his sparrow blanket and began to sing, as before; and an old man in the chief’s house said, *O supernatural one, supernatural one! there are only three more villages before you reach there, but it will take a month to go from one village to the next one.”
They traveled on and on. A month passed, and they reached the next village, larger than the preceding one. The prince put on his sparrow blanket and began to sing, as before. Then the old man in the chief’s house said, “O supernatural one! there are only two more villages before you reach there, but it takes a month to go from this village to the next one.”
They started again, and at the end of a month they arrived at the next village, larger than the other two. The prince put on his sparrow blanket and alighted on the chief’s house and began to sing. Then the old man in the chief’s house said, “O supernatural one! there is only one village more before you reach there, but it takes a month to go from here to that village.”
They went on again, and at the end of the following month they arrived at the last village. The prince put on his sparrow garment and began to sing, seated on top of the chief’s house. The old chief said, “Come down to me, supernatural one! [ I will give you advice as to how to obtain the life arrow. You might perish between here and Chief Gutginsa’”s village.”
So the prince went in and sat down on one side of the large house. The chief asked him, “Where are your companions “7 and the young man replied that they were in hiding behind the village. Then the chief ordered his attendants to bring them to the house, and they went to call them. The chief ordered his men to give food to the guests, and they did so.
After they had eaten, the chief said, “My dear prince, I have seen how patient you have been all along the way you came. I know you have met with many difficulties, and still you kept on going. Now, there is no other village besides -this, and no land. His is the one corner of heaven, and there is only the air beyond. Therefore no living being can reach there, where Chief Gutginsa’”s house is. Therefore let: your young men remain here in my house, and I will go with you. Wear your sparrow garment, and [ I shall put on my hummingbird garment. Then we will fly to the air island where Chief Gutginsa’ lives, and we will borrow his life arrow until the time when your enemy shall have been destroyed. Then he shall take it back again. I received all your burnt-offerings that you made along the way.”
The prince decided to follow his advice, and the chief also told his companions to continue their offerings while they were away. He said, “We shall be back tomorrow evening.”
The next morning they started. Chief Hummingbird flew first, and the Sparrow behind him. They flew upward under the clouds; and when they saw the air island before them, it seemed as large as a man’s finger. They came nearer, and arrived there at the same time. Then the two birds flew into the house of Chief Gutginsa’.
Now Chief Hummingbird said, “My dear, great chief! will you lend us your live, destroying arrow until this my brother has taken revenge on the enemies of his relatives? Then you shall take it back again.” Chief Gutginsa’ gave his destroying arrow to Chief Hummingbird. They flew back, and it was late in the evening when they came home safely, while the prince’s companions were still making burnt-offerings.
Chief Hummingbird said, “Keep this arrow in good order, and let nobody see it, lest the arrow should kill some one; but if you want to kill anything, tell your arrow the name of the enemy, of the man or of the animal you want. Don’t leave it in the house, but put it in a box, and place the box on a tree, and don’t go in to a woman as long as you keep the arrow. When you get home, invite some old men from every tribe, one at a time, and let them instruct you how to use it; but don’t ask the old men how to use it, only ask them what employment they have had since they were youths, and each will tell you some curious story. Then stop them and send them out with some person until you find a warrior. You shall reward him amply, and he will instruct you how to use the arrow gułdanī, for that is its name.” Thus spoke Chief Hummingbird.
The following morning they started for home] Chief Hummingbird said, “Keep the bow of your canoe toward the rising sun, but you shall not travel by canoe. Wear your sparrow garment and. fly ahead of the canoe; and when you are tired, sit down on the bow of your companions’ canoe. Then, after four days, you shall reach home; but if you travel in your canoe, you shall take a whole year to return.”
Now they started. ‘The Sparrow flew ahead of the canoe, and the canoe went very rapidly; and whenever the Sparrow was weary, he alighted on the bow of his companions’ canoe to take a rest: and after being refreshed, they started again. Thus they went on and on, until after four days they arrived at home. Their relatives were glad to see them back safe.
The prinee’s father kept the tribe of the young man as slaves, and treated them badly. Sometimes he would kill people of his son’s tribe, and the young man was very much displeased to see this.
The prince’s house was full of skins of grizzly bears. One day he sent out his slaves to invite one of the old men of his father’s tribe. When the old man came in, he spread one of the grizzly-bear skins at the side of his house. Then they gave the guest good food to eat; and after the old man had eaten, the prince went to the place where he was sitting, and said to him, ‘hist tell me what has been your employment since you were a young man.” The old man smiled, and said, “Oh, why do you ask me? I am the man with whom every woman has been in love from my youth on.’ The prince replied, “That is not my desire. Go out, and take with you the grizzly-bear skin on which you are sitting.”” The old man went out, and took with him the grizzly-bear skin.
The following day he sent and invited an old man of another tribe; and when the old man came in, the prince spread a grizzly-bear skin on the side of the house, and the old man was made to sit on it. After he had eaten his evening meal, the prince went to the place where his guest was sitting, and said to him, “What has been vour employment ever since you were young?” The old man answered, and said, ‘Why do you ask me? I [have done my best to meet a good-looking wife.” The prince said, “ That is not my desire. Go out, and take the grizzly-bear skin on which you are sitting.” The old man went, taking his grizzly-bear skin along. Then another one was invited; and after this old man had eaten his meal, the prince went to him, and said, ‘What has been your employment ever since you were young?” The old man replied, and said, “Oh, why do you ask me? I have been married to many beautiful girls whom I have loved.”
The prince said, “Stop! That is not my desire. Go out, and take the grizzly-bear skin on which you are sitting.”
Long ago there were twelve tribes among the Tsimshian, and only nine remain. In each of these tribes there was one old man. Finally one very old man of the tribe of G·it-lā’n, named Wīludâł, who was blind of old age, was invited by the prince. When he came in, they led him to the grizzly-bear skin that was spread on one side of the prince’s house, and they gave him as good food as they had given the others. After the meal the prince went to where he was sitting, and questioned him. “What has been your employment ever since you were young?” Then the old man said, “Bring me a bow and arrow. Gird my loins, and place the two large empty boxes yonder, that I may leap over them; then aim my arrow at a knot-hole.” After he had said so, they led him to the door. “Now shout!” said he. The people in the house shouted, and the old) warrior leaped about. He did not turn his face after he had shot, but ran forward and leaped backward over the big boxes that had been placed there, to the same place from which he had started. He shot right through the knot-hole. Then he said, “Yalala! I shoot. right through the eye.” Now the prince was glad to receive good instruetions, and he rewarded the old man amply. He called him in day after day until he knew how to hold his weapons.
Now the young prince became rich. He invited all the chiefs of the tribes to his house, and gave away much property to his guests. Then he took his mother’s eldest uncle’s name, and his name was now Asagulyaan. All the chiefs received his gifts gladly. Asagulyaan was the name of the man who accompanied the young prince’s father when they first built the weir between the towns, and who was killed by the prince’s father. Therefore the chief who had killed the young man’s relatives was ashamed, because his son loved his own relatives better than him.
Therefore the chief tried in every way to entrap his own son, intending to kill him; but his son knew his father’s heart, because the supernatural being told him what his father’s thoughts were.
Another time the young prince sent messengers to all the tribes, inviting all the chief’s princes, chieftainesses, and princesses; and when all the head men of all the tribes were in his house, he said to his guests before he distributed his gifts/[1] “I announce that I am taking all my grandfather’s greatness. I shall be the greatest head chief.” None of the chiefs replied. He said, furthermore, “I shall make my sister great among the chieftainesses. [ I give her the name Yâ°ł, which means ‘eyes blinded by the sun;’ and my old mother shall keep her own name, Bidał.” Then he gave his great gifts to his guests—costly coppers, slaves, canoes, elk skins, boxes of grease, boxes of dried berries, horn spoons, raccoon skins, and all kinds of goods.
Then his father was still more angry with his son. Before he left his son’s house, he said to his attendants that he would kill his own son after the feast was over. The reason why the father was angry was that he himself was the head chief among the Tsimshian at that time.
When the feast of the new chief, Asagulyaan, was over, there was no trouble among the people in all the tribes of the Tsimshian in the old towns at Metlakahtla. It was midwinter.
Then Asagulyaan took his live arrow and went over to his father’s village secretly at night. He crept up to his father’s house at midnight; and when he came to the smoke hole, he took up his live arrow, and said to it, “Go through the heart of the chief who killed all my relatives, then come back to me tomorrow!” Then the arrow went right into the heart of the chief, who died there, and the arrow remained there the whole night.
All the people in the house of the chief were quiet. When the sun rose up high in the sky, one of the chief’s beloved wives went to call him. She took the mat off from her husband’s face, and, behold! he was dead. The end of an arrow appeared over his heart. Then she cried out, “Oh, dear chief! who killed you?” Then the whole chief’s tribe came in, and they saw the end of the arrow in his heart. So they took the arrow from the chief’s heart and passed it around to look at it. They saw that the head of the arrow was like that of a reptile, whose eyes twinkled when any one looked at its face. They saw that the teeth of the arrow were like dogs’ teeth.
After the chief’s people had examined the arrow, it flew from their hands through the smoke hole, and said “Gułdana!” and therefore the people call the living arrow “gułdana.””
The chief’s people went to every village and inquired who shot the chief in his house, and all the villages answered that they had nothing against the great chief. Therefore they came back home late in the evening. Then the whole tribe of the chief singed their hair with fire, as was the custom among the people when a great chief died; and the whole tribe blackened their faces with charcoal, great and small,
high and low. Before they buried the chief, they invited all the chiefs of the tribes, and every tribe took their own chief in their canoe to the dead chief’s village, and a nephew of the dead chief handed his goods to all the chiefs in their canoes on the water. His was the voung man who succeeded to his uncle’s place. He would lift up an elk skin before each chief, and when lifting it up he would call out the chief’s name.
When all the chiefs had received their presents, they remembered the young prince Asagulyaan. They called him by his nickname: and when they lifted up a small elk skin for him, the successor of the dead chief said, “The son of “Bidał.”” Then the small elk skin was passed from one canoe to another, until finally it reached the canoe of the young new chief. Then he stood up in his canoe, threw the small elk skin into the water, and said, “Is this common elk skin given to call out the name of Son Of Bidał?” and his companions paddled away from the place.
Then the nephew of the dead chief said to his people that that slave had killed his own father. After this all the chiefs went to their own villages.
On the following morning a great multitude of people assembled in front of the house of Asagulyaan, and the whole beach was covered with people. There was a large rock in the middle of the sandy beach, and a long ladder was standing in front of the carved house reaching to the roof of Asagulyaan’s house. Another ladder reached the roof from the interior. Before the young chief went forth to fight against his enemies, the people in his house were shouting, and eagle down flew upward through the smoke hole. Then the young chief came out through the smoke hole, wearing on his head a chief’s headdress set with abalone shells, and wearing his dancing-garments, his dancing-aprons, leggings, and rattle. He held his bow in one hand, his rattle in the other. Then he ran down the long ladder in front of his house, and, leaping here and there, ran right down to the beach, where the people were waiting for him. He jumped over the large rock in the middle of the sandy beach, and then he let his live arrow go. He ran backward, and jumped backward over the large rock, and ran up the long ladder in front of his house. Then the live arrow went through the hearts of the people; and when the arrow was weary, it returned to its master; and the young chief took it and wiped it, and put it into his box, and the beach in front of his house was full of dead people. The stomach of the live arrow was filled with men’s blood.
On the following day another multitude of people came against him. When he was ready, all the people in his house began to shout. They beat their wooden drum and clapped their hands, and the young chief came up, bird’s down rising before he appeared through the smoke hole. Then he came down from the roof of his house on the long ladder which stood in front. He leaped here and there, jumped over the rock, ran among the crowd, and let go his living arrow. Then the arrow said, “(Gułdana!’ Then Asagulyaan ran back, jumped backward over the rock, and never turned his face from his foes. Then he ran up the long ladder and down through the smoke hole. His arrow killed many people. Then it returned to its master, who took it, and saw that its stomach was full of blood. Te wiped it and put it back into the box. Now the new chief, Nēs-wa-mâ’k, invited all the tribes to fight against Asagulyaan; but the tribes decided to fight him by themselves, each on one day. They all agreed to do so.
On the following day one tribe set out to fight him, and they were almost all killed by the arrow of Asagulyaan. As far as the arrow went, everybody was killed, and few people escaped. Each tribe went to battle day by day, but they all failed.
Now Wîludâł told his nephews and his sons-in-law and also his grandsons and his brothers-in-law to assemble in his own house, and gave them advice. He said, “My dear men, not one of you must join these people who fight Asagulyaan, else you will be destroyed with them; for Asagulyaan is a supernatural being; he is not a man. Therefore I tell you, don’t go there! His arrow is alive, and will devour every one who comes up against him.”
The young men, however, would not believe what the old warrior had told them. On the following day they all went to battle as to an amusement, for some people had told them that Asagulyaan was like a bird running rapidly down on the beach. So they went with them; and while all the crowds of people were on the beach in front of his house, the shouting in the house, the beating of drums. and clapping of hands, began. Down ascended from the smoke hole, and then the young chief came up there surrounded by a mist of feathers. He ran down the long ladder right down to the beach, jumped over the rock, went down a little farther, and then he let go his arrow. He ran backward, as before, and jumped over the rock backward, climbed up lis long ladder, and went down through the smoke hole. Then his arrow devoured as many people as it could.
Now all Wîludâł’s relatives were killed: only one little grandson remained with him. Therefore Wīludâł’s sorrow was great, and he mourned for many days. He was the one who had taught Asagulyaan how to hold his weapons in battle.
He said to his grandchild, “I will go and kill him beeause he has slain all my relatives.” Then the strong man laughed at him, mocking him, and said, “Now this is the kind of man to kill Asagulyaan. Don’t, you old blind man! Stay at home! You will only hinder the people who will fight with him.” Nevertheless he said, “I shall surely shoot him.’ Yet thev scorned him.
Now, when all the tribes were giving battle, Wīludâł said to his grandson, who led him by the hand, ‘Put me behind the rock over which he always leaps, and point my arrow at the center of the smoke hole. Then, when you see the mist of feathers coming out of the smoke hole, tell me, ‘Now shoot! Then I will shoot him.’ So his grandson watched the smoke hole. After a little while they heard shouting and beating of drums. The mist of down rose, and then the grandson said, “Now shoot!’ Then the old warrior used all his strength and shot. He turned to his fellows, and said, ‘Ah, ah! I killed him. I hit his eye.”
Some of his fellows believed what he said, and others still mocked him.
Wīludâł lit Asagulyaan through the eye. The arrow came out at the back of Asagulyaan’s head, and all his brains came out. He fell off from the top of the ladder which was placed from the inside up to the smoke hole—fell to the ground, and died right there. Therefore his sister took off her brother’s dancing-garment and dancing-aprons, leggings, and rattle. The headdress was broken to pieces. Therefore they took a wolf helmet of the prince, and she wore it. Then another shout went up. The mist of down rose again, and she came out through the smoke hole, ran down as quickly as her brother had done, with her brother’s bow in her hand. The crowds did not know her. She leaped over the rock; and when she passed a little farther down, she let go her arrow. Then she ran, turning her face toward the house where she had come from. She did not do as her brother had done, who ran backward when he turned, and kept his face on his enemies.
On the way she became weary, and ran like a woman. Therefore the multitude knew that she was a woman; and they all shouted, and said, “Ha, a woman!” and all the people pressed on them and fell on them. A few children tried to run away, but the multitude destroyed them.
The woman wore her brother’s paraphernalia, and ran away from them around the island. She took off the prince’s wolf’s helmet and threw it away, and it became a rock, which may be seen up to this day; and her footsteps may still be seen on the rocks where she walked, up to this day.
The people of this tribe are scattered among all the other tribes. They have not had a village since that day. The live arrow, as soon as the woman let it go, went. off howling, and flew to its home, saying while it was flying, “Guldana!”” Everybody saw it filing swiftly through the air toward the sunset. It has never returned since that time. Wīludâł was first of all the warriors of the Tsimshian, better than Asagulyaan, for he was very old, and nevertheless he hit Asagulyaan’s eye. Therefore all the people honor him up to this day. His story was kept by the Wolf Clan.