53. The Prince and Prince Wolf

In the time of our forefathers, animals would sometimes have a woman or a man for wife or husband.

There was a great prince, the son of a great chief, who had his home in the old town of Metlakahtla, and three young men were chosen to be his friends. He had a beautiful wife, whom he loved very much. The prince was an expert hunter. Almost every day throughout the year he went hunting with his three friends. Sometimes they would stay away a month and a half. Then he came home, and would stay two or three days in the village. Then he would go out again. He went all over the country and became rich. His father and his mother were very old, and his name spread all over the country, also all the animals knew the fame of his name. He would always go about hunting, and his wife always wore new garments of marten skin and sea-otter skin and skins of other animals. She had nothing to do or to eat (/) at home, but she wore nice clothing, and many princes were well pleased to see her, but she loved her husband most. All the princes tried in every way to seduce her; but they could not do so, for she was very proud and would not talk to any one. She always told her husband what the other princes said to her. She showed her husband a new garment that her mother-in-law had made for her. The prince loved her very much. Therefore she told him all she had in her heart.

The young prince went out again, and he told his beloved wife how many days he would be away from home. Then he went. As soon as he had gone, his wife took a walk with her girls around the lake behind the village to refresh herself; and while she was there with her maid, she said to her, “Go and pick cranberries for me! J will wait for you here.” She had done so many times before.

As soon as her maid had gone, a good-looking young man came to her, and she smiled when she saw him. Then the young man smiled at ‘her also. He came to the place where she was sitting. Now the princess was very much in love with him. Then the young man asked her, “May I sit by your side?”—“Yes, do sit down near me!” She pointed to the place by her side, and the young man went up to her. Then she embraced him, and the young man kissed her; and while they were there, the girl came back, her basket filled with cranberries. She saw her mistress embrace the good-looking young man, and said to her, “Here are the cranberries!” The princess replied, “ hist put them down there and go and get some more!” The maid went away; and while she was gone, she lay with the young man. After a while the maid came back to her, and said, “ I have filled this basket twice. Let us go back before dark, lest some misfortune befall us!”

Then they walked down with the young man. He wore a garment with cloven feet and an armor with ears of wild animals. Before they arrived at the village, the young man embraced and kissed her twice, and she said, “Will you come to me tonight or some other time ?”—“ Yes,” said the young man. “How long is your husband going to stay away?”—“He will stay away for a month.”—“Then I will come every night.” Now they parted and went their ways.

The same night he came to her house, and he did so several nights. The princess ordered her maid not to tell any one, and her maid promised that she would not tell any one.

Now the young prince was unlucky. He always missed when he shot, and he wanted to go back home. Therefore he went home; and before he reached the village he said to his three friends, “Let us wait here until night comes, for we have no game!’ So they camped at the end of the village, waiting until night came. About midnight they went secretly along the beach in front of his father’s house. He said to his friends in the canoe, “I will go up to the house alone, and [ I will see what has happened to my wife.’ So he went alone. He pushed the door-flap aside gently and went to the bed of his wife’s maid. He woke her gently, and asked, “Did any one come to my wife while I was away? Don’t conceal it from me! I will kill you if you don’t tell me the truth! Now tell me!”

Then the maid said, * Yes, master! As soon as you left, my mistress called me to take a walk around the lake, as we used to do many times when you were gone. [ I left my mistress and went to pick cranberries. When I had filled my basket with berries, I went to the place where she was sitting, and I saw a young man, good-looking like you, who embraced her. She sent me to pick some more berries, and I went and filled another basket. Then when I came to her, I forced her to go home before dark. We went down, and before we went to our house the young man asked her to let him come the same night, and she agreed, and he has come every night until now.”

Then the prince went back to his friends in his canoe. He told his three friends, and they went secretly into the house to his master’s wife’s bedroom, and killed the man who was lying in his master’s bed. They cut his head off, and in the morning they saw the garment of the one they had killed. It was covered with cleft feet of deer and cleft feet of mountain sheep, and his armor was covered with long ears of reindeer and long ears of red deer, and on his hat he had a wolf’s tail.

The prince kept the body of the young man, together with the head, in a box behind the house; and he took all the garments, the armor, and the hat for his crests. He was not angry with his wife, and still loved her, because he received these costly crests through her.

Then the old chief called all his wise men, and showed them these garments, the armor, and the hat. The wise men said, “The young man who has been killed is a prince of the Wolves; and the wise men said, “Moreover, my dear prince, build a fort! Let all our young people build a strong fort, lest the cruel wolves come and devour our wives and children!”

In the same night a cry was heard at one end of the village, ° Oh, my child, my child, who ate the deer whole! Only give me your brother’s adultery garment, that I need!) Oh, my child, my child, who ate the deer whole! Only give me your brother’s garment, that I need!”

All the people in the village did not sleep that night, for they heard the mother of the man that had been killed crying through the village. Before daybreak she ceased her wail, and all the people of the village, young and old, went out to get logs, and before evening they came home bringing the logs. In the night the wail came again at the other end of the village. “Oh, my child, my child, who ate the deer whole! Only give me your brother’s garment, that I need! Oh, my child, my child, who ate the deer whole! Only give me your brother’s garment, that I need!’ The mother of the slain one went around the village throughout the night, wailing, “Oh, my child, my child, who ate the deer whole! Only give me your brother’s adultery garment, that I [need! Oh, my child, my child, who ate the deer whole! Only give me your brother’s garment, that I need!’ Before daylight she left.

Then all the people of the village began to build a fort. They made a double wall around it. The women and children gathered stones in the fort, and they built a sidewalk over the top of the wall, and all the people moved into the fort.

As soon as evening came, they heard wolves howling in the woods behind the village, at one end of the village, and at the other end; and howling of wolves was heard on the other side. Then they came from all sides, nearer and nearer, and all the wolves stood around the double fort. Then the mother of Prince Wolf said, “Only give me your brother’s garment of cleft feet, my dear, else we shall cat all of your people tonight!”

The prince replied, “I will not give you your son’s garment, I will keep it myself!” and the mother said, * And where is my son’s body? Give it to me!’ The prince did not reply a word. She repeated, “Give me my son’s body, or I will devour your people!”

All the wolves began to gnaw at the walls of the fort; and when the first wall almost fell, then the people went upon the wall and threw stones down at the wolves, and many were killed.

On the following morning all the wolves from every direction assembled, and the outer wall fell, but the second wall remained.

Again the Mother Wolf said, Give me my child’s body!” The prince replied, “No, I will not give it to you; I [ will keep it in good order, because I made a mistake in killing him. ‘Therefore [ I will keep his body, his cleft-foot garments, his long-ear armor, and his wolf- tail hat. [ I will keep them all and [ I will give a great feast; and I will take his name, because he is my brother.”

Then the Mother Wolf began to howl, and sang her own mourning-song. She sang the song of the cleft-foot garment, and the song of the long-ear armor, and the song of the wolf-tail hat. All the wolves were very quiet.

After she had sung her song, she said, “You are my son. Today I will take you; and you shall take my brother’s place, because he was a great prince among the animals, and all the animals of the wood honored him. They shall honor you also, and you shall have your brother’s place: and when [ I die, my words shall be accomplished.”

Then all the wolves made a great noise, and they ran home howling.

Now the great prince gave a feast. Te invited all the tribes that lived in the channel of Metlakahtla; and when all the guests were in, the great prince had much property piled up. Then he came out from the inner room, wearing his brother’s adultery garment of cleft feet. He sang a song, and he went back into the inner room. Then he came out again wearing the long-ear armor, and he put on his wolf-tail hat. Then they sang the armor song and the wolf-tail hat song: and after he had given away all his property to his guests, he took his new name, the name of the prince whom he had slain the other day. His name was Ate The Whole Deer.

He was a very successful hunter in every way. The Wolf Mother always helped him when he was hunting.

One time after he had given many feasts, his father and his old mother died, and the prince was lonely. In the evening the Wolf Mother came into his house, and said, “I have come to take you to my house for a while.” Then the prince went with her; and when they arrived at her home, he saw many animals in the house. The Mother Wolf said to her attendant, “Go out and call all the wild animals! I will show them my adopted son.” They went, and all the wild animals came in-- panthers, grizzly bears, black bears, white bears, wolverenes, and many others: and when all the wild animals were in, she said to them, “I am glad that you have all come to my feast. I will show you my adopted son, who has taken my own son’s place. You shall honor him, and you shall not hurt him, and I will give my brother my two daughters to be his wives.’ Then she fed her guests with all kinds of meat and all kinds of tallow, and she gave them all kinds of fresh salmon to eat, and so on.

The prince loved the two girls who had become his wives, and the two girls loved him. He had not been there many days before the Mother Wolf died; and he was very sorry, for he was alone among the animals. He always went hunting with his two wives, and obtained all kinds of animals, and his two wives were very strong. If he missed a shot, his two wives would run after the animal that he had missed and catch it. Therefore he was a great hunter, greater than the beasts of prey. Often he would give a great feast to the wild animals.

Many years had gone by, and he was thinking of his own home. Therefore one day he said to his two wives, “I must go down and visit my home.” His two wives went with him. Before they reached the village he said to his wives, ‘Stay here for a while, until I come back to take you down!” Then he went to the village alone; and when he arrived there, he went to his father’s house. He entered, and the people did not know him, for he was very hairy. He sat down at the end of the large fire, at the side toward the door.

A great chief was sitting at the head of the large fire, with his wife. He said to his young men, “Ask the man there where he comes from.’ Then the two young men went to him and asked where he came from. He replied that he was the son of the great chief of that house. Therefore the new chief ordered him to come and sit with him at the head of the fire. He arose and sat down at the right-hand side of his cousin the new chief. Then the new chief sent his slaves throughout the village and called all the people. He embraced his cousin and wept with him; and when all the people were in, he said to them, old and young, ‘His is my cousin whom we lost many years ago and whom we thought to be dead, but he is still alive, so let us have a good time with him tonight!”

He said to his old people, “I will dance for my cousin the great prince.” Then all the people had a great celebration.

The prince told the chief his cousin that his two wives were staying far behind the village. He said, “I will go up and bring them down.” Then he went with his other two younger cousins, and he took them down to the house. They were sitting down at their husband’s sides, and they were given all kinds of food to eat. Then the new chief gave each of them a costly garment. He gave the prince a dancing-garment, a marten garment, and to the wife who was sitting on his right side a sea-otter garment, and to the one who was sitting on his left side a marten garment. Then they were all happy.

Every morning, while the people were still asleep, the two wives would be awakened by the smell of something. Then they wakened their husband and told him that they smelled some animals near the village. They caught them and brought them home, and he invited the people almost every day to give them fresh meat.

His cousin the new chief loved him very much, and all the people of the village loved him. One day he and his two wives went to bring all their goods down to the new chief’s house. They were going to have their home there. The young wives of the great prince had each two children at a time. He had many children. The elder wife gave birth to six pairs of twins, and the other wife gave birth to three pairs of twins, so that he had eighteen children in all. They were skillful hunters, the girls also.

Now the time for his end came, and he called all his children, and said to them, “If you return to your own home, do not hurt my people when you see them on the mountains; and if you marry some of these people, do not go back home!’ The children promised that they would not return to their own home; and the prince’s days came to an end and he died.

His eldest son was married to one of the daughters of another chief, and the rest of his children all married. The girls also married some of the princes. Only two of the children returned to their own home. Therefore the wolves are afraid of human beings up to this day.