54. The Ghost Who Fought with the Great Shaman

In olden times many different things happened among the people. Some were good and others bad, and some were funny. And so it is with this story of the ghost and the great shaman.

In a village on Nass River there was a chief who had an only son. When the boy had grown up to be a youth, he had four friends who were of the same age as he. It was the custom of princes to choose some good and wise young men to be his friends; and so it was with this prince. Every day they went into the woods and built a small hut, to which they used to go every day. The prince pretended to be a shaman, and his four friends were his singers. They made a skin drum, and had a board on which to beat time; and so they went to their hut day by day. Their parents did not know what they were doing. Soon after they had had their breakfast in the morning, they went to their little hut, and played there all day until evening. At dusk they came home. They did this day by day and month by month and year by year.

Finally, when the prince was full grown, one day they went in another direction to hunt squirrels. Before evening they came home; and before they reached there, they passed by the graveyard a little behind the village, on the bank of a brook behind the town; and as they were passing by, they saw one of the coffins open.

The young prince said, “Shall I go into that open coffin there?” His friends asked him to desist; but he did not pay any attention to what they said, and jumped into the open coffin. He lay down in it; and as soon as he lay down there, he was dead. Then his four friends were very sorry. They stood around the coffin, weeping.

Before dark one of the young men went home, and three staid there. Alter a while another of the young men went home, and two staid there. After a while still another one went home, and one, who loved the prince most, still remained.

When it was very dark, this young man feared that the ghosts would come and take him. Therefore he ran down to his house; and all the young men, as soon as they reached their home, forgot what had happened to them and to their prince in the graveyard.

Late at night the chief, the father of the prince, and his wife, inquired for their only son. Then the prince’s friends remembered what had happened as they were passing the graveyard, and how the prince had insisted on lying down in the open coffin.

Therefore the chief ordered his great tribe to light their torches and to go to the graveyard on the same night. Therefore all the people lighted their torches of pitch wood and maple bark and torches made of olachen. They set out for the graveyard, and found the body of the prince lying in the open coffin. They took it away and carried it down to the chief’s house. There were many people. They placed him on a wide board in front of the large fire in his father’s house.

The prince’s heart was still beating. Therefore his father asked all the shamans from the other tribes to come. He told them what had happened to his son; and he said that he wanted to have his only son come back to life, and that therefore he had called them all. Thus said the chief, and promised them a rich reward if they could restore his son to life.

So they began to dance. Each of the shamans put his charms on the dead prince; and finally, when the various charms had been put on him, he came back to life. The shamans had been working over him for four days and four nights. Then each received his reward, as the chief had promised before.

Now the prince had become a great shaman, because he was filled with the charms of the different shamans, and because he had pretended to be a shaman ever since his boyhood; and his four friends were his attendants, and always went before him.

After a short time one of his father’s people died—the head man of his father’s tribe. Then the prince said to his father, “I will go and restore him to life.” The father said, “My son, can you do that?”

The prince put all the carved bones around his neck. He put on his crown of grizzly-bear claws and put on his dancing-apron, took his rattle in his right hand and the white eagle tail in his left. He blackened his face with charcoal, and strewed eagle down on his head. Then he went with his four attendants, and went to the house where the dead one was. All the people of the village came to the house.

In the evening the prince began his shaman’s songs, and his attendants’ songs followed. After the first song, he stood at the end of the large fire, and said, “His man’s soul is now in the village of the Ghosts, and my supernatural helper says that I shall take his soul back again to his body from the village of the Ghosts. Bring me a new cedar-bark mat, and let all the people in this house beat time on a plank, and thus help my attendants, and let them sing as loud as they ean until [ come back!” Then all the people did as he had wanted them to.

Then he put on the new cedar-bark mat and started in the dark of the night. Everybody in the house was singing. They beat the skin drum and beat the boards with sticks. Now the shaman prince went to the graveyard; and when he had arrived there, he saw a quiet river, and the village of the Ghosts on the other side. There was a narrow bridge across the river. He went across, and ran as fast as he could, his supernatural power leading him toward the chief of the Ghosts.

The shaman entered the chief Ghost’s house, and there he saw the soul of the dead man sitting in the rear of the house. The chief of the Ghosts was sitting by his side, and all the Ghosts were assembled in the house to see the newcomer. The shaman went right in, and saw the soul of the one who had just died sitting there. Then the shaman prince took him by the shoulders, and said, “I wall take you back to your body;” and he went out of the house of the chief of the Ghosts.

The prince came back to the house in which the dead body was while all the people were singing. He entered, and said that he had taken the soul of the dead man and brought it back again. He kept his left hand closed, and rattled with the rattle which he held in his right hand. He went around the fire four times, following the course of the sun. Then he went toward the body of the dead man, and put the soul of the dead body into it. As soon as the soul went into the body, the one who had been dead sat up. He had come back to life.

Then all the people were astonished to see what the shaman prince had done. The news of the prince’s success soon spread over the whole country. After some time another relative of his father died while the shaman prince was absent. When the prince came home, he saw that his father grieved. He asked him, “What makes you so sorrowful, father?” and they informed him that one of his father’s nieces had died three days before.

So the prince ordered his people to assemble; and when all the people were in, the shaman prince went, as he had done before, and brought back the soul of his cousin from the town of the Ghosts. Then all the villagers round about spread the fame of the shaman prince, and of his ability to bring back the souls of dead people from the town of the Ghosts. When any one died in some other village, they sent for him, and offered him great reward if he should bring back the souls of the dead.

He did this for a long time, and no one was dying in all the villages, because the great shaman was among the people. Therefore all the Ghost-town people hated the shaman prince, because no souls of the dead came to the Ghost town. Therefore their hatred of the prince increased greatly.

Therefore they assembled and held a council, and determined to try to kill the prince. They all agreed to cut off the ends of the bridge when the shaman prince should come again to get the soul of a dead one. As soon as the council of the Ghosts ended, they went and took the soul of a man. Two days later the man died. The shaman prince, however, knew that the Ghosts had held a council against him. His chief supernatural power had told him so: and his supernatural power had said to him, “Go and bring back the souls of your people. If you are afraid of the Ghosts’ council. you shall surely die: but if you do as I order you, I will protect and guard you; but remember, if you disobey mv orders, a dreadful punishment awaits you.”

Then the shaman prince assembled all his people, and ordered them to wait until he should come back, and to sing all his songs while he was away. Then all his people kept on singing.

Now the shaman prince went on his way until he arrived by the bank of the river that runs in front of the Ghosts’ town. He went to the bridge, and his supernatural power carried him across. He went to the house of the chief of the Ghosts, who takes the souls of the dead first. All the souls of the dead go first to the house of this great chief. Therefore the shaman prince went right to it. He went in and snatched the soul of the dead one from the cold hands of the cruel Ghosts. Then he ran out quickly, and the Ghosts pursued him over the bridge.

He had almost arrived at this end of the bridge that had been cut by the Ghosts, when both his feet went down into the water of the river, but his body fell on the dry land. He arose again, and ran down as fast as he could: but before he reached his father’s house, he fell down and began to groan.

Now, the people in the house heard him groaning. They took their torches, and, behold! the shaman prince was lying there. They took him in and placed him on a wide plank in front of the fire.

Then his supernatural power came to him. The people in the house saw that part of his foot was badly scorched, and the hearts of all the people who were in the house failed them. As far as the water had reached on both of his feet when he fell at the end of the bridge of the Ghosts, his flesh was burned and scorched. The river was the Boiling-Oil River. No one gets out of it who drops into it. The shaman had fallen into it.

His supernatural power said to him, “Arise, and run around the fire, following the course of the sun, four times. Then you will soon get better.’ His feet were very sore, but he tried to do what his supernatural power had told him. He ran around the fire once, and twice, and three times, and four times, and his feet were healed. Now, when his feet were healed from their burns, he had more power than before.

He went often into the Ghost town and brought back the souls of the dead; and although men or women had been dead two, three, or four days, still the shaman prince went to the Ghost town and brought their souls back.

Then the Ghosts hated him very much. They held another council, and wished to kill the shaman prince; yet they had no power, because the prince’s supernatural helper told him what the Ghosts had planned in their council. The Ghost town became smaller and smaller, because not one soul of a dead person was coming into the town, for the shaman prince was always coming to the town, and often during the day some Ghost fell and dropped into the burning river; and he died there, which is the second death, and he became a fisher; and every old Ghost dropped from the bridge and became a salmon.

The chief of the Ghosts hated the shaman prince very much. Now they held another council to entrap him, and they decided to let their chief pretend to be sick and to call the shaman prince. They all agreed to this.

The following night two tall men came to the house of the chief, stood in the door, and called the shaman prince to discover what ailed the chief of the Ghosts. The prince told the two messengers that he would go to examine him the following night. The two messengers went; and the shaman invited all the people of his father’s tribe into his house, and told them that the Ghosts were ready to fight with them. He said, “I shall go to see their chief, who pretends to be sick because they want to kill me. Therefore be you also ready for the battle against them tomorrow night. Let the people in every house gather urine mixed with poison, and nasty things mixed in, everything that is bad; and as soon as the evening comes, stand firm and throw the fluid behind your house, so that the Ghosts can not come down to take you away. Some of them will be killed by your mixture.” Thus said the shaman prince to his people.

Then all the people did what he had said; and when they had prepared the mixture on the following evening, the shaman was ready. He went to the Ghosts’ town, into the house of the chief. Then he saw the great chief lying down in front of his large fire. He was groaning when he saw the shaman prince coming to his house. Now the prince sat down at the foot of his bed, looking into the eyes of the chief who pretended to be sick. The chief ordered his attendants to bring forward his box, and so his attendants brought up the box containing his rattles.

Now we will go back to the people of the village. As soon as the prince left them, following the invitation of the Ghosts, all the Ghosts went down to the prince’s people and shot them with their arrows, and all the men of the village threw the fluid behind their houses. Then the Ghosts could not come right down to shoot them, because Ghosts are afraid of urine mixed with poison. The arrows of the Ghosts were dried nettles.

The prince, who was in the house of the chief of the Ghosts, opened the box of rattles which they had given to him. He took out the first rattle, which was a skull, and the handle was a backbone. Next he took out the dancing-apron, which was set with bones of a skeleton, which hung all round the bottom like fringe. Hird, he took out the crown, which was made of dead men’s ribs.

Now the prince took the dancing-apron; but before he put it on, he blew water from his mouth into the hollow of his right hand and rubbed it on his loins, then he put it on; and before he put on the crown of dead men’s ribs, he blew water into the hollow of his right hand and rubbed it around his forehead. Then he put on the crown of ribs. Again, before he took the skull rattle he blew water from his mouth into the hollow of his right hand and rubbed it over his arms. Now he was ready for work.

He heard a noise outside the house. The people were saying, “All our arrows have failed! They have all come back to us!” Now the prince started; and his supernatural power said to him, “Run four times around the chief who pretends to be sick!’ The shaman prince did what the supernatural power said to him. After he had run about four times, his supernatural power said to him, ‘Now kick the ground at the head of the chief who pretends to be sick!” He did what his supernatural power had told him; and as soon as he kicked the ground, he jumped another way. At once the earth opened and swallowed up the chief of the Ghosts. The earth swallowed him up, and this was his second death. The supernatural powers of the prince took him and dropped him into the burning river which runs in front of the Ghost town. Then the shaman prince walked down safely to his own village.

Now he had still more power than he had before. He had double what he had before.

(It was known among the people in those days that dead men were very dangerous to shamans.)

Now his fame spread all over the country, and all his companions staid with him wherever he went. He became very rich, for all the sick people whom he healed paid him. Every year he went around from place to place.

Once he came into a village, and saw a crowd of people standing on the beach weeping, and everybody looking very sad. He inquired of some one who stood near by, and the young man told him that one of the princesses was drowned in a river. Then the shaman prince said, “If you will bring the body to me, I will cure her.”

His happened in the fall, when the river was flooded. His was the time when the young princess was drowned. They searched for her body, but in vain, and the father and mother whose only daughter she had been were very sad. They searched all the year round until the next spring, when they found the girl’s skeleton caught by a branch at the bank of the river. The people took the bones up to the house of her father.

Now the chief who had lost his only daughter sent for the shaman prince to cure her who had been drowned the preceding fall. Therefore the shaman prince went there. He wore all the things that he had taken from the house of the Ghost chief. As soon as he came in, he saw a skeleton laid out on a mat. All his companions sat down, ready to sing. Then the shaman prince started a song; and while they were singing, the shaman prince’s supernatural power said to him, “Sprinkle ashes over the skeleton four times, and it shall be transformed into flesh. After that take your eagle tail and fan her, then she shall come back to life.”

The shaman prince did what his supernatural power told him. While the song was proceeding, the shaman went to the fire and sprinkled the hot ashes over the skeleton of the princess. Then all the dust stuck to the bones and gathered on the skeleton. He did so four times, as his supernatural power had told him. Then the bare bones were covered with flesh and skin, but there was no life in her. Therefore he took his eagle tail and fanned the body. Then she came back to life, and all the people were surprised to see her; and the chief, the father of the girl, paid him much property—slaves, costly coppers, canoes, and all kinds of goods.

When all his fellow-shamans perceived that he was greater than all the others, they held a secret council, intending to entrap him; for he was a great power, and able to cure any kind of disease and to revive the dead. Therefore his fellow-shamans agreed to invite him.

On the following day they assembled in one of the shaman’s houses and called the shaman prince. They were trying to kill him there, One of his supernatural powers was helping him, and warned him. He went across the river and entered the house of his enemies and sat down. When the food was ready, his supernatural power spoke to him, and said, “His is dried human flesh, nevertheless eat it.” At midnight he felt sick. Then he called all his relatives, and said to them, “My relatives, I am going to die. After I have been dead for a year, I shall come back to life, provided one of you will come and stand under my coffin to catch me. If you should fail to do so, and if you should be afraid of me, none of you shall be left. Now, who will volunteer?”

Then all his relatives were speechless. Finally one of his nephews replied, “I will catch you.” Thus said his nephew at the end of the shaman prince’s speech.

He asked for his dancing-apron, and his crown, and his rattle, which he had taken from the house of the Ghost chief. He ran around the fire four times, following the course of the sun. At the end of the fourth time he asked for a coffin. They brought to him the square box. Then he went into it and died, wearing his apron, his crown, and rattle, which he had taken from the house of the Ghost chief.

Now they placed the box on the branch of a large tree just: behind the house. His companions watched the coffin night after night. At the end of one year those who were watching the coffin heard a great noise there. Then all the relatives of the shaman prince remembered the prince’s last words before he died. Therefore they assembled under the coffin. It was open, and they saw the shaman prince in the form of a queer-looking ugly owl. They all fell to the ground like dead, for they were much afraid. One of his companions, who had always been with him from the time when he first became a shaman, tried to catch him, but the owl refused to let him do so.

When all his relatives had recovered, his nephew tried to catch him, as he had promised to do before his uncle’s death. He went toward the large tree; but when he looked up, he fell back, being afraid.

When the queer-looking ugly owl saw his nephew fall to the ground, and when he perceived that all his relatives were afraid of him, he spoke to them: ‘Not one of you will be left, nor one of the shamans that killed me. I shall take you all to the village of the Ghosts, and also all the shamans that killed me. I will make them my slaves in my house in the Ghost town, for the Ghosts took me to be their chief in their town. Only my companions who have always been with me wherever I went while I was among them, and who desired to catch me while I was sitting here, they shall succeed to all my supernatural powers. I will help them and look after them right along.”

After he had spoken these words, the queer-looking ugly owl suddenly fell back into the box, and the cover of the box replaced itself.

On the following morning the people of the village went back to the burial-place, and a strong young man climbed the tree. When he came to the coffin, he opened the box, and there was nothing in it; only the box was full of eagle down. After a while the enemies of the shaman prince died one at a time, and his own relatives also died one by one in the same way. Then the shaman prince had come to be a chief in the Ghost town. He was the head chief there; and while he was there, all the souls of the shamans who had tried to kill him came to the Ghost town. He punished them in the burning river that flows in front of the Ghost town. He cast their souls into it, and they died a second death. The second death of Ghosts is their transfer into cohoes salmon.

Then the chief of the Ghosts guarded all his people, and all the souls of his relatives; but his four companions who had always been with him while he was alive among men became shamans in his place. They always went to the town of the Ghost chief, and they often talked to him, and the Ghost chief helped them whenever they wanted the souls of some one who had died or some beloved one; and the Ghost chief ordained that if a person had been dead for four days, then the shamans should have no power to put the soul back into the body. So these four shamans did what the Ghost chief told them to do, and the four shamans told the people what they had been told.

Then the people understood it, and the four men worked among the people as the Ghost chief wanted them to do. They worked many years.

Once upon a time these four shamans went to the house of a great chief whose young, beautiful son had died, and the whole tribe were mourning over the dead prince. After four days they invited these four shamans in to bring the soul of his dead son back. When the four shamans came into the house where the dead boy lay, they saw his beautiful body. They also saw how sad the parents were, and they told them that they would soon bring back the soul of the dead boy.

However, the four days had passed. They went to the graveyard, as they were accustomed to do, and came to the Ghost town. The Ghosts met them on the way and smelled of them. They said, “You have a very bad smell.” They went to the chief’s house. The chief was very angry with them because they had broken his orders. Therefore he said, ‘You shall not return to your people; you shall stay with me, for you have broken my order.” Therefore the four sorcerers never came back again. They also stay in the Ghost town. Their bodies were found in the graveyard, and the people took them down and buried them. That is the end.