57. The Man Who Bound Up His Wrinkles

There was a shaman who lived on a little island outside of Inverness, at the mouth of Skeena River. He had a little house on the little island; and he used to make arrows, which he sold among the tribes. His arrows were very valuable because they were handsome and had pretty feathers. He was a very old man, and there were wrinkles all over his ugly face. He used to go into the chief’s house, and sell his nicely feathered arrows. The old man was known to all the chiefs and all the people, who bought his arrows.

Some time in winter one of the head chief’s daughters was missing, and they could not find her. Every year they missed one or two princesses in every village among the Tsimshian; and they did not know where they had gone, although they would go and search for them among the tribes.

Now, when all the princesses were gone, the last princess went with her two maidens into the woods behind her father’s house. Before they had gone very far, a good-looking young man came out of the woods and met the princess. His blond hair was tied at the back of his head. He smiled at her, and the princess looked at him and also smiled. He said to her kindly, “What are you going to do, and where are you going?” She replied with her gentle voice, and said, “I am” just taking a walk.” “Shall I go with you?” said he. She smiled, and said, “If you like, come.” Then the young man walked by her side. He asked the princess to leave her two maidens behind, and to go with him farther on. Therefore the princess said to her two maidens, “Stay here a while until we go a little farther on!” Therefore the two maidens staid there, while they went on.

They sat down, and the good-looking young man said, “Shall I take you to my father’s house?” The princess said, ‘Yes, if you desire to do so.” They went on their way, and came to the place where his canoe lay. It was a nice little eanoe, and there were many good, warm garments in it.

“Now, my dear,” said the young man, “lie down in the canoe, and I will paddle along until we reach my home. Then I will wake you up.” She did as he told her, and he paddled along until evening. There was a thick fog. Then the man called the princess, and she arose and saw the thick fog. She went ashore, and the young man guided her up to the house; and when she went in, she saw a nice little room full of all kinds of expensive garments, abalone earrings and everything that is costly.

A little later the young man came in and said, “Lie down here, my dear! I will bring you to my father’s house tomorrow! I must go back to my canoe and tie up the anchor-line.”” Then the princess made the bed ready and lay down. After a little while the young man came in. The princess put her hands around his head and pressed it toward herself. She loved him very much:

On the followmg morning they slept until very late. The princess had her right hand under his head around his neck. When she awoke from her deep sleep, she opened her eyes, and saw an uglylooking old man on her right side. She rubbed her eyes. Then she recognized him as the wrinkled old man who always came. into her father’s house and sold him nice arrows. Then she began to cry.

Finally the old man woke up. He saw her weeping, and asked her, “Why are you so sad?”—“Oh,” said the princess, “I was thinking of my poor father, who would be missing me!’—° Don’t cry so!” said the old man, looking at her with his ugly face. “You can go back there easily. It is not very far. But lie here a little longer!’ She was still crying, but he compelled her to he down with him. She obeyed because she was afraid of him, but her heart was full of sorrow on account of her doings.,

Not many days had passed when he said to her, Go with me to that rock yonder! We will gather some nice feathers which I need for my arrows, and then I will take you back to your father’s house.’

On the following day he took down his little canoe. The princess went aboard first with her hand basket, which he had taken along. The old man paddled along toward the grassy reck; and when he reached there, he said to her, “Go ashore on that grassy rock!” The princess arose and jumped out of the canoe. Then the old man pushed his canoe off from the grassy rock, and said, “Now, I leave you on that bare rock, and you shall die there, you bad, common woman!” The princess screamed and asked him to take pity on her. She said, “My dear, don’t leave me alone on this bare rock!’ But the old man said, “No, I know that you hate me.’ The princess replied, “No, I love you very much, my dear husband! Come, take me off from this bare rock! Take pity on me! You shall have my body. I will let you have my father’s slaves or his costly coppers. I know you are a good shaman.”

The bad shaman, however, did not listen to the princess, but laughed at her and mocked her. He asked her to do various shameful things; and she did so, because she was afraid that he might leave her. In vain she did everything her husband wanted her to do. She cried very loud; and before the bad shaman left the grassy rock, he shouted to heaven.

Then the princess ceased her crying in order to hear what the old man said. He shouted four times. Then he paddled away quickly from the bare rock

The princess looked up, and she saw numerous birds coming down from above. She ran to and fro on the bare rock, crying. She went down to the beach, trying to find shelter. She found a small cave near the water and hid in there. Then all the birds of beautiful feather remained sitting on the rock a short time and flew up again to heaven: and when the princess came out again from her hiding-place in the cave, she saw the beautiful feathers of the heavenly birds lying on the rock. She gathered them all, and she also saw bare bones on the rock and hand baskets.

Now, the princess knew that. - bad old man had killed all the princesses who had been lost year after year. She wept again, sitting there all alone.

Pour days passed, and early in the morning she saw a canoe coming down from the little island where the bad shaman lived. Therefore she hid in the rock on the beach, and she put some seaweed on her head. She heard the old man sing a canoe-song. He seemed very happy. He reached the place where the princess was in hiding on the beach, and tied his line firmly around the solid rock. Then he went to the top of the rock.

The princess crept out of her hiding-place, went into the canoe, cut the line with her little woman’s knife, and pushed the canoe off from the rock with all her might. When the canoe was a little way off, the old ugly man looked back, and he saw his canoe on the water with the young princess in it.

Then he said, “Is that you, my dear wife? I came to take you back to your father’s house. Come ashore, and take me with you! Ever since I left you I have not been able to sleep. I have always been thinking of you, my dear wife! Do come ashore and take me!’ The princess replied, “No, I will not take you, for you are fooling me, and you intended to kill me. Besides, I saw all the bare bones of the princesses on the bare rock. There you have killed them, you bad shaman! I will give your flesh to the birds of the air, and your bare bones shall lie on that rock!” Then the old man cried bitterly, and said, “Take pity on me, take pity on me, my good child! Come and take me with you! I won’t deceive you.”

The princess in the canoe, however, said, “I will shout and call down all the birds of heaven and give them your flesh, as you did to my fellow-princesses on this bare rock!’ and then she shouted as the old man had done. She shouted four times and paddled away from the rock.

When she had gone some distance and looked back, she saw that the heavens were darkened by numerous birds. They went down to the rock where the old man was and devoured him there.

She paddled away, and in the evening she arrived at her father’s town. She went in and sat down by her mother’s side. Her mother looked at her, and said, “Is that you, my daughter?”—“Yes, mother, I am still alive,” said the princess. “Where is my father ?”—“He was invited by some of his.own people who wanted to comfort him, for he was in deep sorrow while you were gone.”

Then some one ran and told the great chief that his daughter had come home, and all rushed out and assembled in the chief’s house, and the princess began to tell her story- -what had happened to her, how she had been deceived by the old shaman. After she had told her story, she wept.;

Then she said to her father, ‘Invite all the chiefs of all the tribes who lost their daughters.” Then the father of the princess sent a messenger to all the tribes, and they all came in at the right time: and after the chief had given them to eat, he said, “The princess my daughter was lost a few days ago, and she came back last night. She shall tell you what has become of your lost children.’—°They were all killed by the bad shaman who had his house on the little island outside of Sliding Mountain. He took me away from my two maidens and transformed himself into a handsome young man to deceive me. When I first met him in the woods, he told me that he would take me to his father’s house. [ I myself, as well as my two maidens, saw that his hair was blond and tied at the back of his head. He was more beautiful than all the young men, and so I consented to let him take me with him. When we came to his canoe, I saw that it was full of costly garments, and he told me to lie down in it. I did so, and at midnight we arrived at his home. It was foggy when we went to his house. On the following morning, when I awoke from my sleep, I looked at his face, and saw that it was wrinkled. Then I recognized him, and knew that he had come from time to time to my father’s house to sell his beautiful arrows. He told me his name was The Man Who Bound Up His Wrinkles At The Back Of His Head. After two or three days had passed, he said to me, ‘I will take you to the grassy rock to comfort you, and you will see nice feathers there, and we shall find beautiful abalone shells.’ So he took me to the grassy rock; and when I left the canoe, he took his pole and pushed his eanoe from the rock, and told me that he would leave me alone on that bare rock. I screamed and cried from fear, and asked him to take me to my father, and I did everything he wanted me to do on that rock. [ I pleaded with him in vain. He called me a common bad woman, and last of all he shouted to heaven after he had said that he would give my body to the birds of the air. Then he shouted four times, and, behold! all the birds descended to the rock to devour me; but I hid under a rock on the beach, and he paddled away with all his might. Then the whole rock was full of birds. Soon they went up again, and I walked about the rock. There I saw all the bare bones of human beings, and hand baskets by their sides; and [ I wept much, for I knew that the bad man had killed all our lost princesses. After I had staid four days on the bare rock, I walked about on that rock, and saw a canoe coming down from the little island, and I saw that he was coming to gather the beautiful bird feathers. I hid on the beach and put seaweed over my head. He arrived right in front of me, and was singing his merry canoe-song. He came ashore with the canoe-line in his hands, and tied it firmly to the rock. When he hastened to the top of the rock, I cut ‘the line and pushed off the canoe from the rock. lie looked at me, and said that he intended to come and take me home, but I paid no attention to what he said; and I shouted, as he had done. lie was anxious to stop me, but [ I shouted four times, and I saw the birds of heaven descend to the rock when I paddled away from it.”

Thus said the princess, and all the chiefs wept. On the following morning all the tribes went with the princess to go to the grassy rock. Before they reached there, the princess asked them to let her father go first. He went ashore first; and after he had gathered beautiful feathers, all the other chiefs came ashore. They picked up their daughters’ hand baskets, gathered their bare bones, and took them home. On that day there was great mourning on the island by the parents of those princesses who had been lost. They saw the bare bones of the bad shaman there, and every one who passed them threw stones at them.

The father of the princess went to the little island and took from the house of The Man Who Bound Up His Wrinkles At The Back Of His Head all kinds of costly garments and all kinds of arrows and feathers, and abalone shells of all kinds; and when they came home, the chief returned to his fellow-chiefs their children’s garments, and he gave them ten beautiful feathers with each garment, and the princess was honored by all the tribes on that day.