STORIES 453

This story has been handed down for so many generations that the
boy’s own name has been forgotten. He is always spoken of as Azko-sxp,
“He of the Tied-Up Penis.”

THE FERN GATHERERS

One autumn, just before the fall of the snow, a number of girls, with
one boy companion, went off into the woods to gather ferns, as is cus-
tomary at that season of the year. They ascended a side valley and
camped beside the stream which flowed through it. By nightfall they
had collected a large basketful of the ferns and were ready to rest. A fire
was built, on one side of which the girls sat, with the boy on the other.
Presently he began to sing, beating his own accompaniment:

“Rise, rise, you stream, and carry away their ferns,” was his song.

The girls asked him to stop; at last he did so, but it began to rain.
It rained and it rained until the creek rose so that a branch of it swept
through their camp, destroying the fern and separaiing them from the
boy. They wished to join him as it was on his side of the now impassable
torrent that the trail back to the village was situated. The lad was equal
totheemergency. Seizing his penis, he pulled it out to great length, and
threw one end across to act as a bridge. It was not quite long enough,
but one of the girls rushed into the roaring stream and hauled the end to
shore. She was a trifle embarrassed as she did so, and walked with
mincing steps. All the girls crossed the stream on this bridge and so
were able to return to their village. As a result, the boy received the
name, Tew ’Jaiyu.

THE MAD WOMAN

One April, not a great many years ago, nine men, in three canoes, went
to fish for steel-head salmon in the Bella Coola River, near Hagenburg.
A crazy woman followed them, crying out, making objectionable remarks,
and annoying them, as she had done other fishermen on previous occa-
sions. So intent was she on chasing these men, that, when necessary,
she swam the river to keep in touch with them. Finally they decided to
wait for her and kill her. Choosing a place where the rapids were bad,
they stopped, caught the lunatic, and threw her into the whirlpool.

As idly they watched the river, to their amazement the woman ap-
peared in the quiet water, a long way downstream, below the rapids, and
swam ashore. They heard her say to a near-by mountain:

“See what they have done to me. Come!”

In response to her command the whole snow-cap of the mountain
plunged down the valley in a vast slide, blocking the river, and killing the