422 THE BELLA COOLA.INDIANS

MINK AND CLOUD

Once upon a time, Mink said to Cloud:

“Won’t you marry me? I should like it immensely.”

“Yes,” answered Cloud, “I am quite agreeable if you are brave
enough. But I think you will be sorry, because I am not like you.”

“J will risk that,” replied Mink, ‘“‘because I desire you very much.”

Mink jumped up to Cloud. It chanced to be a windless day and the
clouds were lying in a thick belt around the mountain, so he was quite
comfortable, and spent the night with his bride. But next day, when a
wind blew up, his wife began to disintegrate. Mink jumped from one
patch of cloud to another, but as the wind increased they became more
and more scattered and smaller, until, finding none to support him, he
fell with a crash into the ocean. The fall did not kill him, but he was so
badly shaken up that he swam slowly back to land and never again sought
his wife.

THE CUNNING OF MINK

Once upon a time, long, long ago, a number of women left Kimsquit
to go into the mountains to gather a fern, sgwa/em, highly prized for food.
An expedition of this kind was always regarded as a picnic, so that a
number of young men asked to be allowed to accompany them. The girls
consented, but stipulated that Mink was to be excluded, because of his
offensive smell and objectionable habit of emitting wind. Mink, deeply
insulted, resolved to work mischief. When the others had set off he fol-
lowed secretly. Several times different members of the party smelt an
offensive odour, resembling Mink’s, and mentioned it to their companions.

“No, it cannot be,” the others answered. ‘Mink has neither the
strength nor the courage to follow where he knows he is not wanted.”

At dusk the young men dug a large hole near a river bank to cook the
fern, which is prepared in the following manner:—A large fire is built in
the pit and stones are thrown on, which gradually fall, red-hot, to the
bottom. Then the remains of the fire are raked out, a layer of grass is
placed over the stones, and on it is deposited the fern; this is then covered
by a layer of sand and on top of that is built a huge fire, which must be
kept going all night. By evening the arrangements were complete and
the fire was blazing. The women and men had a pleasant time playing
together and at length went to sleep.

This gave Mink the opportunity for which he had been waiting. As
is well known, he has power over rain which is included in his ancestral
myth. Not only does he do all his hunting and travelling when it is
raining, but he has the ability to cause a downpour. He began to sing: