426 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

“Your son was eaten, bite by bite, by the Wolves, the people whom
you scorned.”

Deer hurried on the trail of the Wolves, alternately weeping and
singing:

“When the mist was half-way down the mountain and there was no
wind, at that time my son was slain.”

Presently he reached the Wolf village, where a dance and feast were
in progress in the chief’s house. Deer was invited inside, and the chief
asked him if he could dance.

“Yes,” said Deer. “I will show you my celebrated dance, but I must
have mussel-shells tied to my legs.”

When this was done, Deer began to dance, violently, and, as he went
on, his hosts fell asleep, one by one, until only an old woman remained
awake. Deer danced immediately in front of her until she too slumbered.
Then he took off the mussel-shells and began to cut the throats of the
Wolves with them. When about half-finished the old woman showed
signs of waking, so Deer hastily discontinued his slaughter to dance before
her, and again she slept. All except a few had been killed when the old
woman woke up and saw what was happening. She roused the others
with a cry:

“Wake up! Wake up! Our visitor is murdering us.”

Deer fled into the woods with Wolves in pursuit. They pressed him
so closely that he climbed a tree, a feat which Deer could do in those days,
but Wolves could not. The pursuers returned to their house and asked
the old woman what they ought todo. She told them they must learn a
song, which, when sung at the foot of the tree in which Deer had taken
refuge, would cause him to fall down. So they sat down and she taught
them the following words:%6

Tcntcitomuxax | oxwogowaxats | skatatiyuksa-p | attuiwna-yaxtax

This is said to mean:*7 Please sleep, over yonder, you big mountain goat.
SxwaxwUtt
yawning.

Sxwa:xwit Sxwaxwett sSxwa-xwutt

Yawning,®? yawning, yawning,

*Recorded as song VII D 3d, National Museum of Canada; singer, Jim Pollard.

*7This song is said to have been handed down for many years. The words are
practically unintelligible and the Bella Coola do not profess to understand them.
They assume that the melody was made by a supernatural being and that this fact
accounts for the peculiar form.

‘It is clear that the singers were not to address the deer by name. :

**This sound is supposed to represent a loud yawn. The singer gasps it out
as if on the point of falling into a heavy sleep.