98

THE BIG CANOE

witchcraft, as they have a habit of doing when any
one possesses a gift of music or magic, prophecy or
healing, which they cannot understand.

| “Kinna played upon the reeds whenever he had a
chance, until at last he could make music like that of
the birds, like that of the wind sighing in the forest.
I loved to hear him play and spent many hours near
him, but we were always fearful of discovery; fearful
of an accusation of sorcery. So careful were we to
guard our secret, that Kinna put the reeds in a cedar
box I made for him and hid them each night beneath
a root, in a hollow tree, or among the ferns. Some-
times I knew where he hid the box; sometimes I did
not know his hiding-place.

“Then came the time when I was sent away to find
the animal no Haida had ever seen; of that, you have
often heard. When I returned, years afterward, the
ground was covered with snow and the reeds were
hidden in the forest under deep drifts. Before the
snow melted, Kinna was drowned while out with the
fishermen, and I have never found out where the
reeds were hidden, though I have often searched.

“Now the search is yours, Kagan. Your dream is a
good omen, as you can see. In it, Raven gave you a
reed instrument which would make magic music just
as Kinna’s did. Now he will surely lead you to the
reeds that have been hidden so many years. If the
rains have not ruined them, I will help you to repair
them so that you, too, may make music like that of