418 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

swam away innumerable sockeyes of which Raven caught a great abun-
dance in his weir. He gave away many of these, generously, but still had
enough to fill his house with drying salmon. Following his wife’s instruc-
tions, he did not remove the heads from the bodies.

There were so many salmon in the house that they had to be hung in
three tiers over the fire, and as he moved about Raven was often troubled
by his long hair becoming entangled in their teeth. At this he swore
secretly, afraid lest either the salmon or his wife should hear him. One
day his hair became so badly snarled in the teeth of one of the salmon that
he tore off the head of the fish which had caused him such annoyance,
thinking that his wife would know nothing about it. But when she
came into the house she cried out:

“Tam sick. Someone has been injuring the salmon.”

She asked her husband if he had done so, but he indignantly denied
the charge. At last she discovered that he had been the offender, but
said nothing to him about it. Waiting until Raven was out of the house,
Sockeye Salmon asked the people to help her purify the fish by making a
fire on which she placed her own worn blankets. Then she left the house
and began to whistle. At once her drying salmon left their places on the
frames and followed her from the house to the beach.

Raven, who came up at this moment, pursued his wife to the shore of
the ocean, where she lifted up the sea as if it had been a mat and dived
beneath, followed by her salmon. She became a fish once more and swam
away. The heart-broken Raven tried to follow, but could only splash
into the water, not penetrate beneath it as the woman had done. Thus

he lost both wife and fish.

RAVEN AND SOCKEYE SALMON
(Second Version)

Raven and his four Crow sisters, whose names were Kakamitt, Tewa-st,
Asgdntks, and Wux, lived on the banks of the Dean River, to which they
had been attracted by the abundance of trout. One day, when Raven was
spearing fish, he saw in the water a beautiful Sockeye Salmon woman,
with whom he immediately fell in love. When he told her of his affec-
tion she came ashore, assumed human form, and they were married.

Raven strewed fresh sand on the floor of his house and did his utmost
to make his supernatural bride comfortable. Knowing the wishes of the
salmon, she told her husband never to pull or cut the heads from any that
he caught. Raven promised to obey, and then he asked a favour of his
wife. She had beautiful hair, hanging luxuriantly to her hips, of which
he had long been envious. He asked his wife to make his hair grow like