STORIES 409

After some time, his sisters plucked up courage to return and saw him
lying there. One of them became suspicious and began to sing:”

WASiXSIXKGN 15 sgolttim-ank

the blood

wixsoloks
it is as if

Alaiyaquséan- 18
Peculiar is

of our cousin.

A free translation of this is: ‘How strange is the blood with which
our relative is covered!’
Raven raised himself slightly, as if in great pain, and answered:

Axqwago
It must be

Oalxaowam-aaoa
You are wickedly stupid!

Oalxaowam-aaoa
You are wickedly stupid!

WaASiXS dioswin-aiyaix
like blood; a war-party did it.

Then he groaned” feebly and became silent.

At first his sisters did not believe his protestations and repeated their
doubting song, but he assured them that he was speaking the truth so
they were finally convinced. Raven instructed them to carry him home
very carefully. On reaching the beach, all their fellow-villagers came
crowding around, and when they learnt of their chief’s injury, they loudly
expressed their sympathy. Raven continued his groanings, and when
he had been taken to his house, one of the neighbours began to sponge
away the blood. Much to his surprise, he could find no wound; then,
looking more carefully, he recognized that the “blood” was only berry-
juice. He proclaimed his discovery in a loud voice, and everyone laughed
at Raven, thus caught deceiving his sisters.

RAVEN AND HIS SISTERS
(Second Version)

Once upon a time, Raven set out with his four sisters to gather berries.
They travelled in his self-moving canoe, Todink?, which soon brought them
to a place where fruit was plentiful. Raven, greedy as usual, wanted to
eat at once the berries which his sisters brought to the craft, whereas they
wished to keep them for winter use. When they insisted, Raven deter-
mined to outwit them by fair means or foul. When next the women were
out of sight, Raven went ashore and arranged for a voice to cry:

Se St ec RE IS eC ear ee
_ "Recorded as song VII D 30b, National Museum of Canada; singer, Jim Pollard.
The same method of recording has been used as for dance songs, although the ver-
tical lines indicate only word groups, not phrases called out by an announcer.
*The singer entered into the spirit of the song, and prefixed his rendition by
calling out: Wina wina djutxmé-nk: “Raiders, raiders are coming.” ii
*This is indicated on the record by grunts, groans, and calls of dndnats, an
ejaculation of pain.