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Source: Boas, Jesup North Pacific Expedition, i, 83
Once upon a time there was a youth whose name was Anutkoats, who was
playing with a number of girls behind the village. While they were
playing, a noise like the cracking of twigs was heard in the woods.
The noise came nearer and nearer. The youth hid behind a tree, and saw
that a Snanaik was approaching. She was chewing gum, which caused the
noise. He advised the children to run away, but they did not obey. When
they saw the gum, they stepped up to the Snanaik and asked her to give
them some.
The Snanaik gave a piece of gum to all the children, and when she saw
Anutkoats, who was advising the children to return home, she took him and
threw him into the basket which she was carrying.
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Then she took all the other children and threw them on top of him into
her
basket. After she had done so, she turned homeward. Then Anutkoats
whispered to the girls to take off their cedar-bark blankets, and to
escape through a hole that he was going to cut in the basket. He took his
knife, cut a hole in the bottom of the basket, and fell down. The girls
also fell down one by one until only one of them was left.
All the children returned home and told their parents what had happened.
The mother of the girl who had not been able to escape began to cry,
mourning for her daughter. She cried for four days and four nights. Then
her nose began to swell, because she had been rubbing it all the time. She
had thrown the mucus of her nose on the ground. Now when she looked down,
she saw that something was moving at the place where it had fallen.
She watched it from the corners of her eyes, and soon she discovered that
her mucus was assuming the shape of a little child. The next time she
looked, the child had grown to the size of a new-born baby. Then the woman
took it up, and the child began to cry. She carried it into the house, and
washed the baby for four days.
Then the child, who was very pretty and had red hair, began to speak, and
said, "My father, the Sun, sent me to ask you to stop crying. I shall go
out into the woods, but pray don't cry, for I am sent to recover your
daughter. I know where she is. Make a small salmon-spear for me, which I
shall need." Thus spoke the boy.
Then the woman asked an old man to make a salmon-spear, which she gave to
her son. His mother gave him ear-rings made of abalone shells, and the boy
played about with his spear, and always wore his ear ornaments.
One day when his mother was crying again, the boy said, "Mother, I ask you
once more, don't cry, for my father the Sun sent me down to bring back
your daughter. He will show me where she is. I shall start today to
recover my sister from the Snanaik, who stole her. Don't worry about me."
Then the boy went up the river. After he had gone some distance, he came
to a tree which overhung the river. He climbed it, and looked down in
order to see if there were any fish in the water. Soon he heard a noise
some distance up the stream, and gradually it sounded nearer. Then he saw
the Snanaik coming down the river. When she reached the tree, she stopped
and looked down into the clear water. She saw the image of the boy, who
was sitting on the tree, and thought it was her own reflection.
She said, "How pretty I am!" and she brushed her hair back out of her
face. When she did so, the boy imitated her movements in order to make her
believe that she was looking at her own reflection. When she laughed, he
laughed also, in order to deceive her. But at last the Snanaik looked
upward, and saw the boy sitting in the tree.
Then she addressed him with kindly words, and asked him to come down. She
said, "What did your mother do in order to make you so pretty_"
The boy replied, "You cannot endure the treatment I had to undergo in
order to become as pretty as I am."
The Snanaik begged, "Oh, come down and tell me. I am willing to stand even
the greatest pain in order to become as pretty as you are. What are you
doing up there_"
Then the boy said, "I was watching for salmon, which I desire to harpoon
with my salmon-spear."
The Snanaik repeated, "Oh, come down, and do with me whatever you please
in order to make me as pretty as you are."
The boy replied, "I don't believe you can endure the wounds that I have to
inflict upon you."
She replied, "You may cut me as much as you please. I want to become as
pretty as you are."
Then the boy climbed down the tree, and the Snanaik asked, "What must we
do first_"
He said, "We must go up this river to find two stone knives with which my
mother used to cut off my head."
They walked up the river, and found the stone knives. Then the boy said to
the Snanaik, "Now lie down on this stone. Put your neck on this knife."
The Snanaik did as she was bidden. Then the boy took the other knife, told
the Snanaik to shut her eyes, and cut off her head. The head jumped back
to the body, and was about to unite with it, when the boy passed his hands
over the wound, and thus prevented the severed head from joining the body
again. Thus he had killed her.
Then he went to the Snanaik's house. He found his sister whom the Snanaik
had killed and smoked over her fire. He took the body down, and patted it
all over with his hands. Thus he resuscitated the girl.
On looking around in the house, he found the dried bodies of other
children, whom he also brought back to life. Then he took the girl and the
other children home.
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