Supernatural-being-who-went-naked

[Told by John Sky of Those-born-at-Skedans]

By and by the one who was born next to him also went out and shouted. He called in the same way as the other had done, and again the cloud came into the inlet. Again a person stood in the place [which it touched] and wrestled with him. After they had wrestled together for a while, he again knocked him down and said as before: “Go to the flint point which sticks out in the rear of my father’s house.” Then he went up into the air with noise.

Now he treated all seven in the same way. Afterward their mother wept. When she was through weeping, she blew her nose out (i.e., cleared her throat) and said: “My eldest son is nothing. My mind is so (i.e., sad) all of the time.”

Her daughter always took care of the fire. Every time they went to bed Supernatural-being-who-went-naked slept in the place where the fire had been. He was weak. He was unable to sit up.

Now he heard what his mother kept saying about him. Then he called to his sister: “Sister, come and bring out one of your mother’s stone boxes.” His sister poured some [water] into one, and, as he crept thither, he fell on his side and almost fainted. After he had lain there for a while he started to creep to it again, and he crept into it.

Then his buttocks were floating, and his sister picked up a poker and pressed on his buttocks. After his sister had pressed upon him for a while, she took away the stick from him. Lo, his buttocks were covered with water. And, after he had been in the water for a while, he stretched himself in it. He burst it.

Then his sister poured some water into another one, and he got into it. After he had been in it a short time (lit., the length of a hand), he burst it by stretching. Then he got into another. That, too, he burst with his knees.

Now his sister poured some water into the remaining one. As soon as he had got into it he stretched himself. He burst that also.

After he had been in the water there for a while something came down from the head of the creek, making a noise as it descended, and he listened as he stood there. Then the sound came near to him. Now he looked in that direction. Fallen trees came down toward him, striking against each other as they came. They came near him. They came straight toward him. Then he ran ashore from them.

Upon this all the vegetation in the forest and all kinds of birds in the woods called him a coward. “Is this the one who is trying to obtain power for himself? His power is weak.” Then he jumped into the water again, and they came upon him, striking together. When they struck him he felt nothing. What had become old rotten trees floated away from him.

And after he had been in the sea a while longer ice came down, striking together on the way. And again he ran away from it, and they said he was a coward. Then he again jumped into the water to meet them. After they had struck on each side of him they floated away, transformed into some soft substance.

After he had been in the water for another space of time rocks came floating down, striking together, and he ran away from them. They again told him he was a coward, and he again went into the water. And they struck upon him. They became brittle rock and floated away from him.

And he said to him: “Come, let me whip you, grandson.” He went to him and faced him. Then he struck him with the knot. He did not feel it. Instead, it broke in pieces. And he struck him also with the g̣ōdañxō′sgî. He did not feel it. And he also struck him on his back with the kwē′aogia′gadañ. He did not feel it. Then he struck him with the seaweed. He almost touched the earth with his head.

Then they seized each other. He pushed Greatest-strong-man down. Then he smiled at him, and went toward the woods upon the ice. Landward stood a dead tree on the sea side of which a dead limb stood out which he tried to pull off. He could not do it. But he (the human being) went over to it and pulled it out. And he said to him: “Now, grandson, go home, for your things are there.” And he went down the inlet.

Then he sat down on one of the bedsteads belonging to his younger brothers. He broke it by sitting. And he broke another by sitting on it. After he had broken all by sitting on them he made one for himself. And he also broke that by sitting on it. And, after a stronger one with yellow cedar corner posts was finished, that, too, broke down. And he gave it up. Then he fastened the pokers lying near the fire together in the shape of a cross, laid dead salmon-berry bushes across them, laid the planks on top of these, and sat down upon them. That, however, was strong. Then he went to bed.

He came to a mountain covered with devil’s-club and began eating it. And when he was half through evening came upon him, and he stayed there over night. And next day he again began eating. When evening came he had eaten all.

Very early next day he went out to challenge some one to a wrestling match. When he started to wrestle with the thing which had destroyed his younger brothers, he said: “Now, when you throw me down, stand awaiting me.” Immediately they seized each other. Then he was thrown down. As soon as that happened, he (the opponent) pronounced the words.

After that his younger brothers again disappeared.

After he had lain in bed awhile day broke, and he began to think of the animal he had put over [the log]. Then he went thither. Lo, she was again trying to climb over. He put her across. And he watched to see which way she went. Then she went in at the butt end of a clump of ferns. And a house stood there.

Then she said to him: “Come in, my son; news has come that you are going to borrow something from me.” Then he entered to her, and she let him sit down next to her. Then she turned to the wall. She took a tray out of one of her boxes. On both sides of it sat [carved] mice. She placed a piece of dried salmon which was in it before him. And he thought: “I have been fasting a long time. What a small thing I am going to eat.” Then she said to him: “Eat it. However small it looks, it can never be consumed.” He took it. While doing so he looked. It was still there. And he again picked it up. He was unable to consume it, and she put [the tray] back.

Then she again turned round toward the wall. She put a single cranberry in front of him. Then he picked it up with a spoon. That, too, he was unable to consume.

Then he went away. After he had been in bed for a while, day began to break, and he went up to the woods and reached his destination. There was a place there trodden bare by many feet. The footprints of human beings were in it.

Then, just as day began to break, he whistled. After he had done this for a while something like a person with his hair floating upon the water came along. When it got near him, he dropped flat, and, after some space of time had elapsed, lo, he came to himself in its belly. Then he put the medicine upon himself and stretched himself in its belly. His younger brothers’ bones poured out. He, too, was thrown out on top of them.

Then he spit the medicine upon his younger brothers. They arose. And he said: “Go together to the place where you used to sit.” Then he, too, followed them, and, after they had enjoyed seeing each other for a while, again one was gone. One after the other all seven disappeared.

Then he whittled the hemlock limbs. He sharpened the ends and put them over the fire. Then he took these at midnight and went to Sealion-town. And he climbed up into a tree which stood at the end of the trail.

Then he pushed it about [preparing to skin it] and was going to cut it open. But it thundered and lightened. Then he skinned it and cut it open. He caused his younger brothers’ bones to burst out and spit medicine upon them. They rose, and he said: “Go to the place where you used to sit.” The next day one was again missing and the day after another. It went on in this way until all seven were again gone.

And, after he had sat around for a while, he started off aimlessly. After he had gone along for a while he heard something in the middle of the island which sounded like a drum. Then he went to it. Lo! he came to a trail. It had been recently trodden upon. After he had traveled on this for a while he came to a house. The door was on one side of the front. Inside of the house something made a noise like a drum.

Then he looked in. A woman, wearing a brownish red cedar-bark blanket, twisted threads. The doing of that caused the noise like a drum. He sat outside of the door which was much trodden about. Then he went along and looked down. There was a salmon-berry bush newly broken off. And he took it up. He punched her buttocks with it as she sat working turned toward the wall. Then she turned round and smiled upon him, and he talked with her for a while.

Being unsuccessful he went home. Then he came to Gū′łg̣a. He was going to enter his mother’s house, yet in spite of himself he passed by in front. Then he turned toward it again and, when he was near the door, he seized a pole which was in front of the house. But it came away in his hand.

When he could not succeed in entering he wandered off aimlessly. Soon he arrived at the middle of the top of the island. After he had traveled about a while he came to an open space. Then he sat down there. After he had sat there for a while he looked at himself. Lo! he sat there naked, deprived of both his blankets. Some thick bushes were there.

Then he turned his back to the sunshine. He held his head down with his forehead in his hands. While he was sitting thus something touched him. He looked for it but saw nothing. Then he got ready for it, and, when this happened again, he grasped in front of it. It was in his hand. It was soft. It felt like fur. It was like something phosphorescent.

Now he started on. He traveled around and around this island. One time, after he had traveled for a while, he heard some one sobbing bitterly. He went thither. A house stood there. He ran to it so fast that he kept falling. Then he looked in. In the rear of the house stood one with tears running down and pitch on his face. His earrings were long. From the ends of them small human beings hung. Their throats hung downward. Their arms were moving as they hung.

He struck the ground with his baton and cried hard. “Thinking to restore his younger brothers again as he had twice revived them, the supernatural being started after them. While he was going, the supernatural being went on forever.” So he heard him put words into the song about himself as he wept.

And his boxes all had their ends toward the fire. There were four tiers of them. Then he wanted to look into them. And he ran about. After he had run around looking for something for a while he found a big rock, long and narrow, and he put it on his shoulder. Then he threw it up on top of the house. He pulled himself up after it. Now he made a hole above him and let the stone fall in. It struck his head. He dropped dead without moving.

Then he went after him. Lo! he was crying out the same words as before. Then he turned back quickly and picked up a larger stone than the one he had before taken upon his shoulders. Now he put it on top of the house and pulled himself up after it. Then he made a hole right above him. He dropped the stone in. He fell down.

At once he jumped in, piled five blankets one over the other, and went away with them. Before he had gone far, however, he took these also from him. He remained in the same place looking at him. Now he was unable to kill him. That was Master Weeper.

By and by he said: “Hū; I am thirsty. I will go after some water for myself.” “Don’t do it, chief; those that destroyed my village live there. Go over to the corner and drink there like me, your mighty grandfather, who am doing without anything else.”

Then he went thither. It was a swampy place, full of skunk cabbage. And he turned around and defecated into it. And, after he had defecated into it, he said to him: “Manure is floating about here in it.” Then he said: “Alas! I wonder what I shall do.”

Then he said to him: “Hū; I am thirsty.” And he said to him: “Don’t go, chief; the things that destroyed my village are there.” But, without heeding him, he took the bucket and went for some. And, after the water had flowed down four times, he took some.

He did not know what happened to him. To his astonishment he came to himself sitting in its belly. Then he stretched himself in its belly. He burst it, and bones burst out of its belly. He put the bones together. If one leg was lost he repaired it with salmon-berry bushes. He spit medicine upon them. At once they got up. He revived the right side of the town.

Immediately after that the water flowed down continuously. Then he got some in the bucket, went in, and said: “Grandfather, drink.” Then he stretched his hand toward it. After he had looked at it for a while, he turned away from it. He did not drink.

After [Supernatural-being-who-went-naked] had sat there for a while, he said: “Hū, everywhere people eat things found at low tide. I want some devilfish. I am going to get some devilfish.” “Do not do it, chief; the thing that destroyed my village lives there.” But, without listening to what was said, he started off.

In the corner of the house on the side toward the door were two sticks for hunting devilfish. Then he took both. And he gave him the following directions: “After he has shot water from his mouth four times, punch in at him. That is the way to endeavor to kill him.”

Then he went. Something wonderful lived there. The supernatural devilfish shot water at him, and it went right to the sky. After it had shot out water four times, he punched it with a stick. But he found himself in its belly. Then he spit medicine upon himself and stretched out in its belly. He burst it. The mother of outbursts of human bones took place. Then he put the bones together, and part were missing. And he repaired them with any common material. Then he repaired their eyes in the same way and spit medicine upon them. At once all went away. And he said: “When you get home, walk about there.”

Then he dragged [the devilfish] along with the devilfish stick and threw it inside the door. When he came in and sat down, Nᴀñkî′lsʟas looked at him. As he was looking at him, Supernatural-being-who-went-naked said: “Now, grandfather, look about upon your town.”

Now he took his cane and went out with it. He looked to the right. To his great surprise something wonderful had happened. People decorated with feathers and having their faces painted walked about in rows. Then he also looked to the left. There things were in the same condition. Then he entered.

Then he called for him. “This way, my son; come and sit near me.” Then he went to him, and he pressed on his nose with the stick and pressed it down. Now he took off the sea-bass, bullhead, and tomcod spines from him. After he had finished doing it he fixed him up. Then he brought out a comb and combed him from the top of his head. And he looked down. Lo! land-otter fur was piled up below. He did the same thing on the other side of him. Nᴀñkî′lsʟas pressed something upon his nose with his fingers because Supernatural-being-who-went-naked had the gā′gix̣īt smell.

Then Nᴀñkî′lsʟas said to Supernatural-being-who-went-naked: “Now you better go. The one your mind is troubled about lives near by. When the servants come for water throw yourself into the water and make yourself appear like one through whom worthless things come. The ones coming first will not want to touch you; the last one will take good care of you.”

Then the one who came first threw herself backward. “Yuwai′yᴀ, something is floating about in her water (i.e., the chief-woman’s).” Then the middle one said: “Throw him out with a stick.” Now the last one, who was lame, said: “Handle him carefully. After he has drunk whale soup he will become stronger.”

Then they broke off the stalk of a salmon-berry bush and took him out carefully. Now they got the water, and, after they had taken it down to the canoe, they remembered him. The lame one brought him in with a stick and put him in the bailing hole.

And after they had landed they carried up the water. They steamed the whale. Again they forgot about him. Then she who was lame thought of him and said: “We have forgotten about a crooked thing which floated about in the chief-woman’s drinking water.”

Then the daughter of The-one-in-the-sea said: “Hurry and get him.” And the lame one went and got him. She brought him up with a stick. He was bent across the salmon-berry stalk. Then they had him sit on the side toward the door. He warmed his hands at the fire. Then they handed him whale soup, but, while he was reaching for it and was moving it toward his mouth, he spilled it all. Then they all laughed at him and gave him some more. The same thing happened to that.

While they were away he warmed himself on the side of the house toward the door a while and said: “Chief-woman, you [let me get something].” Then she said to him: “Go and get what you are talking about.” But he crept over to her. He touched the chief-woman. Then she seized him on each side of his head near his ears and knocked him against the floor planks, holding him by the hair. And she said to him: “Go and sit on the side toward the door, you common thing.” And he crept over there. Again he sat near the door.

The servants had pulled in a whale. They were happy. Then, after he had tried to communicate with the lame one for a while, he told her about himself. “I have firewood for you back here. Go and get it. I am Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. Do not tell any one about me.”

One day he crept out. He got out of his skin. Then he stopped making himself old. He determined to marry the chief-woman.

Then he put upon his face the painting that Nᴀñkî′lsʟas had placed there first. He put on his two sky blankets. And, after he had stood there for a while, one of the servants came out. As soon as she had looked at him, although still at a distance, she came toward him with her arms stretched out. “No, no, no,” he said to her, and she went in from him crying.

Then she said: “Come! look at Supernatural-being-who-went-naked who stands just outside.” And another went out to him. He also refused her. He refused ten. Then she who was lame went to him. But he put his arm around her, and they stood there together.

Then he took the net which was hung in a corner and went to the point. Whales swam about in the water. He let out two [meshes]. Two were in it. And he could not pull it in. The other [meshes] were also pulled into the water. All five were pulled in. Then he went away. And where he lay he breathed hard [from the exertion].

The day after she went to her father by canoe. All of the servants went along with the chief-woman. Supernatural-being-who-went-naked also went. They started. After they had gone along for a while, they came in sight of the town. Then they landed, and her father came down to meet her. And he asked his daughter: “Why do you come, chief-woman, my daughter?” “Why, father, we came after the net.” “It is there in the house, chief-woman, my daughter.”

And he was glad to see Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. Then they went in, and four hard white stones were put into the fire. When they became red hot, they brought a tray made of white rock out from the corner. They put them into it and placed it in front of him.

Then his wife cried, “Hᴀⁿ! hᴀⁿ! every time I try to be happy (i.e., to be married) you use this sort of weapon.” Then he told his wife not to say a word. And, after he had swallowed his medicine, he picked up one with a spoon and swallowed it. It even went through the floor planks. He did the same with all four.

Then they gave him a wash basin. After his wife had also washed her hands, they brought out five black cod. And she told her husband not to eat them. “It is something different,” she said to him. Then they put these in front of him, and, after he had sat there for a while, she said: “He says that is not what it is.” Then [the servant] put it back and they threw them out.

Then they put some more in front of him. Those, too, he did not eat. And she said: “He says that that is also something different, father.” Then they threw away the steaming box and brought another out, and they brought out five more black cod. Then she said to her husband: “They are black cod.” They cut them crosswise and steamed them. When they were cooked, they put them into a dish. And before they had taken these, she picked one up. “Take care of the head and bones of this.” And she gave him another. She gave him those parts of all five black cod.

Hu hu hu hu hu, great quantities of black cod were put into the canoe. Then they landed and unloaded the black cod. And it was evening, and they went to bed.

Then he went thither. To his surprise there lay a woman asleep with Nᴀñkî′lsʟas with the upper part of her blanket fallen away leaving her uncovered. Then he pressed upon her with his hands and she said to him: “I used to want you, but lo! you got around late.”

And after that he sat down near the fire feeling unhappy. Then his wife asked him: “Why are you so sad?” “I am sad because I left my mother not far from here,” he said, deceiving her. Then he started. He put black cod into his canoe and started off. Then he came into Skidegate channel and reached his [younger] brothers’ town. Lo! his eight younger brothers came down to meet him.

Then they went in. And his younger brothers only cared to have Nᴀñkî′lsʟas for an elder brother. They did not care about Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. Before they even gave food, Supernatural-being-who-went-naked began to give them something to eat.

Nᴀñkî′lsʟas had a bedstead in the rear of the house. Clouds were over his head. They could not see his face. She (the wife of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked) cut the black cod crosswise and steamed them. Then they told Nᴀñkî′lsʟas to sit near the fire and put down a wash basin for him. And the cloud upon his face crossed [the room]. He sat there washing his hands. Then they set black cod before him. They saw only his hands.

His younger brothers ate with him, but Supernatural-being-who-went-naked sat with his wife on the side of the house toward the door. Nᴀñkî′lsʟas did not walk down. The clouds rose. He was fastened to them. Then the clouds rested with him behind the place where the wash basin was.

Now, when they were through, the cloud rose with him, and his body was again to be seen on the bedstead. Then he (Nᴀñkî′lsʟas) called to his sister. After she had gone to him and he had talked with her for a while, she went out. She brought in cranberries. The tray had the figure of a gā′gix̣īt upon it. After he had sat eating for a while he stopped, and his younger brothers ate the rest.

Then she again put stones into the fire. Then they laid the wash basin down again, and the clouds again rose with him. Again he came down there and sat down, and they put black cod in front of him. Then he ate with his younger brothers. At that time they did not see his face. Then the wife of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked was sad.

They say that Nᴀñkî′lsʟas was in love with Gā′gix̣īt woman in order to restore the brothers of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. In order to restore the town of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked to life he had let himself be born from the mother of Supernatural-being-who-went-naked. Then the clouds rose. Again he sat up high.

Again [Nᴀñkî′lsʟas] called to his sister: “Sister, come to me,” and his sister said: “Hū hū, always, when you send me after a thing, you are going to give me something. By and by you take it away from me again.”

Then she cried: “Haⁿ-a haⁿ-a, I thought that I let only my daughter have that.” Then her mother-in-law said to her: “Stop, chief-woman; wherever the supernatural beings are settled they always wear it as a crest. Chief-woman, it belonged to your husband’s sister and her brother (Nᴀñkî′lsʟas). He is simply fooling her with the thing you are talking about.” At once she stopped crying. She really saw it. But still she believed what her mother-in-law said.

On the next day his brother’s wife again gave them black cod to eat. When he sat up again he called to his sister. After he had talked to her for a while she came down and sat near Supernatural-being-who-went-naked, who sat with his wife. And she said: “He wants something that he says your husband owns.” Then he did not know what [Nᴀñkî′lsʟas] referred to.

By and by he thought of the skin of the wā′sg̣o he had killed. Then he ran toward the mouth of the inlet. And he pulled himself up to the two cedar tops, between which he kept it, and pulled off the wā′sg̣o’s tail. Then he started back with it. He returned at once.

But still she told her husband, Supernatural-being-who-went-naked, not to be in love with anyone. “Do not go with anyone, or I will go down to my father.”

Then her husband began getting water in a water-tight basket in which floated a hawk feather. Every time he came back she pulled out the feather. Globular drops of water fell off, and she drank. One time he lay with one he was in love with. And, when he came home, his wife pulled out the feather. The water adhered to it.

Immediately she became angry. Her labret moved as if some one had shaken it. Then she hunted in her box. At the same time her tears fell as if something were poured out. Taking something out of it she put it into her mouth. It was a white powder. She spit it upon her hands and rubbed it on the soles of her feet. Then her husband, who sat near her, took some that fell about. He at once rubbed it upon the soles of his feet. She did this because she was going to leave him.

Then she went down to the beach, and he followed her and went away with her on the surface of the sea. She did not look at him. Then she said to Supernatural-being-who-went-naked: “You better go back from me before I look at you.” And he said: “What kind of look is this dangerous look?” Then she looked toward him, and he went right under water. There was not a sign of him. And she entered her father’s house.

Then she said to her father: “Father, I made him fall in by looking. I looked toward him. Come! try to fish him out.” Then her father pulled apart the stone floor planks. He fished for him between them. Then he pulled him out, with nothing but his joints holding together. Then he spit medicine upon him, and he got up and went toward his place.

Like the preceding this seems to be a strictly Haida story, although the gā′gix̣īt idea was also popular among the Tlingit of Alaska. This fact, together with its length and complication and the insight it gives into the mythology of the Haida people, render it one of the most interesting of all. One of the myths obtained by me at Masset bore this same name, but resembled it only in the concluding portion, the first part being like that of He-who-got-supernatural-power-from-his-little-finger.

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