Note 89 — MYTHS RECORDED IN ENGLISH AT WRANGELL (continued 2)

“I have always wondered what this part of the story means but was never told. It must have been because we were going to have steamboats. Every now and then at the present time something happens like things in the stories. The poor people always had luck in those days, and I have always wondered what it meant. Years ago, too, we used to hear the old people say, ‘There will be no slaves. Those that have been slaves are going to feel themselves above the real high-caste Indians.’ And sure enough nowadays the people that have come from slaves are very proud, while the race of nobles is dying out. They are protected by law and know that nothing harmful can be said to them. We heard of this years ago.” (From the writer’s informant.)