Note 63 — MYTHS RECORDED IN ENGLISH AT WRANGELL
Reading edition
“This story is referred to in drawing the moral that one should never do anything spiteful or try to get ahead of one who knows better. If he does he will always get the worst of it. This is why in olden times the Indians looked up to the chiefs and those of high caste, knowing that they had been brought up and instructed better than themselves, and never tried to get ahead of them.
“It is also brought up to the people how Fire-drill’s son fed the young hawks instead of killing them. If a young person is very cruel they say to him, ‘If the hawk can be made a friend of mankind, why can not you make friends with your enemies? If you want to be respected do not make enemies, but friends always.’
“They tell the young people that a bad fellow is always like the one-eyed man, trying to get advantage of a good person. He is quick to say whatever comes into his mind, while the good man always thinks first. Therefore whatever the latter says people know is right. They ask their children to choose which of the two they would rather resemble.
“Because the one-eyed man said, ‘I did not kill your uncles or your mother’s friends,’ a murderer nowadays will never come out and say, ‘I am the one who killed that man.’ He always tries to make an innocent person suffer. As the one-eyed man’s wife invited this boy to have something to eat in Footnote: order to kill him, so a bad person says whatever he chooses to a good one. But they tell their children, ‘This will not kill you. They are doing themselves injury instead of you. So turn and walk away from them.’
“If a poor person has self-respect, he will have good fortune some time, just as in the case of the two old women to whom Raven brought fortune.
“The example of Fire-drill’s son is commended because he did not use his power meanly. He knew that he was very powerful, but when all the animals tried his power he did not do them any harm. He did not want to show his strength at once. If he had been a mean man he might have killed the old woman that lived back in the woods instead of helping her and getting her food.” (From the writer’s informant.)