44. The Giant of Tâ'sna

44. THE GIANT OF TÂ'SNA

At Tâ'sna, near the mouth of the Yukon(?), was a large village in which everybody had died except one small boy. His mother was the last to perish. This boy was very independent, however, remaining in his mother's house all the time instead of going around to the other houses in the place. Every day he went out with his bow and arrows and shot small birds and squirrels for his sustenance.

On one of these hunting trips, however, he met a very large man with bushes growing on one side of his face. The big man chased him, and, being very quick, the boy tried to climb up a tree, but the big man reached right up after him and pulled him down. Then the big man said, "I am not going to hurt you. Stand right here." So he put the boy on a high place, went some distance away and said, "Take your bow and arrows and shoot me right here," pointing at the same time to a spot between his eyebrows. At first the boy was afraid to do so, and the big man begged him all that day. Finally, when it was getting dark, he thought, "Well! I will shoot him. He may kill me if I don't, and he will kill me if I do." The moment he shot the man, however, he saw his mother and all the village people that had been lost. All had been going to this big man. That was why the man wanted the boy to shoot him. It brought all the people back.

[This story is used in potlatch speeches.]