travelled on and met an old woman who carried a basket of gamass. He asked, "Where are you going?" She replied, "I am carrying this, gamass to the old men in that house." As'ai′yahaL replied, "That is good; they are just now engaged carving a whale." Then the old woman ran down to the shore as fast as she could, sharpening her knife. She wanted to have some of the whale meat, too.
As'ai′yahaL travelled on and came to a river, where he sat down on a rock near the water. After awhile he saw two women paddling down the river in a canoe. He thought, "I will transform myself into a baby." He did so, and when the girls came down the river they heard the baby crying, and found it lying in a cradle on the rock, They said to each other, "There is a deserted child," and the oldest one continued, "Let me take it." She took it up and the child began to cry harder than before. He wanted to be taken by the younger girl. Then the younger one took it up, and all at once it stopped crying. His arms were tied up; he cried again until his arms were untied, and then he commenced once more to cry, and did not stop until the younger one had taken him close to her.
Then he began to play with her coat and ceased crying. The girl said to the older one: "Iste infans certe ineptus est. Nam vestibus sublatis me aspicit." The older one replied: "Don't mind that. It is an infant who does not know anything." So she did not mind him. Ile autem genitalia eius diu conspecta arripuit. Then the girl cried, "Oh, certainly, he is As'ai′yahaL." She threw the cradle into the river. It did not even touch the water, but flew to the opposite bank of the river, where As'ai′yahaL stood laughing. Clamavit vulvam ejus anui consimilem esse.
As'ai′yahaL was carrying a quiver filled with arrows. Whenever he desired to amuse himself, he took the arrows out of his quiver, broke them to pieces, and threw them down. At once they were transformed into men, who began to sing and dance. On the following morning, when he opened his quiver, they all resumed the shape of arrows and jumped into the quiver.
He came to a place called NtsEä′nixil, on Siletz River. There he transformed himself, his wife and his child, into rocks, which are seen up to this day. The head of the man and the breasts of the woman are easily recognized. He is standing between the two other rocks. His life returned to the country of the salmon, of which he is the master.[1]
- ↑ Another informant called the persons represented by the three rocks Tk'a, the first man, his wife and child. He added that Tk'a knew all the thoughts and plans of men, and that for this reason they must refrain from bad thoughts. When they give away or waste berries, Tk'a feels annoyed, and sends a dry year in which berries are scarce.
