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One time some boys pulled a piece of drifting seaweed out of the water on one side of their canoe and put it in again on the other. It was almost summer then, but, for having done this, winter came on again and snow was piled high in front of the houses so that people began to be in want of food. One day, however, a blue jay perched on the edge of a smoke hole, with elderberries in its mouth, and cried, "KlhiA xe." This was the name of a neighboring town. So the people took all the cedar bark they had prepared to make houses out of and went to KllnA xe where they found that it was already summer and the berries were ripe. Only about their own town was it still winter. This happened just beyond the town of Wrangell.

I tell you this story to show how particular people used to be in olden times about things, for it was only a piece of seaweed that brought winter on.

A porcupine and a beaver were once very close friends. 6 They traveled about everywhere and reported to each other all that happened. The bear is very much afraid of the porcupine, but he hates the beaver. Wherever the beaver has a dam the bear breaks it up so as to let the water down, catches the beaver and eats him. But he is afraid of the porcupine s sharp quills, so the porcupine sometimes stayed in the beaver s house, which is always dry inside.

When the lake began falling, they knew it was caused by the bear, and the porcupine would go out to reconnoiter. Then he would come back and say to his friend, u Do not go out. I will go out first." Then the bear would be afraid of the porcupine s sharp quills and go away, after which all the beavers began repairing their dam while the porcupine acted as guard.

By and by the porcupine said to the beaver, "I am hungry. I want to go to my own place." Porcupine got his food from the bark and sap of trees, so he told the beaver to go up a tree with him, but the beaver could not climb. Then the porcupine told him to stay below while he went up to eat. Soon they saw the bear coming, and the beaver said, " Partner (xo ne), what shall I do? The bear is getting near." Then the porcupine slid down quickly and said, "Lay your head close to my back." In that way he got the beaver to the top of the tree. But, after a while, the porcupine left him, and the beaver did not know how to climb down. He began to beg the porcupine in every way to let him down, but in vain. After quite a while, however, the squirrel, another friend of the beaver,

b WutcyAqa wu, signifying friendship between people regardless of relationship.