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women into the fire along with the bodies. Then the man gave up all idea of fighting. He was the last one left in that clan.
After they had made peace on both sides, a man named Qoxti tc came there from Prince of Wales island on the way to Chilkat. He went to the man who used to fight so much and said, How is Chilkat? Is it a town?" He answered, "It is a notable town. A man has to be careful what he does there or he will suffer a great shame." Then he started for Klukwan, which he wanted to see very much. He came in sight of the first village, Yende staqle, with many people going around in it, and said to his wife, Tut on your earring [of abalone shell]." The earring was called Earring- that-can-be-seen- clear-across-the-Nass (Na sk An Ax-dutl n) . Then the man also put on his leggings and dressed up finely, for if one were not dressed up just right he would suffer a great shame. Afterward he began dancing in his canoe. When he came away from Chilkat he left his dancing clothes with the people but brought back a great quantity of presents received for dancing.
A very rich man once started from Chilkat to Kaq!anuwū′ on a visit with his wife and all of his property.[1] When they approached the town the people heard his wife singing. She had a very powerful voice. Then they were frightened and wondered what man was smart enough to reply to this wealthy visitor. There was a certain poor man who always sat with his head down, and they kept taunting him, saying, "Will you speak to that rich man?"
When the visitor came in front of the houses he did not speak to the men who lived in them but to the dead chiefs who had formerly owned them. No one replied, for they did not know what to say. After a while, however, the poor man seized a spear and rushed down to the rich man s canoe. Then the people shouted, " There goes SAqaye . He is going to kill this rich man. Stop him." When he got right in front of the canoe they caught him, but he said, I did not want to kill this rich man, but I heard people talking so much about him that I pretended to." His action had a sarcastic import, because others were so much afraid of the visitor.
The rich man talked from the canoe for such a long time that they made a long noise instead of speaking to him, to let him know that he had talked too long about things that were past. Then they said to him, "Jump into the water." This was formerly said to a visitor when blankets were about to be given away for some dead person, though they always stood ready to catch him. Afterward they took the man up into a house, placed a Chilkat blanket under him, and gave him five slaves and a canoe load of property for his dead friend. When he went home they returned his visit.
- ↑ There seems to be no connection between this part of the story and that which goes before except that both happened at Kaq!anuwū′.