VIII. - TALES ADOPTED FROM THE COAST TRIBES.
46. Mink1
(Lower Uta'mqt.)Mink had two wives, - Willow Grouse and Partridge. He did not care very much for either of his wives. He loved another woman, whom he constantly visited. After a time she died, and Mink was disconsolate. He told the people that he was dying of a broken heart, and asked them to place his body beside that of his love. He feigned death; and the people, thinking he was dead, took his body and placed it beside that of the woman he had loved, in a large grave box2 or house, which was situated on a prominent knoll close to and overlooking the river. Here he staid for some time, and had sexual intercourse with the dead woman. Sometimes he got tired, and, leaving the grave box, repaired to the edge of the knoll and watched the people in canoes going up and down the river.
One day he saw some people in a canoe passing close underneath where he was hiding. He stood up, and said, 'People, I am Mink. How are my wives, are they married yet?" One of the men answered, "Yes, Willow Grouse is married.' and Mink answered back, 'I expected that." The people who had seen Mink related the incident when they got home, so some of them went to the grave-yard to find out if it were true. On reaching there, they found that Mink had disappeared, the body of the woman was in a wrong position, and some of the other bodies had also been disturbed. They believed that link had come to life again.
Mink, after traveling away some distance, came to a large house, dike those of the S'a'tcinko or Coast Indians), where the people had killed many seals3 and were feasting. He entered the house and sat down in the chief place.4 The people were angry, and removed him to the lowest place, near the door, and gave him very little to eat. Mink felt insulted at this treatment, and, leaving the house, went to see his grandmother, who told him what to do.
1 Skaie'xia is used as his proper name. It is the Yale (S'a'tcinko) word for 'mink." Tsex'alatein or Tsix'ala'tcin is the Thompson word for -mink." The Mink story among the S'a'tcinko is a very long and important one, some of the incidents being somewhat similar to those in this story. See Boas. Sagen, pp. 3 et seq.
2 Similar to the grave boxes used among the Uta'mqt (lu'ka).
3 There are no seals in the (:tantqt country; but occasionally they come as far up as Harrison Lake, and even to Yale. The Uta'mqt call them by the S'a'tcinko name.
4 Evidently the place of honor, or seat, for the most distinguished person.
