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PUBLICATIONS
of the

American Ethnological Society Edited by FRANZ BOAS

VOLUME V

KORYAK TEXTS
BY
WALDEMAR BOGORAS

E. J. BRILL, Limited
PUBLISHERS AND PRINTERS
LEYDEN, 1917

G. E. STECHERT & Co., New York, Agents.

NOTE.

The present volume was intended to include a collection of Kamchadal texts. Owing to the war, it has been impossible to communicate with Mr. Bogoras, and since the volume has been in type for over two years, it seems best to publish the collection of Koryak texts alone.

There is some inconsistency in spelling the verbal endings -lin and -len. These ought to be read consistently as given here. The forms -lin and -len are incorrect. There is no g in Koryak. Wherever this occurs, it should be read g.

CONTENTS.

Introduction

1. Little-Bird-Man and Raven-Man

2. Big-Raven and the Mice

3. The Mouse-Girls

4. How a Small Kamak was transformed into a Harpoon-Line

5. Big-Raven and the Kamaks

6. Klu’ and the Bumblebees

7. Eme’raqut’s Whale-Festival

8. Eme’mqut and ila’

9. How Eme’mqut became a Cannibal

10. Eme’mqut and Fox-Woman

11. Ermine-People. — I

12. Ermine-People. — II

13. Eme’mqut and the Kamaks

14. Eme’mqut and Shellfish-Girl

15. Eme’mqut and the Perches

16. Miti’ and Magpie-Man

17. How Big-Raven’s Daughter was swallowed by a Kamak

18. The Kamak and his Wife

19. Gull-Woman and Cormorant-Woman

20. Yini’a-awgut and Klu’s Marriage with Fish-Man

21. Big-Raven and Fox

22. Eme’mqut and Envious-One

23. Big-Raven and Fish-Woman

Chukchee

Koryak, Kamenskoye

Koryak, Qare’in

Koryak, Lesna

Kamchadal

24. Kilu’ and Monster-Man

Koryak, Kamenskoye

Koryak, Paren

Koryak, Qare’in

Appendix I

Songs

Appendix II

Constellations

Vocabulary

Koryak—English

Stems107

Suffixes

Prefixes

English Koryak Stems

ERRATA.

p. 15, lines 4, 5, for ‘gei’liLin’ read ‘gai’liLin.’

p. 50, line 1, interlinear translation, for ‘that, what was’ read ‘with that which was.’

p. 66, last line of footnote, for ‘bring’ read ‘being.’

p. 74, line 26, for ‘ya’tti’ read ‘ya’ti.’

p. 76, line 6, for ‘mmtai’kir’ read ‘mmtai’kin.’

p. 76, line 17, for ‘tiyei’lun’ read ‘tiyai’iin.’

p. 78, line 18, for ‘ne’thiin’ read ‘enve’thiin.’

p. 82, title, for footnote reference ‘¹‘ read ‘²‘.

p. 82, footnote, for ‘¹‘ read ‘²‘.

p. 86, last line of footnote, for ‘part ii’ read ‘part i.’

p. 91, title, omit reference 1.

p. 93, 6th line from bottom of text, for ‘came’ read ‘come.’

p. 97, footnote, for ‘²‘ read ‘¹‘.

p. 102, line n, for ‘neka’lkilat’ read ‘neka’lkilat.’

p. 102, line 13, for ‘MuLi’tdkilat’ read ‘MuLi’tilkilat.’

p. 105, 3d line from bottom of text, for ‘carier’ read ‘carrier.’

p. 105, last line of text, for ‘kantc’ read’ ‘kantcx.’

INTRODUCTION.

The collection of Koryak texts here published was made as part of the field-work of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History. Since the Museum does not allow sufficient space for the publication of all the linguistic material, which naturally forms one of the most important aspects of the work of the Expedition, the American Ethnological Society has undertaken the publication of part of it.

The texts contained in this volume were collected by me between December, 1900, and April, 1901. While Mr. Waldemar Jochelson, my colleague in the ethnological work of the Expedition in northeastern Siberia, investigated the ethnology of the Koryak, I undertook the study of their language, because my practical knowledge and previous studies of the Chukchee language put me in a position to acquire with ease a knowledge of the Koryak, which is closely related to the Chukchee.

I left the Anadyr country in December, 1900, and travelled to the village of Kamenskoye, on Penshina Bay, where I met Mr. Jochelson. I staid with him one month, after which time I proceeded to the southeast, to the eastern branch of the Koryak, and also visited the Kamchadal. I travelled among these tribes for two months, until my return to the mouth of the Anadyr, on April 8, 1901. A considerable part of this time was spent in covering the long distances between the villages, the journey bring made by reindeer or dog sledge and on snowhsoes. Some parts of this territory had never been visited by any white man, not even by a single Russian trader, and I met camps and villages the inhabitants of which did not even know the taste of brandy, — in these countries, the foremost product of civilization, and the first to arrive. The last fifteen days of the journey between the Ke’rek region and Anadyr Bay {See map, Publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, vol. vii.} were spent in going without a guide through a country wholly uninhabited, for the Ke’rek, who have but few dogs, do not go very far from their villages on the coast, and are unfamiliar with the hills of the interior.

We travelled up-stream along several small rivers that flow into Bering Sea on the Ke’rek coast, and then, passing over the divide, followed the rivers that belong to the Anadyr system, and finally reached the first camps of the Telqp Chukchee. This is the method of travelling adopted by the ancient cossacks, the conquerors of Siberia.

All the time that was not taken up by travel, and that was available for study, was devoted to an investigation of the languages of the Eastern Koryak and Kamchadal tribes. The study of the Koryak was the more extensive, owing to its closer affinity to the Chukchee in grammar as well as in vocabulary.

The Koryak dialects may be divided into two large groups, — the western branch, which includes the Maritime Koryak of Penshina Bay and also the Reindeer Koryak, and the eastern branch, which includes the Maritime Koryak of Kamchatka, and also the inhabitants of the villages Reki’nnok, Pustoretzk, and Podkaguirnoye, to the south of Parapolski Dol. These last belong ethnographi-cally to the Kamchatka Koryak, although they are counted by the Russian Administration as belonging to the Gishiga district. The eastern branch includes also the Maritime Koryak of the villages on the Pacific coast around Alutor Bay, and those of the Pacific villages still farther east. The Ke’rek stand apart, and form perhaps a third dialect, although, on the whole, similar to the western branch.

The most obvious point of difference between the two branches is that the sound r, which occurs frequently in the eastern branch of the Koryak and in the Chukchee, is wholly missing in the western branch, and is there replaced either by у or (less frequently) by t, , s. The natives are well aware of this difference, and in the tales of the Penshina Koryak, as may be seen from the texts, the use of r in the pronunciation of certain words is ascribed to evil spirits.

The inhabitants of villages on the rivers Vi’rnik, Poqa’, and Opu’ka (i. е., between the Alutor Koryak and the Ke’rek), explained to me that, though leading the settled life of sea-hunters, they belong by origin to the Reindeer Koryak. In proof of this they pointed to their pronunciation. They said, ‘We say yaya’a (house), and the Alutor people say rara’a.’

Instead of the classification ‘western and eastern groups,’ we might just as well have said ‘northern and southern groups,’ but I prefer the former designation, because the pronunciation of the eastern branch is nearer to that of the Chukchee, who live to the east.

The Koryak language, in contrast to the Chukchee, which has almost no dialects, is furthermore divided into several local dialects. Each bay and river, with its few villages, has a dialect of its own, differing from the others in pronunciation and vocabulary, and a dialect of Kamchatka may in some respects be nearer to a dialect of Penshina Bay than to that of its immediate neighbor.

The following series of texts was collected chiefly in the village of Kamenskoye (Koryak, Vai’kenan), on Penshina Bay, with the help of Nicholas Vilkhin, Mr. Jochel-son’s interpreter. The correct transcription of Koryak phonetics offered considerable difficulty, since Nicholas Vilkhin, a half-Russianized Koryak raised in Gishiginsk, belongs by birth to the village of Paren (Koryak, Poi’tin). Now, the dialects of Paren and Kamenskoye, though very much alike, present several points of difference. Some of these are, that e of Paren is replaced by a in Kamenskoye, tk, by tc (cc), y, by s. The people of Kamenskoye are well acquainted with the Paren pronunciation, because the intercourse between the villages is considerable. Therefore many of them, when talking with the interpreter, would assume his style of pronunciation. I have tried to avoid confounding the two systems of pronunciation, but I am not sure that I have succeeded in doing so in all cases. Besides this, the rules of pronunciation, which are strict and consistent in the Chukchee language, are quite lax in all the Koryak dialects.

The harmony of vowels, which exists in Chukchee, is unstable in Koryak, and often inconsistent. Chukchee has two groups of long vowels, —

i е () u
а о ()

The vowels of the one group cannot be combined with those of the other, either in single words or in compounds such as are in use in this group of languages. The other vowels of the Chukchee are short, obscure, and neutral. Therefore they may form combinations with either group of long vowels. In compounds, the vowels of the first group are replaced by the corresponding vowels of the second group whenever the word contains a single vowel of the second group in any position whatsoever. There are also some stems containing only neutral vowels, which nevertheless require the exclusive use of vowels of the second group in the other parts of the word.

In Koryak, with its constant dialectical changes from a to e, this pair of vowels is excluded from the action of the vocalic harmony just described, and both a and e are considered as neutral. Thus, in the dialect of Kamen-skoye, nu’tanut (earth) changes in the dative to notai’tin. The two remaining pairs (i-, {I use in Koryak, instead of this , simply e.} u-o) also admit many exceptions, in contrast to the strictness of the rule of harmony prevailing in Chukchee. Owing to the intermarriage between the people of different villages, a, e, , I, may also be used in the same place by different persons, especially when not under accent, for instance, na’nako and na’niko. In the same way, uu and oo, aa and a, the verbal suffixes -lin and -len, interchange, for instance, some people of Kamenskoye say nuu’wge (cooked meat), others noo’wge.

There are also dialectic differences in the use of consonants, for instance, intervocalic y, which is omitted in Chukchee and preserved in the Paren dialect of the Koryak, may be omitted in the Kamenskoye dialects, although it is sometimes pronounced, but less distinctly than in the Paren dialect. The sound с may to a considerable extent be replaced by s, s^., t. Chukchee has for this sound two different pronunciations, — I by men, and s by women. A slight difference in the pronunciation by the sexes exists among- the Korvak, but much less strict and regular than in Chukchee. Men use the pronunciation , while women employ s^. or t. {It is interesting to note that the possessive adjective Quyqlmva’quhin, Big-Raven’s (literally, Raven-mg-his), has , and Miti’s-hin, Miti’s (literally, Miti’-her), has the corresponding s^..} The sound-group nni is replaced individually by nni, q, by к, wg, by ww, or wx, y, by g, etc.

Except when otherwise stated, the texts were taken down in the village of Kamenskoye, from the lips of Maritime Koryak women or girls, as follows: i, 2, 12—14, 18, from Pa’qa, 3, 17, from Ai’wan-aw, 4, 5, 8-10, 16, from Anne, 6, from Yu’lta-na’ut, 7, 19, 20, from A’qan-aw, 11, from Ai’u-a’ut, 15, from ipia’.

Text No. 21 is in the dialect of Pa’llan, a large village of northern Kamchatka on the Okhotsk Sea, and was related to me by Basile, a Maritime Koryak man.

Text No. 22 is in the Paren dialect, taken down in the village of Kamenskoye from the words of Nicholas Vilkhin, a native of Paren, Mr. Jochelson’s interpreter.

Text No. 23 is in six languages, — in Chukchee, in Koryak of Kamenskoye, Qare’in, {Russian, Kapara, a large village in northern Kamchatka on the Pacific coast.} and Lesna, {A village of northern Kamchatka, on the Sea of Okhotsk, called in Koryak Vei’emlin (That of the River).} and in Kamchadal of the Okhotsk shore and of the village Sedanka (Kamchadal, E’sxlin) in the mountains, the dialect of which has undergone a great change through Koryak influences. The original text is from Kamenskoye, and was dictated by Anne, a Koryak woman of that village. The Chukchee translation was made by Aqankau’, a Maritime Chukchee man at the mouth of the Anadyr, the Qare’in version, by Maria, a Koryak woman of the village Qare’in, the Lesna version, by Andrew, a Maritime Koryak man from Lesna, the first Kamchadal version, by Ivan Kulagin, a Kamchadal man from the village Napana (Kamchadal, Na’pno), and the second Kamchadal version, by Tatiana, a Kamchadal woman from Sedanka.

Text No. 24 is in three dialects, — Kamenskoye, Paren, and Qare’in. The original text was recorded from dictation by Pa’qa, a Koryak girl of the village of Kamenskoye. The Paren translation was made by Nicholas Vilkhin, and the Qare’in translation, by Maria of Qare’in, mentioned before.

These texts may serve very well for a comparative study of all three languages. I took care to have the translation made as literally as possible, although a few changes were unavoidable. Thus, for instance, the Koryak Quyq inn’ aqti’nu, which is simply the plural of Quiqinn^.a’qu, is translated in Kamchadal as Klu’txen k!!a’mjanl’a³n (Kutx’s men). The Chukchee erre’ (Kamenskoye Koryak ao’), which signifies that is all, in the Qare’in Koryak is replaced by tenma’wilen, which signifies the finished one. Ge’tkurli, added in two Kamchatka Koryak texts, signifies did all at once, and indicates the suddenness of action, etc.

The affinity between the Chukchee and the various dialects of the Koryak is evident, but in reality it is still greater than it appears after a hasty comparison. For instance, he brought her home, in Qare’in Koryak, is ganrai’talen, and in Chukchee, rirai’tannen. The Chukchee, however, has also the form ganrai’faten, only it is used syntactically in a different manner.

Free translations of a part of these tales were published in Mr. Jochelson’s work on the Koryak (‘Publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition,’ Vol. VI), together with other Koryak and Kamchadal tales which I collected without original texts. References to Mr. Jochelson’s versions are here given in footnotes to the tales.

A number of tales are given with interlinear translation and free translation, others, only with free translation. The attempt has been made to render the texts as accurately as possible, but it has been found necessary to omit in the translations many of the particles, which are as numerous in Koryak as in Chukchee, and hardly admit of adequate translation.

Words added in translations for the sake of clearness are placed in parentheses. Literal translations of Koryak words or phrases are enclosed in brackets.

The Koryak here given may be compared with the Chukchee texts published by me in Vol. VIII of the ‘Publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition’ and in the ‘Publications of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences.’ {В. Г. Богоразъ. Матералы по изученю чукотскаго языка и фольклора, собранные въ Колымскомъ Округ. Издане Императорской Академи Наукъ. Вып. I. С.-Петербургъ 1900.}

Few Koryak or Chukchee tales are known under definite names. Titles indicating the contents have been added by me. I have transcribed the name of Big-Raven in the form most frequently met with, Quyqmwa’qu, although Mr. Jochelson prefers Quikinn^.a’qu. In Chukchee are found the forms Ku’rkil or Ku’urkil$ and in Kamchadal, K!utx. In Koryak I write the third letter as y, because it replaces Chukchee r, the fourth letter as q, because of the corresponding Kamchadal x. For Eme’mqut, in the English translation, I have retained the Paren pronunciation adopted by Mr. Jochelson, although in these texts the Kamenskoye pronunciation Ama’mqut was used more frequently.

The following alphabet has been used for transcribing Koryak and Kamchadal sounds:

Since in the western branch of the Koryak the Chuk-chee r is replaced by consonantic y, there appear the combinations ay, oy, which are distinct from the diphthongs ai, oi. They are pronounced like the respective diphthongs, but their у replaces the corresponding Chukchee r.

In Koryak the compound sound wg, gw, replaces the Chukchee sound wkw.

x in Koryak occurs but rarely, and replaces the velar q.

In Koryak as well as in Chukchee, I terminal and unaccented is frequently pronounced with a slight nasal sound, but in Koryak the nasal sound is often pronounced quite distinctly. I do not use any additional sign to indicate the nasal character of this sound. On the other hand, I preferred to add n when the nasal sound was pronounced quite distinctly. Therefore, for instance, the dative of the noun has been transcribed in some cases as yayai’ti то the house, and in others as notai’ti то the open country.

In Kamchadal, the Chukchee r is replaced by j. This j sound is often pronounced with a light r trill, somewhat like the Polish sound rz.

In the second Kamchadal dialect, {That of the village Sedanka.} l sometimes has a slight nasal sound. This nasal l replaces the usual n of the first Kamchadal dialect. {That of the Okhotsk shore.} No special symbol was adopted for this nasal l sound.

The Koryak as well as the Chukchee, in order to express a strong exclamation, transfer the accent to the last syllable. Under this transferred accent, i is changed to e, and a, I, u, are changed to o. For instance, E’nki becomes Enk, awa’kak becomes awako’k. At the end of tales, a’i becomes ao’.

I. Little-Bird-Man and Raven-Man.¹

¹ Compare W. Jochelson, The Koryak (Publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, vol. vi), No. 82, p. 250.

Raven-Man and Little-Bird-Man wooed (the daughter) of Big-Raven. Big-Raven preferred Little-Bird-Man. He said, ‘I will give my daughter to Little-Bird-Man.’ Miti’ said, ‘I will give my daughter to Raven-Man.’ After that Raven-Man would go out secretly. He would eat excrement and dog-carrion. (In the morning) they would wake up, and several wolverene-skins and wolf-skins would be there. They would ask both of the suitors, ‘ Who killed those?’ and Raven-Man would answer, ‘I killed them.’

Then a snow-storm broke out, and continued for a longtime with unabated violence. Big-Raven said to the suitors, ‘Go and try to calm this storm! To the one who calms it, to that one will I give my daughter to wife.’ Raven-Man said, ‘I will calm the storm.’ He said, ‘Prepare some provisions for me.’ They prepared several pairs of boots. He went out, and staid near by under a cliff, eating. Little-Bird-Man went out, and there he stood eating of the provisions. Raven-Man gave to Little-Bird-Man a wicked look. Little-Bird-Man entered again, and did not say anything.

Raven-Man staid at the same place. The snow-storm continued with the same vigor, without abating. Oh, at last Raven-Man entered. His boots were all covered with ice, for he would make water in his boots. That is the reason why the boots had ice. He said, ‘It is impossible! there is a crack in the heavens.’ After a while they said to Little-Bird-Man, ‘Now, then, calm this storm!’ He said, ‘It is impossible. Shall I also go out and make water in my boots, like Raven-Man?’ Then Big-Raven said to both suitors, ‘Go away! None of you shall marry here.’ Then Little-Bird-Man said, ‘All right! I will try.’ He took a round stopper, a shovel, and some fat, and went up to heaven. He flew up, and came to the crack in the heavens. He stopped it with a stopper, and threw the fat on the heavens all around it. For a while it grew calmer.

He came home, and the snow-storm broke out again. Even the stopper was thrust back into the house. It was too small. He said, ‘It is impossible. The heavens have a crack.’ Big-Raven made another stopper, a larger one, and gave it to Little-Bird-Man. He also gave him a larger piece of fat. Little-Bird-Man flew up to the same place and put this stopper into the crack. It fitted well. He drove it in with a mallet. He spread the fat around over the heavens, shovelled the snow around the hole, and covered it. Then it grew quite calm.

He came back, and then Raven-Man grew hateful to all of them. He took a place close to Miti’, and she said to him, ‘How is it that you smell of excrement?’ — ‘Why! it is because I have had no bread for a long time.’ She said to him, ‘Enough, go away! You have done nothing to quiet this storm.’ He went away. Little-Bird-Man married Yini’a-a’wgut.

Summer came. It was raining hard. Then Raven-Man put the sun into his mouth, so it grew quite dark. After that they said to an^.ai’, `an^.ai’, go and fetch water!’ — ‘How shall I fetch water? (It is too dark).’ After a while they said to her, ‘Why, we are quite thirsty. We are going to die.’ She went groping in the dark, then she stopped and began to sing. She sang, ‘Both small rivers are stingy (with their water).’ Then a small river came to that place, bubbling. She filled her pail bought from the Russians (i. е., an iron pail), and carried it on her back. (Suddenly) a man came to her. She could not carry the pail. He said, ‘I will carry the pail (for you).’ She came home in the dark. The man followed. It was River-Man. They said to her, ‘Who is this man?’ He said, ‘1 am River-Man. I took pity on that singer.’ They scolded their daughter. Nevertheless River-Man married her.

After that they remained still in complete darkness. They said to River-Man, ‘Why are we living in darkness?’ He said, ‘Why, indeed?’ He put on a head-band of ringed-seal thong. He went out (and practised magic). Then at least a little light appeared. The day dawned. They spoke among themselves, ‘How shall we do it?’ Then Yini’a-a’wgut prepared for a journey. She went to Raven-Man and asked, ‘Halloo! Is Raven-Man at home?’ Raven-Woman said, ‘He is.’ She said to Raven-Man, ‘Since you went away, I have been feeling dull all the time.’ She found Raven-Man, and said to him, ‘Did not you feel dull (since that time)? Will you stay so?’ He turned his back to her, but she wanted to turn him (so that he should look with) his face to her. But he turned his back to her. Then she tickled him under the arms. She put her hands under his armpits. His sister said to him, ‘What is the matter with you? Stop it! This is a good girl.’ After that he began to make sounds in her direction, ‘Gin, gm, gm!’ She turned him around, and at last he laughed out, ‘Ha, ha, ha!’ The sun jumped out and fastened itself to the sky. It grew daylight.

After that they slept together. She said to him, ‘Have you a tent?’ — ‘No!’ — ‘Have you a fork?’ — ‘No!’ — ‘Have you a plate?’ — ‘No!’ She said, ‘Then let us go home! I have all those things at home.’ They moved on to Big-Raven’s house. She said to Raven-Man, ‘Oh, you are a good man!’ and he felt flattered. Afterwards she killed him.

Yini’a-a’wgut put Raven-Man’s (head) on above. She said, ‘That spotted palate of yours, let it grow to be a fine cloudless sky !’ {These words are used also as an incantation against bad weather.}

She came home. And thev said to her, ‘What have you been doing?’ She said, ‘I killed Raven-Man. He had the sun in his mouth.’ From that time on it was quite calm. Raven-Woman said, ‘Well, now, does my brother remember me? (Probably) he has plenty to eat.’ She said, ‘Let me visit him.’ She visited him, and he was dead. Then she cried (and said), ‘He caused annoyance to the other people. (Therefore he is dead.)’ She left him there. There was nothing else to do.

Then those people said to Little-Bird-Man, ‘Go home, both of you!’ They said to them, ‘Сю away with a caravan of pack-sledges!’ He replied, ‘ We will go on foot.’ They went away on foot, and came to a river. Little-Bird-Man said to the woman, ‘Let me carry you (across)!’ The woman said to him, ‘Do not do it!’ He said, ‘It is all right.’ He carried her, and in doing so he died. Yini’a-a’wgut slept a night among stone-pines and was almost frozen to death. On the following morning it dawned, and close to that place a reindeer-herd was walking. All the reindeer had iron antlers. A man was walking there too. He said, ‘Oh, come here!’ She said, ‘I will not come. My husband has died.’ He said to her, ‘I am he, I am your husband.’ He took out his gloves. ‘These you made for me. I am your husband. I am Little-Bird-Man.’

A house was there, also reindeer (for driving). He said to her, ‘Let us go to Big-Raven! Now let them say again that you have a bad husband!’ They went with a caravan of pack-sledges, and they arrived. The people said to Big-Raven, ‘Oh, your daughter has come with a caravan.’ Big-Raven said, ‘Our daughter went away on foot.’ She said, ‘Here I am, I have been brought home by Little-Bird-Man.’ Little-Bird-Man made numerous driving-sledges, all of silver. They lived there all together, and travelled about in all directions with a caravan of pack-sledges. They lived in joy. They staid there.

2. Big-Raven and the Mice.¹

¹ See Jochelson, The Koryak, l. c., No. 88, p. 260.

Some Mouse-Girls walked along the seashore. The youngest Mouse also wanted to follow. Her mother said, ‘Tie her (and leave her) on the seashore.’ They bound her with two strings of her diaper. She began to squeal, ‘Pawawawa’!’ and they said, ‘What is it?’ ‘I have found a genuine small nail.’ — ‘Go to her!’ They went to her. ‘What is it that you have found?’ But it was only a small shell. ‘Oh, strike her!’ They struck her, and she whimpered, ‘Igigi’!’

After a while she turned to them again, and began as before, ‘What is it that I have found? Oh, indeed, it has nails! Oh, indeed, it has eyes! Oh, indeed, it has whiskers!’ — ‘Go to her and see what she has found!’ They came to her, and really it was a small ringed seal.

Big-Raven said, ‘Eh, eh! Why are those Mouse-Girls shouting and dancing?’ Miti’ said, ‘Oh, leave off! Why do you want to go to them?’ But he went to them. ‘ Well, there! Mouse-Girls, what is the matter with you?’ — ‘Oh, nothing! only this Hairless-One grew angry with us.’ He said, ‘Louse me, (one of you!)’ One Mouse-Girl said, ‘I have pricked myself with my father’s awl.’ One might think she were the daughter of some artisan. He said to another small girl, ‘Louse me!’ — ‘I have pricked myself with my mother’s needle.’ One might think she were the daughter of some seamstress. ‘O Hairless-One! louse me.’ She said, ‘Eh, all right!’ She loused him. (He said,) ‘Oh, say (these words): ‘Grandfather’s lice taste of fat!» {It seems that the Hairless Mouse-Girl, according to the custom of many native tribes of this country, was killing the lice with her teeth.}

Then he shook his head, and the small mice were scattered in all directions. Some fell into the sea, some into the coast-slime, others into the river, and others again on the pebbles. Big-Raven took the little ringed seal and carried it home. The Mouse-Girls crawled to the shore and asked one another, ‘ Where did you fall?’ — ‘ I fell into the sea.’ — ‘Then you were cold.’ — ‘And where did you fall?’ — ‘I fell on the small pebbles.’ — ‘Then you were pricked.’ — ‘And where did you fall?’ — ‘I fell into the coast-slime.’ — ‘Then you were cold.’ — ‘And you, Hairless-One, where did you fall?’ — ‘I fell on the moss {Used as a child’s diaper. See W. Jochelson, The Koryak, l. c., p. 252.} spread by mother.’ — ‘Then you fell easy.’

They said, ‘Let us go home!’ They went home and told their mother, ‘See, mamma! we have found a small ringed seal, but grandfather took it away.’ — ‘Did he? Then we will fetch it back. О daughters! go and look into his house.’ They looked in. Then they came back and said, ‘Eme’mqut is skinning it.’ — ‘Now you there, [you Mouse-Girl,] go and look in!’ She looked in. ‘Just now they are cooking it.’ — ‘Now, you there, this one, go and look in there!’ She looked in. ‘Just now they are taking the meat out of the kettle.’ Mouse-Woman said, ‘Oh, I wish Big-Raven would say, ‘We will eat it to-morrow!’ We must find a shaman’s small stick (used in magic). Oh, you there, small Mouse-Girl! take this bundle of grass (on which magic had been practised) and carry it to Big-Raven’s house. There drop it through the vent-hole.’

They (the Mice) took it and carried it there, and dropped it into the house. Big-Raven immediately

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