Myths and Legends of British North America/59
ORIGIN OF CARVED HOUSE POSTS
MANY people lived upon the north shore of Masset Island. The east wind blew so strongly that they did not care to live there. Therefore they came to Delkatla, a few miles above Masset.
There was no salt water there. It was all covered with grass. Then they dug the town-chief's house hole. They finished his first. But afterward they built houses on either side of him. Then they began to live in their own.
One autumn after that they went to Rose Spit in two big canoes. Very many people went. They went for berries.
Then one woman who was not paddling looked into the water. It was very calm, and it was bright sunshine. Then the one who looked into the sea saw something carved at the bottom. It was carved with figures of human beings. The lower part was carved with a killer whale, and the human being stood upon the whale.
They remained a long time above this thing, and they memorized it. Then they went away. Then afterward they described it. They said, "We will make the chief such house posts." But some of them were afraid.
After they had finished picking berries, they went home. They told about the carving to those who had stayed home. They made two posts for the chief's house like the one they had seen. Still some were afraid.
At this time the land moved. The Ocean People were angry on account of it. Then a flood came. And after the people had fastened the canoes together, they put the posts upon them. They liked them too much to leave them. When the waters got far up on the side of a small mountain, they put one post upon that. And they put one in the sea. They wept bitterly. They sang a song: "The supernatural beings were the ones who made the flood come — made the flood come." They sang that.
At this time the sea began to move. The canoes began to sink, and when the canoes had sunk, the people floated upon the ocean. Now the people became birds. The Ocean People were the ones who caused it all. Then the tide began to fall. And now the people are birds.