Raven And The Children
:
TSIMSHIAN TALES
:
Indian Legends Retold
Raven was out for a walk and came upon a crowd of children playing
with whale's blubber. Huge piles of it lay at their feet, and they
were throwing lumps at one another in great glee. He stopped and spoke
to them.
"Where did you get all that blubber?" he asked.
"Oh," answered the oldest boy, "we climb up that tall tree you see
over yonder and jump down from the topmost limb. As we land, we cry
out, 'Be piled up, all my blubber!' and it is so."
Raven immediately climbed the tree and jumped off the highest branch,
shouting, "Be piled up, all my blubber!"
Nothing happened except that he struck the ground so hard that he was
lame for several days. Meanwhile the children picked up the blubber
and ran off, laughing heartily.