Tlingit (Wrangell)

WHEN Raven had grown quite large he walked down the bank of the Nass River one day, until he heard the noise people were making in the darkness as they fished for olachen. Now all the people in the world lived at one place on the Nass River. They had heard that Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass had something called “daylight.” They were afraid of it and talked about it a great deal.

Raven shouted to the fishermen, “Why do you make so much noise? If you make so much noise I will bring the daylight here.”

Eight canoe-loads of people were fishing there. They said, “You are not Nas-ca-ki-yel. You are not Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass. How can you have the daylight?” They kept on making much noise.

Then Raven opened the box and daylight shot over the world like lightning. They made still more noise. So Raven opened the box wide and there was daylight everywhere.

Then the people were frightened. Some ran into the woods and some jumped into the water. Those that had clothes of fur seal skins jumped into the water; they became seals. Those which had clothing of bear skins, marten skins, and wolf skins, ran into the woods and turned into grizzly bears, martens, and wolves.