Tlingit (Wrangell)

PETREL was the first person created by Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass. He was keeper of the fresh water. No one else might touch it. Now the spring he owned was on a rocky island called Dekino, Fort-far-out, where the well may still be seen. Raven stole a great mouthful of water, but as he flew over the country drops spilled out of his beak. These drops made the rivers: the Nass, Skeena, Stikine, and Chilkat. Raven said, “The water that I drop down upon the earth, here and there, will whirl all the time. There will be plenty of water, but it will not flood the world.”

Now before this time, Raven was pure white. But when he stole the water from Petrel he tried to fly out of the smoke hole. Petrel cried, “Spirits of the smoke hole, hold him fast.” So the smoke-hole spirits held Raven until the smoke blackened his white coat.