A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A chief’s daughter in Matthias’s Tsag’atiläo insults bears while gathering berries. The bear chief makes her basket straps fail repeatedly and sends his sons, appearing as handsome men, to abduct her. Married to a bear son, she learns from other women that wet wood, rather than dry wood, keeps her hearth burning when her husband shakes his wet coat. A Mouse helper receives burned ornaments and later tells her how to reach a lake beyond which her father lives. The captive binds her two watching sisters-in-law to a tree while ostensibly helping with their wood bundles, then escapes.

Tsag’atiläo sits in a copper canoe on that lake. He ignores promises of family wealth but takes her aboard when she promises to become his wife. His club propels the boat, then becomes alive and kills the pursuing bears in the water, except two that escape. The canoe can sink beneath the lake and emerge at sea. His existing wife, Ksemnä’osö, kills the newcomer despite his warning. After defeating this wife’s capacity to rejoin her severed body, Tsag’atiläo uses her heart to revive the younger woman.

Their son Gunaganö’semgyet grows to young-man size when his father repeatedly stretches and compresses him. Sent with his mother to her people, he receives the copper canoe, a club and mouth-held stones used as projectiles. His father compresses cargo so that immense provisions fit aboard. The son repeats these skills, catches seals with the living club, and breaks a tree with a stone. His relations with the enslaved steersman Hä’lus become jealous and harmful, extending to wishes that injure his mother-in-law. The narrative does not make supernatural provision evidence of uniformly benevolent conduct.

After competitive displays, Hä’lus and his wife drown themselves in shame. Later a fin-whale named Gyileksets’a’ntk carries away Gunaganö’semgyet’s wife. The husband descends a weighted rope to the sea floor, repairs a servant’s broken wood-splitting wedge, and obtains his help. The servant extinguishes the fire so the couple can flee unseen. Companions haul them back to their canoe; a supernatural substance defeats the pursuing whales. The complete ending returns the couple home. Father, son and their inherited equipment are presented together, preserving the successive generations rather than confusing their rescues.

Copper canoe crosses lake and seaLiving biting clubCargo compressed by handMouth-held stone projectilesUnderwater wife rescue
01

Origins & earliest records

Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas (Berlin: A. Asher & Co., 1895), a collected reprint of earlier journal installments. The preface describes recordings mediated variously through Chinook Jargon and direct translation from Indigenous languages; it does not specify one method for every story.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete German story15, Tsag’atiläo, pp.294–300, read through the son’s underwater rescue and return. Attribution of15–18 to Matthias of Metlakatla is printed on305.

In the literature

“Nach einiger Zeit gebar die Frau einen Sohn,”
Franz Boas · Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas
XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 15. Tsag’atiläo, complete pp.294–300; Matthias attribution p.305; brief exact German prose p.297 · Boas’s German collected narrative witness; no independent Tsimshian-language translation claimed

A chief’s daughter is deceived into the Bear chief’s household, marries his son and escapes with Mouse’s advice. Tsag’atiläo takes her into his copper boat after she offers marriage, and his animated club repels pursuing Bears. His first wife Ksemnä’osö kills the newcomer, but Tsag’atiläo ultimately defeats the first wife and restores the second. Their son Gunaqanö’semgyet grows rapidly and journeys with his mother to her kin. He marries the younger of his maternal uncle’s daughters, defeats Hälus in contests and later recovers his wife after a whale abducts her. The complete story ends with the couple’s successful return.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas

    Franz Boas, recorder and editor; Matthias of Metlakatla, teller · 1895

    Tsimshian section, complete story15, Tsag’atiläo, pp.294–300; Matthias attribution p.305.

  2. 02

    Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas — XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 15. Tsag’atiläo, complete pp.294–300; Matthias attribution p.305

    Franz Boas; Matthias of Megtlak’qä’tla, explicitly credited narrator for stories15–18 · 1895

    Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895; complete German story294–300 read in OCR and original printed pages; explicit15–18Matthias attribution305 visually inspected. Physical307–313=printed294–300 in selected range.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas — XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 15. Tsag’atiläo, complete pp.294–300; Matthias attribution p.305

Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895; complete German story294–300 read in OCR and original printed pages; explicit15–18Matthias attribution305 visually inspected. Physical307–313=printed294–300 in selected range.

  1. A chief’s daughter is deceived into the Bear chief’s household, marries his son and escapes with Mouse’s advice. Tsag’atiläo takes her into his copper boat after she offers marriage, and his animated club repels pursuing Bears. His first wife Ksemnä’osö kills the newcomer, but Tsag’atiläo ultimately defeats the first wife and restores the second. Their son Gunaqanö’semgyet grows rapidly and journeys with his mother to her kin. He marries the younger of his maternal uncle’s daughters, defeats Hälus in contests and later recovers his wife after a whale abducts her. The complete story ends with the couple’s successful return.

    XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 15. Tsag’atiläo, complete pp.294–300; Matthias attribution p.305

No whole book, performance or independent Tsimshian-language translation claimed. Songs and practical treatment/preparation procedures excluded. Subsequent English regional parallels not yet independently read here.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textBoas 1895 original German editionResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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