Kathlamet

(map)

Blue-jay advised a maiden to marry a panther, who was a hunter and chief of his town. She went to his town but married Beaver by mistake. When Beaver returned from fishing, he told her to gather the trout he had caught, but she discovered they were not trout but willow branches. Disgusted, she ran away from him and finally married the panther. Beaver wept for five days, flooding the land with his tears. The animals escaped to their canoes. When the flood nearly reached the sky, they thought to fetch up some earth. They told Blue-jay to dive, but his dive was so shallow that his tail remained above water. Mink tried next, and then otter, but they could not reach the bottom. When muskrat's turn came, he told the people to tie the canoes together and lay planks across them. Muskrat threw off his blanket, sang his song five times, and dove. He was down a long time, but at last flags came up to the surface. Summer came, the water sank, and the canoes grounded. As the animals jumped out of the canoes, they broke off their tails against the gunwale. But otter, mink, muskrat, and panther reattached their tails, so they have long tails today.

Frazer, 1919, 325-326; Kelsen, 1943, 148.