Myth of the Ghost Lover Once a long time ago, the Songhees people made a raid on the Sechelt people. They returned to the Island with many heads. They stuck the heads on poles set up in the village. The chief's daughter looked sadly at the heads on the poles. She saw one that was the head of a handsome young man. With tears in her eyes, she reached to take the head down. For eight days she cried over the head and brushed its long black hair. On the ninth night, a ghostly man came to her couch. "Who are you?" she asked. "I am the man whose head you have been crying over," he replied. For many nights the ghostly visitor came to her. One night, he said to her, "Tomorrow night, I am taking you with me to my old home. I have a brother there who is just like me. When you arrive at Sechelt, climb the mountain. You will see mountain goat wool, which you must make into blankets. I will be with you all the time til you meet my brother, whom I want you to marry." The next night, the ghost man took her to a canoe on the beach. The canoe had many paddles. "Get in and cover your head with your blanket," said the ghost man. The girl did as she was told. She heard no paddling, only, "Oh! Oh!" Quickly they arrived at Sechelt. "This is where my brother lives," says her ghost lover. The climb the mountain where she finds lots of mountain goat wool. The girl stayed on the mountain spinning wool and weaving blankets for one year. One day she met a young man who looked very like her ghost lover. "This must be his brother," she said to herself. The young man went home to his mother. "I met the finest woman I have ever seen this morning on the mountain. I wish I could have her for my wife. When you ask her, tell her I am the young man she saw this morning." His parents went to see the girl. "Did you see a young man recently?" asks the mother. "Yes, I saw him," says the girl/ "He is my son," says the old woman, "and he wants you to be his wife." "I will go with you," replies the girl. They descend the mountain and enter the Sechelt village. She is asked how she came to the country of the Sechelt people. "I was brought here by ghost people," she says. "Your son resembles the ghost man who brought me here." They cry out and say, "Alas! It is our son, his twin brother!" "I will send you back to your people with my living son," declares the father. "We must find someone who knows the way." He calls upon Elk and asks, "Do you know the whole country round?" "No," replies Elk. "I only know open glades." The father then calls each animal of the coast and asks the same question. Finally, Mink replies yes; "I know all the country and I know, also, the girl's father's name. It is Minqaias." A great canoe-raft is built to carry the bales of blankets the girl has made. Father, son, daughter-in-law, and friends set out for the Island, with Mink to guide them. They follow the coast to Squamish. Mink calls aloud for Minqaias. "No such person lives here," they are told. They go on to Musqueam at the mouth of the Fraser River. Again, Mink calls for Minqaias. "No such person lives here," they are told. They proceed to Tsawassen, Semiahmoo Bay, and Lummi, but are told, "No such person lives here." At Lummi, Wolf comes to tell them, "Tomorrow, if you follow the sun all day, and the moon all night, you will come to Minqaias' country." They do as they are told, waiting at dusk, by the mountain called Skalakcum, for the moon to rise. At sunrise, they near a village on the Island. Mink calls for Minqaias. "They may have come to fight with us," says Minqaias to his people. The girl stood on the raft. "I am Minqaias' daughter. I have returned with my husband and his friends," she calls. Minqaias hears this and is overjoyed. All the residents of the village go to the water and help bring the raft and the bales of blankets to Minqaias' house. The raft is so large that they have to take the sides of the house down to bring it in. There is great feasting and giving of gifts, lasting many days, to celebrate the marriage of the Songhees maiden and the Sechelt youth. Both families agree to peace and friendship forever. "How long did it take you to get here from Sechelt?" asks Minqaias. "Two moons," replies the father of the young man. "Is there a shorter way?" Minqaias goes to the top of the mountain and calls to his brother of the sea, Steqwi. "If I want to pass quickly from the Island to the Mainland, how can I best do it?" "I will tell you," says Steqwi. "Whenever you want to travel on the water, take the course of the current. This goes in one direction for one-half of the day, and in the other direction for the other half." "Who knows the way?" asks Minqaias. "Sea Lion always travels in the currents and can guide you," replies Steqwi. "Sea Lion will need a lot of salmon to eat along the way," thinks Minqaias. "I will send salmon for Sea Lion to eat," promises Steqwi. "Thank you, brother," says Minqaias. The next morning, the young man's father and friends say goodbye and set off in their canoe, guided by Sea Lion. They find the current and have plenty of salmon travelling with them. Sea Lion leads them quickly home to Sechelt. Source: Adapted from a myth told to Charles Hill-Tout by Lekwungen informants in the early 1900s (Published in Charles Hill-Tout, The Salish People, Vol. 4: The Sechelt and the South-Eastern Tribes of Vancouver Island, ed. Ralph Maud. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1978, pp. 139-42.)