A cunning old woman confronts a Wolf-Man by deceiving him about the skin she’s scraping. When wild beasts gather to attack her the next day, she devises a clever trap, filling her house with smoke from rotten wood. Blinded and disoriented, the animals cannot escape, and she systematically kills them, collecting their valuable skins as trophies of her triumph.
Source
The Jessup North Pacific Expedition
edited by Franz Boas
Memoir of the American Museum
of Natural History – New York
Volume VIII
3. The Eskimo of Siberia
by Waldemar Bogoras
Leiden & New York, 1913
► Themes of the story
Cunning and Deception: The old woman uses her wit to deceive both the Wolf-Man and the assembled beasts, ultimately leading to her survival and their demise.
Conflict with Nature: The narrative centers on the old woman’s struggle against wild animals, representing a direct confrontation with natural forces.
Transformation: The old woman’s encounter with the wild beasts leads to a transformation in her circumstances, as she turns a life-threatening situation into an opportunity to acquire valuable resources.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Yupik peoples
Told by Tal’i’mak, an Asiatic Eskimo man, in the village of Uni’sak, at Indian Point, May, 1901.
An old woman was scraping a wolf-skin. A man came to her and asked her, “What kind of skin are you scraping?” — “An ermine-skin.” — “That is not true.” He ran away into the open. Then he came again and asked, “What kind of skin are you scraping?” — “A fox-skin.” — “Ah, that is not true!” She named all kinds of skins. Then she grew angry, and shouted, “A wolf-skin! I am scraping a wolf-skin! This is a wolf-skin!” — “Aha!”
He ran away, and did not come any more. He was a Wolf-Man. The next day all kinds of wild beasts assembled, — wolves and bears, mice and foxes, and wolverenes. From all sides they surrounded the old woman’s house, and were hostile. “Oh, did you come to see me?” said the old woman. “That is right. I am boiling berries to make a pudding. Now come in! We will taste it. However, do take care lest anybody come with a knife or a spear!”
► Continue reading…
She deceived them, and put on the fire a kettle with water. Then she covered the vent-hole. She threw rotten-wood on the fire, and the house became full of smoke. They could not see anything. The Bear was rubbing his eyes. “Oh, the smoke!” — “That’s nothing,” said the old woman, and nudged him with her elbow. “Now let us taste of this pudding!”
The smoke increased. The beasts wanted to go out, but could not find the exit. The old woman stood watching by the exit, knife in hand. She killed the beasts that were blinded by the smoke. She stabbed the wolf, and cut the throat of the bear; she pierced the fox; she trampled on the mouse. Then she took all the skins, which were of much value.
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