A mourning sparrow rejects a raven’s proposal, disdaining his offer of offal. The raven, spurned, turns to wild geese and insists on joining their migration. Unable to keep up due to exhaustion, he rests on two geese, who abandon him in the sea. The raven drowns, his soul transforming into small sea mollusks, symbolizing hubris and the consequences of rejection.
Source:
Eskimo Folk-Tales
collected by Knud Rasmussen
[Copenhagen, Christiania], 1921
► Themes of the story
Transformation: The raven’s soul undergoes a metamorphosis into small sea mollusks after his death, highlighting themes of change and consequence.
Trickster: The raven embodies the trickster archetype, using cunning and persuasion in his attempts to secure a wife and join the geese, ultimately leading to his downfall.
Conflict with Nature: The raven’s struggle to keep up with the migrating geese and his inability to survive in the sea underscore the challenges and perils of opposing natural limitations.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Inuit peoples
A little sparrow was mourning for her husband who was lost. She was very fond of him, for he caught worms for her. As she sat there weeping, a raven came and asked: “Why are you weeping?”
“I am weeping for my husband, who is lost; I was fond of him, because he caught worms for me,” said the sparrow. “It is not fitting for one to weep who can hop over high blades of grass,” said the raven. “Take me for a husband; I have a fine high forehead, broad temples, a long beard and a big beak; you shall sleep under my wings, and I will give you lovely offal to eat.”
► Continue reading…
“I will not take you for a husband, for you have a high forehead, broad temples, a long beard and a big beak, and will give me offal to eat.”
So the raven flew away — flew off to seek a wife among the wild geese. And he was so lovesick that he could not sleep.
When he came to the wild geese, they were about to fly away to other lands.
Said the raven to two of the geese: “Seeing that a miserable sparrow has refused me, I will have you.”
“We are just getting ready to fly away,” said the geese.
“I will go too,” said the raven.
“But consider this: that none can go with us who cannot swim or rest upon the surface of the water. For there are no icebergs along the way we go.”
“It is nothing; I will sail through the air,” said the raven.
And the wild geese flew away, and the raven with them. But very soon he felt himself sinking from weariness and lack of sleep.
“Something to rest on!” cried the raven, gasping. “Sit you down side by side.” And his two wives sat down together on the water, while their comrades flew on.
The raven sat down on them and fell asleep. But when his wives saw the other geese flying farther and farther away, they dropped that raven into the sea and flew off after them.
“Something to rest on!” gasped the raven, as it fell into the water. And at last it went to the bottom and was drowned.
And after a while, it broke up into little pieces, and its soul was turned into little “sea ravens.” [a small black mollusc]
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