A group of boys disrupted nature’s balance by moving a piece of seaweed, causing winter to return prematurely, bringing hardship to their village. A blue jay later led them to a nearby town, Kilna’xe, where summer persisted and food was plentiful. This story, from near Wrangell, highlights how people in the past respected nature’s delicate harmony, recognizing small actions could have significant consequences.
Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909
► Themes of the story
Conflict with Nature: The boys’ interference with the seaweed disrupts the natural order, leading to an unexpected return of winter and subsequent hardships for their community.
Moral Lessons: The narrative underscores the importance of respecting nature and how seemingly minor actions can have significant consequences, teaching a lesson about the delicate balance between humans and the environment.
Supernatural Beings: The appearance of the blue jay, which guides the villagers to a place where summer persists, introduces a supernatural element, suggesting that animals may possess otherworldly knowledge or serve as messengers in folklore.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Tlingit people
Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904
One time some boys pulled a piece of drifting seaweed out of the water on one side of their canoe and put it in again on the other. It was almost summer then, but, for having done this, winter came on again and snow was piled high in front of the houses so that people began to be in want of food. One day, however, a blue jay perched on the edge of a smoke hole, with elderberries in its mouth, and cried, “Kilna’xe.” This was the name of a neighboring town. So the people took all the cedar bark they had prepared to make houses out of and went to Kilna’xe where they found that it was already summer and the berries were ripe. Only about their own town was it still winter. This happened just beyond the town of Wrangell.
I tell you this story to show how particular people used to be in olden times about things, for it was only a piece of seaweed that brought winter on.
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