When fearing attack, the Kiksa’di and Ka’gwantan sought refuge on Kanasqe’ (St. Lazaria Island), dividing themselves between its two tidal-separated parts. Amid their struggle for food, they attempted to drain a saltwater pond harboring a creature called Lin. After a Ka’gwantan chief’s death, a symbolic frog emerged and sacrificed itself in the fire during the funeral rites, leading to a vow of war and ceremonial offerings to honor the frog and the chief.
Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909
► Themes of the story
Sacrifice: The frog’s self-immolation during the chief’s funeral rites symbolizes a profound act of sacrifice, reflecting the deep respect and ritual significance attributed to such acts in the narrative.
Ancestral Spirits: The community’s ceremonial offerings to honor both the deceased chief and the frog highlight the importance of ancestral spirits and the rituals performed to honor them, emphasizing the connection between the living and the spiritual realm.
Supernatural Beings: The presence of the creature Lin in the saltwater pond and the symbolic appearance of the frog during the funeral rites introduce elements of the supernatural, indicating interactions with beings beyond the ordinary human experience.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Tlingit people
Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904
One time, when they were afraid of being attacked, all of the Kiksa’di and Ka’gwantan encamped on Kanasqe’ (St. Lazaria island). There are two parts to this island separated at high tide, and the Kiksa’di encamped upon one, while the Ka’gwantan lived upon the other. On the same island there is also a small salt water pond at the bottom of which was a creature called Lin, and, being pressed for food on account of their fear of the enemy, the allies often tried to bail out this pond when the tide left it, to get at the sea animal.
While the people were there, a chief of the Ka’gwantan died, and, after he had been in the house among his friends for eight days, one of his friends said to the Kiksa’di, “Take care of his dead body.” All the Ka’gwantan chiefs marry Kikca’ (Kiksa’di women).
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But the real frog tribe thought they were the ones who were summoned, because they are also Kikca’.
Then all the Kiksa’di made ready to go ashore to burn his dead body. They chopped much wood and made a fire, while all of the Kiksa’di and Ka’gwantan stood around it, and everyone felt badly. All at once a big frog, as long as the hand and wrist, jumped out from the place where the fire was and began making a noise. All looked at it. It had come out because the frogs were the ones to whom the Ka’gwantan had spoken. After that it jumped into the fire and burned up.
Then all the people tied themselves up (ga’xani) (i.e., tied their blankets around their waists, as they did when they were engaged in lifting the sun) out of respect to the chief. All felt very badly about the dead man, and one person said, “It will not be like draining out the Lin lake (Lin a’ya). Let us go to war.” So they captured slaves and killed them for the dead man, and, when they put food into the fire for him, they also named the frog that it might receive some as well.
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