Raven visited Cold-town and invited the boys to go shooting with bows and arrows. As they set out in his canoe, it capsized, and the boys drowned. Raven told them, “You will stay here,” transforming them into ikaga’xe, sea birds known for their far-carrying voices, forever echoing across the waters.
Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909
► Themes of the story
Transformation: The boys are transformed into sea birds by Raven after their drowning.
Divine Intervention: Raven, a deity figure in Tlingit mythology, directly influences the mortal realm by causing the canoe to capsize and subsequently transforming the boys.
Supernatural Beings: The presence and actions of Raven, a supernatural entity, play a central role in the story.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Tlingit people
Myth recorded in English at Wrangell, Alaska, in January-April 1904
One time Raven came to a place called Cold-town and said to the boys there, “Let us go shooting with bow and arrows.”
He took down his own canoe and they started out, but presently the canoe upset and the boys were all drowned.
Then he said to them, “You will stay here.”
They are the ikaga’xe, sea birds whose voices can be heard at a long distance.
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Dreamtime Whispers 