A chief’s daughter in Qaqax-duu’ kept a wood worm as a pet, feeding it oil until it grew to a fathom long. Her devotion to it alarmed the villagers, who ultimately killed the creature despite her protests and mourning songs. She honored its memory, leading to its association with the Ganaxte’di clan. This tale highlights the origins of the clan’s identity and its cultural legacy.
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 wood worm undergoes a remarkable physical change, growing rapidly under the daughter’s care, symbolizing transformation.
Cultural Heroes: The daughter’s actions and the subsequent events contribute to the origin and identity of the Ganaxte’di clan, highlighting her role in shaping societal structures.
Sacrifice: The daughter’s deep attachment to the wood worm and the community’s decision to kill it, despite her protests, underscore themes of personal sacrifice and communal decision-making.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Tlingit people
Myth recorded in English at Wrangell, Alaska, in January-April 1904
Later on a chief’s daughter at the place named Qaqax-duu’ obtained a wood worm (luqu’x) as a pet and fed it on different kinds of oil. It grew very fast until it reached the length of a fathom. Then she composed a cradle song for it: “It has a face already. Sit right here. Sit right here (Kesi-ya’ku A’sgi. Tcaya’k A’nu).” She sang again, “It has a mouth already. Sit right here. Sit right here.” They would hear her singing these words day after day, and she would come out from her room only to eat. Then her mother said to her, “Stay out here once in a while. Do not sit back there always.” They wondered what was wrong with her that she always stayed inside, and at last her mother thought that she would spy upon her daughter. She looked inside, therefore, and saw something large between the boxes. She thought it an awful monster, but left it alone, because her daughter was fond of it.
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Meanwhile the people of the town had been missing oil from their boxes for some time, for this worm was stealing it. The mother kept saying to her daughter, “Why don’t you have something else for a pet? That is a horrible thing to have for a pet.” But her daughter only cried.
Now, the people got ready to kill this thing, and they tried in every way to induce the girl to come away from her house. Her mother told her that her uncle’s wife wanted her help, but, although she was very fond of her, that was not sufficient to get her out. Next morning she said to the big worm, “Son, I have had a very bad dream.” After they had begged her to come out day after day she finally came. “Mother,” she said, “get me my new marten robe.” Then she tied a rope around her waist as a belt and came out singing a song she had been composing ever since they first began to beg her: “I have come out at last. You have begged me to come out. I have come out at last, you have begged me so hard, but it is just like begging me to die. My coming out from my pet is going to cause death.” As she sang she cried, and the song made the people feel very badly. Then she heard a great uproar and said to her uncle’s wife, “They are killing my son at last.” “No,” said her uncle’s wife, “it is a dog fight.” “No, they are killing him.” They had quite a time killing the worm, and when she heard that it was dead she sang, “They got me away from you, my son. It isn’t my fault. I had to leave you. They have killed you at last. They have killed you. But you will be heard of all over the world. Although I am blamed for bringing you up, you will be claimed by a great clan and be looked up to as something great.” And to this day, when that clan is feasting, they start her four songs. This clan is the Ganaxte’di. Then she went to her father and said, “Let that pet of mine be burned like the body of a human being. Let the whole town cut wood for it.” So they did, and it burned just like coal oil.
Another of this woman’s songs was, “You will be a story for the time coming. You will be told of.” This is where the Ganaxte’di come from. No one outside of them can use this worm. What causes so many wars is the fact that there are very many people having nothing who claim something. The Ganaxte’di also own Black-skin. They represent him on poles with the sea-lions’ intestines around his head.
The girl’s father felt very badly that she should care for so ugly a creature, but to please her and make her feel better, he gave a feast along with tobacco and said, “If my daughter had had anything else for a pet, I would have taken good care of it, too, but I feared that it would injure the village later on, so I had to have it killed.”
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Dreamtime Whispers 