An orphan girl, Saha’n, is adopted to accompany a chief’s daughter but faces challenges due to the daughter’s misfortune. After the chief’s daughter marries unsuccessfully, Saha’n marries her former husband, bringing prosperity through her wisdom and diligence. However, mistreatment of her poorer brothers results in her downfall after her husband’s death, teaching a lasting lesson on the importance of equity among family members.
Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909
► Themes of the story
Transformation: Saha’n’s journey from poverty to wealth illustrates significant changes in her social status and personal circumstances.
Moral Lessons: The tale imparts the importance of treating all family members with equity, regardless of their economic status, highlighting the consequences of neglecting this principle.
Family Dynamics: The interactions between Saha’n and her brothers underscore the complexities within familial relationships, particularly concerning wealth and status.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Tlingit people
Myth recorded in English at Wrangell, Alaska, in January-April 1904
An orphan girl in the Tlingit country named Saha’n (Orphan) was adopted by some high-caste people to be a companion to their daughter. She was very fond of going to the creek to get water, and the chief’s daughter always accompanied her. Every time they went, the chief’s daughter would drink water from this creek against the protests of her foster sister, and it made her very unlucky.
When she married into another high-caste family her husband became very poor on account of her and finally abandoned her. Then he married Orphan, who was very bright and knew how to take care of things, and she made him rich. She was quiet and paid a great deal of attention to her husband. The village people were also very much pleased with her, for after her husband married her, they lived off of him.
► Continue reading…
Everything that this girl had was good, her dishes and spoons being all set with abalone shell. She had four adopted brothers, of whom the elder two were rich but the younger two very poor and unlucky. The former she would always treat well because she knew that they were bright and able to take care of things, and she always gave them food in her fine dishes. When she invited her poor brothers her husband would say, “Go and get your dishes now and let your brothers eat off of them,” but she always answered, “No, I don’t want to let them use my good dishes. They might leave the marks of poverty on them.”
After Orphan had lived some time in luxury, however, her husband died, and, as was customary, her husband’s relations took the property all away from her. She became as poor as she had been before. Luck went against her because she had treated her poor brothers so meanly. That is why, nowadays, when a rich person has a poor brother he always treats him just as well as the rich one.
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