The Kiksa’adi clan faced annihilation by the Sky-people, leaving only one woman who hid beneath a log. She encountered various beings, ultimately marrying the Sun’s son. They had five children and lived in a fort. When enemies attacked, the brothers invoked their grandfather, the Sun, who scorched the invaders by peeking through the clouds, boiling the sea, and destroying them. The brothers remained safe within their fort.
Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909
► Themes of the story
Creation: The narrative explains the origin of the Kiksa’di people in Sitka.
Divine Intervention: The sun deity assists the protagonist and their offspring in overcoming adversaries.
Revenge and Justice: The destruction of the enemies by invoking the sun’s power serves as retribution for their earlier aggression.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Tlingit people
The story was obtained at Sitka.
When we were first born people hated us. And after that some beings named Sky-people brought war upon us. They destroyed us completely. A woman saved herself. And right here at Qantu’lki she dug a hole under a log to conceal herself from the enemy. Various creatures came out in f rout of her. “I wonder who can tell me about things,” she said. Grizzly bear came out near her. She said, “What can you do?” “Whenever I catch a man I slap my paws down upon him.” The woman said, “That is nothing.” Some one in the sun spoke to her. “How am I?” it said. “What can you do?” Then he said, “My father in the sun peeps out through the clouds, through the mottled clouds.” That was the one that married her. Then she began to have children. There were five of them, including one woman. After that he lowered down a big fort on them. They grew up inside of it. And when the enemy saw that they were inside of it they started to come.
► Continue reading…
One [of the brothers], named Coward, was quarrelsome. Another was named Lqaya’k and another Kacka’lk, and to all of them he gave directions. “When they get stronger than you put your minds on me.” So, when the enemy became too strong for them, they put their minds on their father (grandfather), the sun. He peeped out on the enemy. It was smoking hot. The sea water out here boiled. The [hostile] people ran down quickly into the water. They were all destroyed. Then it stopped [boiling] out on the water. The brothers stayed inside of their fort.
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