A malevolent shaman named Gone’tqasa’xdukaq resides in a cave, impervious to harm. To defeat him, villagers marry their sister to him and later extract information from her about his vulnerability—his heart is in his hand. They shoot his hand, killing him, and claim his red-snapper coat. Subsequently, Lqaya’k dons the coat and chases a creature into the sky, creating the Milky Way.
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 sister sacrifices her well-being by marrying the shaman to aid her brothers’ plan.
Creation: The story explains the origin of the Milky Way, bringing order to the cosmos through the brothers’ actions.
Family Dynamics: The plot revolves around the collaboration and sacrifices within a family to overcome a common adversary.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Tlingit people
The story was obtained at Sitka.
Another being that hated us was a shaman, who used to live in a cave. His name was Gone’tqasa’xdukaq. They could do nothing to him, so they gave their sister to him in marriage. He always slept with his back to the fire, and a spirit watched at his door. Finally a plot was made regarding him, and the people prepared for him. They prepared boxes full of bows and arrows for him, and there came to be plenty of them. When they came to him they pulled their sister into the canoe. He (the shaman) always wore a red-snapper coat. When he was pursuing them, he kept jumping so (accompanied by gesture). While he was chasing them they shot at him. They kept asking their sister, “Where is your husband’s heart?” She said, “I still love my husband’s heart.” After a time she told them where her husband’s heart was. “Shoot him in the middle of his hand. His heart is there.”
► Continue reading…
Then they killed him outside of Ring island. They carried him to Ring island. They took the red-snapper coat off from him. It was for this coat that they had killed their brother-in-law.
After that Lqaya’k put it on and went after large animals. He chased something from below named Kacka’lk. [An error. Kacka’lk was Lqaya’k’s elder brother.] He chased it far up out into the sky. They are Lqaya’k’s footprints which are there [that is, the Milky Way].
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