In a northern village, hunters discovered a mute boy on the rocks and took him in. He exhibited destructive behavior, breaking tools, damaging clothing, and causing trouble. Unable to manage him, the villagers returned him to the rock where he was found. Afterward, the weather improved, leading them to believe he was a “rock-man’s son.”
Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909
► Themes of the story
Origin of Things: The narrative explains the origin of a low-caste name within the Tlingit culture.
Conflict with Nature: The boy’s presence is associated with adverse weather conditions, such as persistent rain, suggesting a struggle against natural forces.
Community and Isolation: The boy’s inability to integrate into the community and his eventual return to isolation on the rocks highlight themes of belonging and estrangement.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Tlingit people
The story was obtained at Wrangell.
There was a certain village in the north from which the people were fond of going hunting. By and by three men went out, and finally came to the rocks among which they always hunted. After they reached the rocks they saw a little boy. Then they took him aboard, thinking it was strange that be should be there. When they spoke to him he did not reply. After that they came home. They kept him as their friend. Whenever they gave him something to eat he ate nothing. Only after everyone had gone to bed did he eat. Whatever thing he touched would spill on him. He was whimsical and they could do nothing with him. He was also lazy. When he was asked to chop wood he broke all of their stone axes. The axes were then valuable. Then the people who had kept him were very sorry. When he played with the children he hurt them badly.
► Continue reading…
Afterward the people who kept him would have to pay for the injuries. If he made something with a knife he would break it. Right after a skin shirt had been put upon him it was in rags. If shoes were put on his feet they were soon in pieces. He drank a great deal of water. He was a great eater. He was a dirty little fellow. He was a crybaby. If they gave him anything to take to another place he lost it. So he made a great deal of trouble for the people.
Then they said of him, “He is really a man of the rocks.” All the town people agreed to take him back to the place where he had been found. After he had been brought in it was very rainy. Then the people who had saved him got into their canoe and carried him back. They put him on the very same rock from which they had taken him. Then they went back. They reached home. The world was now calm. The rain also had ceased. Then the town people were all talking about it. They said to one another, “What could it have been?” and no one knew. Finally the town people said, “Don’t you see it was a rock-man’s son?”
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