A man quarrels with his wife and encounters a woman resembling her, who leads him to a house. An old woman there reveals it’s the dwelling of the Ku’staka’, malevolent spirits that manipulate minds. Realizing his peril, he escapes but remains mentally affected. Villagers eventually capture and cure him, restoring his sanity.
Source:
Tahltan Tales
by James A. Teit
The American Folklore Society
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.32, No.124, pp.198-250
April-June, 1917
Vol.34, No.133, pp.223-253
July-September, 1921
Vol.34, No.134, pp.335-356
October-December, 1921
► Themes of the story
Illusion vs. Reality: The man’s journey highlights the struggle between distinguishing truth from deception, as he grapples with the false reality imposed by the Ku’staka’.
Loss and Renewal: The protagonist experiences a loss of sanity and connection to his world but eventually undergoes a form of renewal as he regains his senses and returns home.
Forbidden Knowledge: The man gains insight into the existence and nature of the Ku’staka’, knowledge that is hidden and perilous, leading to his temporary madness.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Tahltan people
Ku’staka’ is a kind of spirit being inhabiting certain parts of the country. They are common in the Tlingit country. They place people under their influence, and make them believe what they want. Finally the people become crazy and wander about. People who get lost are subject to their attacks. Some Indians, in speaking English, called them “monkey people.”
Once a Tlingit man had a quarrel with his wife, and went off in the morning without eating. He had forgotten his basket (?), and thought he would make one. He made a cut around a tree low down, and then climbed up to make the upper cut. He wore neither trousers nor leggings. A woman appeared at the foot of the tree, and spoke to him, saying, “Hurry up!” She looked like his wife, and he thought it was she. She said, “What is that I see up there?” and he answered, “These are my testicles.”
► Continue reading…
He was losing his mind, but did not know it. He was under the influence of the woman, and came down the tree. He thought the piece of bark or stick that he was carrying down was a finished basket. The woman said, “Let us go home!” He followed her, and after a while they came to a house and went in. The man thought it was his own house. He saw an old woman sitting there. She said to him, “What are you doing here?” He answered, “I have come home. Why do you ask?” She said, “This is not your house. Wake up, and try to go home! This is the house of the Ku’staka’. I am your aunt, and was lost in the woods a long time ago. I cannot go back now, and live here. Do not stay here; for these people are bad, and make people think what is not true.” The man came half to himself, and, looking around, saw that he was in a hole underneath the roots of a tree, and that the place was not at all like his camp. He ran for home, sometimes being crazy, and sometimes sane. He reached the camp, and thought he went in and the people would not talk to him. Instead he acted like the Ku’staka’, and threw stones and sticks at the camp. When the people came out to look, he ran away like a deer. Several nights he did this. At last he fell sound asleep on a large old log. The log was taken by the tide and carried out to sea. People saw it floating about, and thought they saw the body of a man on it. They approached the log noiselessly in canoes, and saw a naked man asleep. They seized and bound him, although he fought violently, like a crazy man. They took him home, and smoked him repeatedly, using dog’s-hair and rotten urine on the fire for the purpose. At last he became quite sane again, and told the people his adventures and how it felt to be possessed.
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