A woman, fearing enemy attacks, hides her children in the woods but never returns. Her husband finds the children but not his wife. She had been taken by a Ku’staka’ (a mythical being) and remained under its influence for two months. Eventually, she is found living alone and is reunited with her family, leading to a celebratory potlatch.
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
Supernatural Beings: The Ku’staka’ is a mythical entity that interacts with the human world by abducting the woman.
Loss and Renewal: The community experiences the loss of the woman and later her unexpected return, symbolizing a cycle of loss and renewal.
Conflict with Nature: The woman’s survival in the wilderness, living on raw salmon without clothes or fire, highlights a struggle against natural elements.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Tahltan people
A Wrangel woman was camped with her husband and children. At this time people were afraid of enemies attacking and enslaving them. Her husband was away hunting, and the woman was afraid that their camp might be discovered. She took her children and went into the woods. Here she left her children hidden at the foot of a tree, saying that she had to go back to camp for something she had forgotten. She never came back. The husband came home, and, finding neither wife nor children, looked around for tracks. He followed them, and found his children in the woods. The children told their father that they had heard a noise, and that their mother had left them to go back to camp for something she had forgotten. The husband found no trace of his wife. He took the children and returned to Wrangel. This happened in the spring-time, about early in May, and at a place about thirty miles from Wrangel.
► Continue reading…
The woman had been taken by a Ku’staka’ man, who kept her for about two months. For that time she was under his influence. Finally the Ku’staka’ deserted her, and then she recovered her senses. In summer the people moved camp to a salmon creek. The woman was then on this creek, living on raw salmon. She had no clothes and no fire. One day two young men happened to go up the creek, and saw her. She ran into a hole among the roots of trees. They went to the hole and asked her to come out. She was ashamed because she was naked. The men turned their backs, and one of them took off his shirt and threw it to her. She put it on, and accompanied them in a canoe to Wrangel, where her husband was living. When they came near her husband’s house, they called out that they had recovered his wife, but he would not believe them. Her husband was a rich man. He gave a great potlatch because of his wife’s return, and paid the young men liberally.
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