A giantess deceives children into her garments, intending to cook them. A bird aids their escape, replacing them with sticks and stones. Upon discovering the ruse, the giantess attempts to capture them but overexerts herself and bursts, releasing various fish and human bones. The children transform into birds and find her dwelling filled with human remains.
Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914
► Themes of the story
Cunning and Deception: The children, with the bird’s assistance, use cunning to escape and deceive the giantess.
Conflict with Nature: The children face a natural threat in the form of the giantess and must navigate their environment to escape her.
Moral Lessons: The story imparts lessons about the dangers of trusting strangers and the value of cleverness in overcoming threats.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Koyukon people
Some boys and girls were playing on the ice. “Hark!” said one of them; and they heard an old woman singing in the bushes. Soon she came in sight, and they saw that she was very large. She told them that she had plenty of nice things in her house, and that if they would wait for her, she would go and get them for them. They said that they would; and to make sure, she put all the boys into her parka and tied it up, and then took off her breeches and put the girls into them and tied them up, and went away. When she had gone, a little Bird came and sat on. the outside of the parka, and told the boys that the old woman had lied to them. One of them told the Bird that he had some fine paint, and that if he would let them out, he would paint him in beautiful colors.
► Continue reading…
So the Bird pulled at the string until he had untied it, and the boys came out and filled the parka with sticks and tied it up again. Then they let the girls out, and filled the breeches with stones and tied them up again; and then they all got upon the Bird’s back, and he carried them to a distance, and they all sat down to see what would happen. Soon they saw the old woman coming back, followed by her slut. She had a large wooden bowl and a spoon; and she was singing, “Now I shall have some nice brain-soup!” When she came near the parka, she called out, “Here are the nice things that I promised you!” and then she took her knife and slit the parka open, but found nothing but sticks inside. Then she went to the breeches and cut them open; but her knife struck the rocks, which dulled it. One of the boys laughed so loudly that she heard him; but the ice had now melted, and there was a stream between them. So the boys mocked her, and told her that if she should drink the water up, she could get them. She put her mouth down and drank in one place, and the water went down a little. Then she drank in another place, and it went down still more. Then she drank in another place, and it all disappeared, so that she might have got them; but the effort proved too much for her, and she burst open; and out of her came white whales, ling, pike and all kinds of fish, men’s bones, and other things. The children were changed to birds and flew to her house, where they saw a great many bones of men and boys and girls.
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