Two brothers venture out to hunt. The younger brother encounters a young woman and takes her as his wife. The elder brother, desiring her, sends the younger on a perilous quest to a distant mountain. There, he confronts and kills a family of Fish-Hawks. Upon returning, he discovers his brother has taken his wife, leading him to kill his brother and reclaim her.
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
Conflict with Authority: The younger brother challenges his elder brother’s authority and desires.
Cunning and Deception: The elder brother deceives the younger by sending him on a dangerous quest.
Revenge and Justice: The younger brother seeks retribution against his elder brother for his deceit.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Koyukon people
From Tanana
There were two brothers who went out to hunt; and the younger found a nice young girl, and asked her to be his wife. She said, “Yes, I will go with you.” Then they went home-, and his brother said, “I will take your wife away from you.” He answered, “No, you will not. I want her for my wife.” “Well,” said he, “if you want her, go a long way off, and you will find a high mountain.” And he said, “Yes, I will go, because I want my wife.” So he went away, and came to the mountain, and went up the mountain, and came to a tree that had a big nest on it; and when he climbed up to it, he saw a little girl and a little boy in the nest. He killed the boy, and asked the girl where her mother was, and her father. She said, “My mother and father have gone out to hunt.” And he said to the little girl, “I will not kill you, but I will ask you what time your father and your mother are coming back.”
► Continue reading…
She said, “It will rain when my mother comes, and it will snow when my father comes.” And he said, “Now I will hide;” and she said, “I think that when my father comes, he will kill you.” It was the Fish-Hawk and his wife. When her mother came, she cried, “Oh, where is your little brother?” and the little girl said to her mother, “He fell down and killed himself. “— “Oh,” she said, “who, who? Where is my dear little boy?” And while she was crying, the youth killed her; and after a while the father came, and he said, “Where is your mother?” The little girl said, “She has not come back yet,” and he was very angry. And the young man killed him, and the little girl too; and afterward he went home and asked his brother for his wife, but his brother refused; so he killed his brother and took his wife, and was very happy because he had her to live with him again.
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