In this tale, young women mark caribou with strings and ear cuts to recognize them later. The following year, the caribou don’t return, leading to starvation. A man discovers the marked caribou preventing others from returning. He removes the strings and leads a young deer back, with its mother and the herd following, restoring the caribou to his people.
Source:
Chipewyan Tales
by Robert Harry Lowie
The American Museum of Natural History – Anthropological Papers
Volume X, Part 3
New York, 1912
► Themes of the story
Cultural Heroes: Ede’khuwe emerges as a hero who undertakes a journey to find and bring back the caribou, ensuring the survival of his people.
Harmony with Nature: The story underscores the importance of living in harmony with nature and respecting wildlife, as the community’s initial disrespect leads to ecological imbalance.
Sacred Objects: The caribou hold a significant place in the community’s life, and their departure and return are central to the narrative.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Chipewyan people
The meaning of this name is “Worms-in-his-horns”
Formerly the Indians would play with caribou, making them stand quiet by patting them. Some silly girls once said, “Let us mark some of them.” So they took some string from the back of their hair, tied it around the deer’s necks and cut their ears. “We’ll know these deer when they come next year.” In the fall the deer returned to the Barren Grounds. Next year there were no deer. The people began to starve. One man said, “I’ll see whether I can’t find them.” He kept on traveling until he reached a big body of water. On the sea there was a dead calm. He saw deer swimming, many of them with strings around their necks and with marked ears. These would not let the others return to the Indian country, but drove them back. The hero went to the deer and cut off the strings from their necks. He seized one little deer and led it off towards his people. Its mother followed. Then all the other deer also followed. They got to a big mountain. The Indians were on the other side and perceived Ede’khuwe with something beside him. After feeding, he sent the little deer to the Indians, and all the others started in the same direction. Without Ede’khuwe no more caribou would have been seen in this country.
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