A man is abducted by a giant bird and taken to its nest. The bird’s offspring hides him from its father. When the birds sleep during the day, the man escapes, gathers wood, and sets the tree ablaze, causing the birds’ wings to burn. They fall to the ground and become beings that frighten people.
Source:
The Beaver Indians
by Pliny Earle Goddard
The American Museum of Natural History – Anthropological Papers
Volume X, Part 4
New York, 1912
► Themes of the story
Supernatural Beings: The giant bird represents a supernatural entity interacting with the human world.
Conflict with Nature: The man’s struggle against the giant bird and his subsequent actions highlight a direct confrontation with a natural force.
Cunning and Deception: The man’s cleverness in escaping and defeating the bird by setting its nest on fire showcases the use of wit to overcome adversity.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Dane-zaa people
A man was walking one time at night when suddenly something caught him and took him up toward the sky. The man wondered what had happened. He was carried to a large nest which was resting in a tree. The bird in the nest took good care of him and did not kill him. After the bird which had brought him had gone away and when it was nearly daylight another bird came back. “How does it happen you smell of a man?” this bird said to the young one in the nest. “I should smell of a man when one was brought here for me to eat,” the young one replied. He hid the man so well from his father that he could not find him. The birds slept during the daytime and the man came safely down to the ground.
► Continue reading…
He gathered a great quantity of knots and dry wood which he placed at the foot of the tree. He set this pile on fire and the tree caught fire high up where the birds were sitting. Their wings were all burned and they fell down. After that they walked around on the ground. Before that they were the things that frighten people.
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Dreamtime Whispers 