The giant beaver and muskrat

Source: 
The Beaver Indians
by Pliny Earle Goddard
The American Museum of Natural History – Anthropological Papers
Volume X, Part 4
New York, 1912

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► Themes of the story

Mythical Creatures: The presence of giant animals, such as the beaver and muskrat, indicates encounters with beings beyond ordinary experience.

Sacrifice: The man releases the beaver’s offspring into the water to calm the ice, suggesting a form of offering to restore balance.

Harmony with Nature: The act of releasing the young beavers to calm the ice reflects an understanding of and attempt to maintain balance within the natural world.

► From the same Region or People

• North America
  • Sub-Arctic Region
    • Dane-zaa Lore

Learn more about the Dane-zaa people

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Said to have happened on Great Slave Lake. Stories of giants in the north are common; the particular incident explains a local hill as is indicated in the last sentence.

At first they say there was a large man who chiseled for a large beaver. He worked in vain for he could not kill it. He could not find its track anywhere nearby. He went out on the large frozen lake and saw the beaver walking along under the ice. He tapped on the ice and drove the beaver back into its house where he killed it. She had young ones in her and because of that the ice would not remain quiet. He cut the mother open, took out the young ones, and put them in the water. The ice then became quiet. That was why he did it. They say both the man and the beaver were giants. The beaver house is still standing.

Out to the east where there are no trees, away from the country in which beaver are found, there used to be a muskrat. If a canoe passed by, the muskrat would hear it. They say one did not speak when he paddled by the place. It is not long since someone in passing there felt the water move. He is not there now and since he is gone they do not feel the water move.