A man attempts to harm another using supernatural power, declaring he will go no further than a white patch of soil. The targeted man encounters an old figure at this spot, who urges him to retrieve his belongings. Upon learning of this, his father-in-law confronts the old man, offering an otterskin to negotiate his son-in-law’s safety, ultimately saving his life through supernatural means.
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
Sacrifice: The father-in-law offers an otterskin to the underground person to save his son-in-law’s life, symbolizing a personal sacrifice.
Supernatural Beings: The narrative includes an “underground person” with supernatural abilities, highlighting interactions with otherworldly entities.
Moral Lessons: The tale imparts a lesson on the importance of courage and the protective role of family members.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Dane-zaa people
One time the people were having a bad quarrel and because of it one man tried to injure another through his supernatural power. “There is no one stronger than I and because of that you will go no further than that patch of white soil,” he said of the man he wished to injure. The man went hunting and came to a white patch of soil. [The Beaver seers refer to winter as the white patch and summer as the dark patch; winter may have been the original meaning here and the Indian informant has wrongly construed it.] An old man sitting there said to the man as he came near him, “Quick, go back and get your personal property.” The man started back for his property. “Hurry,” he called after him.
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The man came back to his camp and was tying up his things, when his father-in-law asked what he was going to do with his property. “A man who was sitting in front of me told me to come back to him quickly and I am doing it,” replied the son-in-law. “You did not used to be afraid of a man’s mind. Pay no attention to what he said. Sit here and I will go to him,” the father-in-law said.
He took an otterskin and started away to the place where the man was sitting. When he came to the white spot, and the man sitting there saw him, he called out, “Am I nobody that I call a man and you come instead?” “Well, let him alone anyway,” he said. He made a trade with him for the otterskin and left him.
They say the old man did that. He bought off his son-in-law who was about to be killed. That man was an underground person. They say the old man saved his son-in-law’s life by his supernatural power.
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