A man embarks on a journey to rescue his two sisters, who have been taken by a distant tribe. Despite their warnings about their powerful husband, he insists on bringing them home. They face supernatural obstacles, including impassable cliffs and lakes, which vanish after they sleep. Upon returning, they discover that many years have passed, though it felt brief to the brother.
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
Quest: The protagonist embarks on a journey to retrieve his sisters.
Time and Timelessness: The discrepancy between the perceived short journey and the significant passage of time upon their return.
Family Dynamics: The central focus on the brother’s determination to rescue his sisters.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Dane-zaa people
A man who had just come home was scolded by his wife and went out again. The wife thought that he had gone out without any particular intention, but asked her son to look for his father. The boy wondered what was the matter and replied that his father was still standing there.
The man had run off. The woman looked after him and then set out to follow him. He had just come back from killing a caribou and he took along the head, dragging it behind him. His wife followed the mark left by the dragged head and by the bones which lay along the way. After a time she turned back, but the man kept on.
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Finally, he came to the trail of some strange people and followed it until he overtook them. He thought they were people but they were really partridges. They gave him some of their food. He went on again and found another trail which he followed. They were porcupines this time. They gave him some of their food, pitch, which seemed to him to be meat.
This man’s two sisters had been taken by a people who lived at a great distance and he was going to get them back. After a time he saw their trail and followed it until he overtook them. He found they were both married to the same man. When he told his sisters that he had come for them, they told him their husband was such a powerful man it was no use, he could do nothing to help them. The young man declared that having come so far for them he would not go back without them.
His brother-in-law had killed a moose and told his wives to bring the meat before it spoiled. “This is our chance,” the young man said, “now we will start back.” They traveled toward their homes day and night without stopping to sleep. Finally sleep was overpowering them and they lay down. When they got up in the morning their way was barred by a sheer cliff no man could climb. The girls began to cry but their brother said they would lie down and sleep again. When they got up the next time the cliff had disappeared.
They went on again toward their homes until sleep again forced them to he down. When they awoke, a lake which they could not cross lay in front of them. The brother told them to lie down again. When they got up the next time a narrow neck of land ran across the lake on which they were able to pass to the other side.
When they came back to their home they found their father so old he could not get up. The man’s wife had been in the prime of life when he left and now her hair was white. The man who had made the journey was a young man when he set out. It had been a long time since he left but it did not seem so to him. He thought it was only a short time before. That was a powerful man who by supernatural power made a long journey, although it did not seem long to him.
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Dreamtime Whispers 