A man searches for his wife, abducted by the Cree. Upon finding her, she betrays him, leading to his capture and torture. An old man rescues and heals him. Later, the old man bets his daughter in a footrace, which the young man wins using a magical bird. The treacherous wife is returned to her original husband, while the young man gains a new, loyal partner.
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
Love and Betrayal: The man’s wife is abducted by the Cree and later betrays him by not acknowledging him and reporting his presence, leading to his capture and torture.
Revenge and Justice: The old man, whose children were killed by the same people, rescues the tortured man and later orchestrates events that lead to the man’s wife being returned to him, serving as a form of justice for her betrayal.
Trials and Tribulations: The protagonist endures significant hardships, including the abduction of his wife, a perilous journey to find her, and being captured and tortured by the Cree.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Dane-zaa people
There was a man whose tipi stood by itself. His wife was carried off by the Cree during his absence. He looked for her in vain; it seemed she was completely lost. His brother-in-law helped him look for her for a time and then gave it up. The husband started out alone thinking she had been stolen by people from a distance. He finally saw his wife as she was coming for water. “You are still alive,” he said to her. “I am in distress from a lack of moccasins.” The woman did not speak to him. She had not believed he would follow her.
He sat there waiting for her at the shore end of a sharp point of land that ran out into the lake.
► Continue reading…
The woman went up to the camp and reported that there was a stranger sitting down below. As soon as she said it the men who were sitting about the camp rushed down after him. They caught him and built a platform on which they put him with a big fire underneath to roast him alive. The man was screaming as he slowly roasted.
There was an old man living a short distance away all of whose children, except one daughter, had been killed. He heard a man screaming over at the camp and said to his daughter, “Go and see what my son is saying.” The girl went over there and sure enough the man who was screaming was just like her older brother whom they believed had been killed. She looked at him and went back to her father saying, “Father, the one who is making that noise is just like my brother.” The old man put on his war outfit and went over there. When he came where the man was being cooked he said to them, “What is this you are doing? You are cooking a man that looks like my son.” They took him down from the platform and carried him home to the old man’s camp. There the father made him well again with his supernatural power.
There were many people living there who were not like human beings. They had killed the old man’s children. The old man did not hunt and they did that for that reason, and because they were too many for him to resist.
At another time they agreed to have a footrace. The old man said to the young man who had been roasted, “My son they say they are going to have a footrace tomorrow. I am going to bet your sister who is all we have.” He was planning that the man’s wife should be killed. The old man sang, beating the tipi poles. As he was drumming on them a live bird fell out. He took this bird, fixed it properly, and placed it in his sack. They had the footrace, but the young man paid no attention to it. The father joined in the race having the eagle. Because he was old and not strong they placed him ahead. The old man ran with his legs behind the others. The young man who was over there out of sight went into the bird and ran after them. Before long he passed the others and ran ahead of them. He came back to the camp first of all and took down the meat. The woman who had been his wife was laughing at him. Another woman asked her why she was laughing. That woman had many relatives among the people from whom she had come. Then the man who had married the woman came back and was looking for the meat, but it was gone. “Who has taken it?” he asked. “The man over there took it. He came back first.” “There was no one ahead of me as far as I knew. He did that to me because I bet you. Go to the man who has won you,” the man said. He sent her to the man whose wife she had been before. When she came to the door she said, “Let us two go over there close to the camp.” The man did not say anything to her but to his father said, “I hate her mouth. Do anything you please with her.” His father killed her.
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Dreamtime Whispers 