A man and his wife face starvation due to a lack of caribou. When two caribou appear swimming across a lake, the man initially hesitates to hunt them. His wife’s desperate gestures prompt him to overcome his fear, successfully kill the caribou, and provide sustenance for them both. The man briefly distances himself but eventually returns to his wife.
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
Conflict with Nature: The man engages in a struggle to hunt caribou, highlighting the challenges humans face against natural forces.
Family Dynamics: The interaction between the man and his wife, especially his fear and subsequent actions, underscores complex marital relationships.
Trials and Tribulations: The couple faces the hardship of potential starvation, representing the broader theme of enduring and overcoming life’s challenges.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Dane-zaa people
A man and his wife were sitting where the caribou cross the lake. It looked as if they would starve to death. There were no caribou. Then suddenly there were two caribou swimming across. He had a canoe there into which he went and started to paddle toward the caribou. He did not paddle long and did not kill them, but turned around and started to paddle back. “What is the matter?” his wife said to herself. She was very hungry. He was paddling close to her. “What is the matter? We were about to die before; now we cannot live,” the woman was thinking. The deer were swimming over there in the middle of the lake. The man was paddling close and she spread her legs toward him. He was afraid and paddled away from her.
► Continue reading…
He really left her and killed the caribou, and they blew ashore where the woman was sitting. The woman sat there, but the man was gone; he was far away. “I think he deserted me,” she said to herself. She did not know where the people were and feared she would die. Then he came back to her.
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