Wolverene and Wolf are brothers-in-law who hunt together. Facing scarce game, they discover an inaccessible cache of dried meat. Ignoring Wolf’s warnings, Wolverene attempts to steal from the cache, falls, and suffers fatal injuries. Before dying, he vows that his kind will continue stealing from human stores, explaining why wolverenes are notorious thieves.
Source:
Kaska Tales
by James A. Teit
The American Folklore Society
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.30, No.118, pp. 427-473
October-December, 1917
► Themes of the story
Trickster: Wolverene exhibits cunning behavior by attempting to steal meat from a cache, embodying the trickster archetype.
Divine Punishment: Wolverene’s actions lead to his demise, suggesting a form of retribution for his transgressions.
Mythical Creatures: The narrative features anthropomorphic animals, with Wolverene and Wolf taking on human-like roles.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Kaska people
Wolverene and Wolf were brothers-in-law and lived together. Wolf had no wife, while Wolverene had a large family. They hunted in company, Wolf traversing the high mountains, and Wolverene following the timber-line below him. Game was very scarce. By and by the deep snow prohibited their hunting on the high grounds, and they had to hunt lower down in the woods, where game was still less abundant. One day they came on a cache of dried meat made by some people (Indians) in a bad precipitous place near a waterfall, and beyond their reach. Wolverene was very anxious to get at the cache, and thought by jumping against it he might knock it down.
► Continue reading…
Wolf would not attempt it, and declared that if Wolverene jumped, he would not reach the cache, and would simply fall down on the steep, smooth ice below, and perhaps kill himself. Wolf declared he was going home, and, just as he was leaving, Wolverene made the jump. He fell short of the cache, landed on the steep ice, and was precipitated to the bottom, breaking his arms and legs. Wolf lifted him up; but he could not get him out of there, nor set his broken limbs. Soon afterwards some people came along to get meat from the cache, and found Wolverene lying there with his arms and legs broken. They knew he had been trying to steal, so they clubbed and killed him. As he was dying, he said to the people, “No matter if you kill me, I shall steal from your caches just the same. There are many of us.” This is why the wolverene is now such a thief, and breaks into people’s caches and steals their meat. Wolf returned to camp, and reared Wolverene’s family.
Running and expanding this site requires resources: from maintaining our digital platform to sourcing and curating new content. With your help, we can grow our collection, improve accessibility, and bring these incredible narratives to an even wider audience. Your sponsorship enables us to keep the world’s stories alive and thriving. ♦ Visit our Support page
Dreamtime Whispers 