A young paddler repeatedly hears a mysterious woman’s song on the shore, only to catch illusions that transform into a birch, a rabbit, and geese. Frustrated, he next discovers a group of spirit-people playing ball who vanish as birds. At a pond, he confronts a shaman who dives in as an otter and, with all others morphing into aquatic creatures, the hero soars off as a hawk.
Source:
Athapascan Traditions
from the Lower Yukon
by J.W. Chapman
The American Folklore Society
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.16, No.62, pp. 180-185
July-September, 1903
► Themes of the story
Transformation: The repeated physical changes of the women into a birch, a rabbit, geese, and finally the shaman into an otter, and the hero into a hawk, underscore the theme of transformation.
Quest: The young man’s persistent journey from one shore to another in search of a true woman drives the narrative as a quest.
Supernatural Beings: All the figures he encounters are non-human spirits who interact directly with the mortal hero.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Athabaskan people
A young man was once paddling along and it seemed as though he were listening for something. He turned his head this way and that, and listened. “Surely, some one is singing; I believe it is a woman singing.” “Y-xa-n-na,” she said, as the story goes. He quickly went ashore.
A beautiful woman, with long hair, stood upon the beach. She was washing her hair in the swift water and singing. Going up unperceived, he caught her by the waist. “I’m not human, I’m not human,” she shrieked. The man shut his eyes as she struggled, and opened them only to find that he was holding a Birch which had fallen toward the water with its branches in the current.
► Continue reading…
In a passion he paddled off in his canoe. Again he paddles as though listening, and turns his head this way and that. “Surely,” he thinks, “there is some one singing again. It sounds like a woman. The same thing over again. Good enough,” he thinks. “I wonder whether it is a sure-enough woman this time, that’s making this noise.” Peeking under the bushes, again he saw some one who was singing. “A-ha-yu-ha-ha,” she said, so they say. He went ashore. Such a beautiful woman, girded with a deer-tooth belt, stripping off willow bark. He caught her by the waist. “I’m not human, I’m not human,” she screamed. He gave her a push. “You act as if you were human, making so much noise with your songs,” said he, while she bounded away in the shape of a rabbit. Angrily he went off. Again he listened, and heard a sound of people shouting at play. Going toward them and getting out of his canoe, he went under the bushes. What a crowd of people playing ball upon the beach! What fine men and women both! He crouched down in the grass and looked out. Thinks he, “If they throw a woman upon me I will catch her.” They pushed one upon him, and he quickly jumped up and caught her. “I’m not human, I’m not human,” said the woman, struggling to get away. He pushed her away. It was only a Brant that ran off, screaming. The players, too, turned into geese, and off they flew. Angrily the man went off again in his canoe, and again he listened. He heard a chattering of men’s voices, and went ashore. Keeping back from the open, he went toward the speakers, under the bushes. There was a pond, where there were many men in the water, one of whom was shamaning. The shaman was a huge old fellow, in a parka made of otter skin. He was saying: “It seems that this is the place where you will perish.” But they replied, “We choose to live here in spite of what you tell us.”
The young man leaped out, and leaving the shelter of the grass he rushed to the side of the shaman. The shaman became an otter and dived into the pond and swam away, and all the rest took to the water in the form of animals: mink, muskrat, divers, and loons, and swam to the bottom, where they remained, while the hero of the story became a hawk and flew away.
The one who tells the story concludes with “Utduhondluon.” One of his hearers answers, “Yuk!”
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Dreamtime Whispers 