An old man murdered his daughter’s first two husbands by luring them to a hilltop trap that would break their backs. Her third spouse, however, proved more cunning: after a fruitful bear hunt he presented the old man with a massive fat-filled birchbark basket and agreed to ascend the hill together. In wrestling for strength, the son-in-law broke the old man’s back, and the daughter declared it just retribution.
Source:
Folk-Lore of the Cree Indians
by Fred Swindlehurst
The American Folklore Society
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.18, No.69, pp. 139-143
April-June, 1905
► Themes of the story
Revenge and Justice: The son-in-law’s victory serves as retribution for the old man’s earlier killings.
Conflict with Authority: The daughter repeatedly defies her father’s tyranny by marrying against his will.
Family Dynamics: A dysfunctional father–daughter relationship drives the cycle of violence and retribution.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Cree people
There was once an old man who had an only daughter to look after him. One day the daughter was married to a young Indian, and this so angered the old man that he put the husband to death. The daughter married again, and again the old man made away with her husband. The manner in which he killed them was by coaxing them to the top of a hill, where he had a trap placed to break their backs.
At last the daughter married a man who happened to be a little more cunning than the rest. He ran away with the daughter and went off to hunt bear. That winter he was very successful and killed many bears.
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He made a large roggan or birchbark basket in which he put the bear’s fat. The roggan was so heavy that it took four men to carry it.
In the spring the couple returned to the old man’s wigwam, and the son-in-law made him a present of the roggan. The old man was so strong that he lifted the roggan easily. The old man then coaxed the son-in-law to go to the top of the hill, intending to serve him as he had done the others, but the young man proved too strong and cunning for the old fellow, and in wrestling he broke the old man’s back. During the struggle the old man cried out to his daughter that her husband was killing him, but she had no sympathy for him, and said that it served him right.
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