In a village by the river, a young hunter reluctant to marry imposes an impossible test on maidens by asking them to hang his blanket on a sunbeam and see his invisible form. All fail except a hideous sorceress who becomes his wife. After violent attempts to kill her, she resurrects and gives birth to a child who later becomes the mother of the four winds.
Source:
History and Folklore of
the Cowichan Indians
by Martha Douglas Harris
The Colonist
Printing and Publishing Company
Victoria, British Columbia, 1901
(Chapter: “Folklore of the Cree Indians”)
► Themes of the story
Origin of Things: The tale explains how the four winds came into being through the girl’s forbidden act of stooping toward the rising sun.
Supernatural Beings: A hideous sorceress and the elemental spirits of the winds play central, otherworldly roles.
Magic and Enchantment: Spells, invisibility tests, and magical resurrection drive the plot’s conflicts and resolutions.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Cree people
In a village, by the river there lived a very handsome young man, who was content to live with his sister and employ his time hunting. His sister was very industrious, and put up many things for the long winters. She was very plain, and no one cared to marry her, though she was known to be so good and clever. One day she said to her brother: My brother, you must now think of getting a wife. The girls are all dying of jealousy when you go to see them. Now, please choose one and bring her home.”
“Well, sister, you ask me a hard thing to do, for I don’t like any of them; but if you say I must marry, well I have to obey you. Now, when they come to see me in the lodge, the one that is able to hang my blanket on the sunbeam and then see me— for I shall be invisible to everyone except you—I will marry.”
► Continue reading…
“Well, you have given them a hard task, but I will call the girls tomorrow.”
So he went to invite all the girls to come to see her brother, who, she said, was going to choose a wife. What excitement reigned! The next day early the pretty girls went in, one by one. “Take this blanket, sister, and hang it on this sunbeam.”
The girl tried her best, but it was impossible to do it.
“Now, sister, do you see my brother?”
The poor girl had to say no. Then all the girls were tried, but none could see him or put the blanket on the sunbeam. Now, there lived in the village a very hideous old woman, skilled in magic, and when she heard that the girls had all been refused, she was angry and went off to the young man’s lodge. When the sister saw her come in, she knew it was all up with her brother, but she said: “Good day, sister; can you put the blanket on this sunbeam?”
“Yes, indeed I can,” so she immediately hung the blanket up.
“Now, sister, do you see my brother?”
“Hey! Of course I do; there he sits, dressed in a green coat made of ducks’ necks, and a cap of the swans’ breasts.”
So the young man lamented his stupidity in refusing the pretty girls and having to marry this hateful old thing. Marry he had to, but with very bad grace. The next day he went out hunting, and she went with him to bring home the meat, and when far away he turned on her and killed her and cut her to pieces and went home. The next day he went out again, and who should he see but his wife coming towards him, singing to a child. “See our child!” she cried, and he had to go to her. It seems that during the struggle he had lost some fringe off his coat, and out of this she made a child. So he tried to kill her again; but after a long struggle she was the victor, but before he died: “Never let our daughter stoop down to the east when she goes to gather sticks for the fire.” Then he died. The old woman went back to the village with the child, and lived with the young man’s sister. She never would tell what had happened to him. She was very careful of the child, and as soon as she could run about, she told her never to stoop down to the cast, where the sun rose from. What would happen she could not tell. One day, when the girl was about sixteen, she went to gather wood, and forgot all about the caution, when she stooped down towards the sun. Then she was carried away and became the mother of the four winds. They all have names, but I have forgotten them.
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Dreamtime Whispers 