A young hunter dreams of a deer inviting him to join their world. Guided by a talking doe and her father, he enters a hidden valley where fire, water, and plentiful meat await. Promised eternal life and provision for his own father, he leaves behind his hunting gear. When his human kin attempt to snare him, the deer protect his escape, affirming his choice to live in harmony with the deer.
Source:
Ethnology of the Ungava District,
Hudson Bay Territory
by Lucien M. Turner
Smithsonian Institution
Bureau of American Ethnology
Annual Report 11, 1889-1890
Washington, 1894
► Themes of the story
Prophecy and Fate: The young man’s dream of a deer summoning him sets his destiny in motion.
Journey to the Otherworld: He follows the doe into a hidden valley beneath a hill, entering the deer’s mystical home.
Harmony with Nature: The deer offer him abundance and balance in contrast to the hardship of hunting.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Naskapi people
A young man one morning told his old father that he had dreamed the night before that a deer had asked him to come and live with them. The old father replied, “That is a good sign; you will kill many deer after that dream.”
The young man went away to hunt, and while out he saw a large herd of deer. A young doe from the band ran up toward him, and he was about to fire at her when she said to him, “Do not fire, for my father has sent me to you. Please put up your arrows.”
She came nearer and informed him that her father had sent her to ask him to come and live with the deer forever.
► Continue reading…
The young man inquired, “How could I live with you when it is upon deer that I live! I live in a tent and can not live outside. I can not live without fire. I can not live without water.” The doe replied, “We have plenty of fire, water, and meat; you will never want; you will live forever. Your father will never want, as there will be enough deer given to him.” The man consented to go with them. The doe pointed to a large hill and said, “That is our home.” She told him to leave his deerskin mantle, snowshoes, and arrows on the ground, but to keep the bow. As they were walking along they came to a big valley. She informed him that that was their path. The two went toward the steep hillside and found the ground to be covered with deer. Some of the deer were frightened when they saw the man coming, and started to run. The doe’s father said to the frightened deer, “Do you not pity the poor Indians who have to hunt for their living while we do not?” When the young man and the doe came up, the father of the doe addressed the young man, asking if he was hungry. The man replied, “Yes.” The father then gave him a piece of nice meat and some fat. After the man had finished eating the father inquired, “Is your father also hungry?” The son replied, “Yes.”
The old buck informed the young man that they would give the son’s father some deer tomorrow. After the young man had slept out one night his father, in the morning, went out to look for his son, but found only his mantle, snowshoes, and arrows, which had been cast aside the day before, and also found the tracks in the valley leading to the home of the deer under the hill. The old man returned to his tent and told the other Indians that his son had gone away to live with the deer. The old man then said, “Let us make snares and we will yet take him, as he can not run as fast as the deer.” The Indians prepared a number of snare nooses and went to the valley to set them among the bushes on the path. The father of the young doe saw what was going on in the valley and told the rest, “Let us go and give the old man some deer.” He told the young man to come with them. The man replied that he could not accompany them, as he would be left behind in no time while they were running. The old buck instructed the young man to keep among the rest of the deer and he would not be left behind them. All the deer then went out to the valley. The young man kept among them; and as they were going through the bushes he heard the shouts of the Indians who were concealed behind them. The deer saw the snares and some of the animals fell into the nooses and were caught. The remainder, with the young man, were soon beyond the snares. The Indians began to kill the deer which had been taken in the nooses, and when they had finished they found they had not captured the young man. They consulted together and decided to search among the tracks of the escaped deer to ascertain whether his foot-prints were among them. They found his track and also the mark of his bow as he had dragged it along in the snow.
The young man’s father then said, “Let him go if he thinks he is able to live with the deer;” and the people returned to their tents.
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Dreamtime Whispers 