Origin of Iceberg House

A man and his wife, mourning the loss of loved ones to disease, hosted symbolic feasts to honor the dead, treating ice and bears as guests. His offerings to ice led to traditions in the Tcukane’di clan, while his fearless invitation to the bear tribe brought mutual respect and comfort. Observers, witnessing this, marveled at his connection with the spiritual and animal realms.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Loss and Renewal: The protagonist and his wife, grieving the deaths of their loved ones due to disease, seek to honor the deceased through symbolic feasts, demonstrating a cycle of mourning and the pursuit of renewal.

Sacred Spaces: By inviting ice and bears into their home and treating them as honored guests, the couple transforms their dwelling into a sacred space, bridging the human, spiritual, and animal realms.

Supernatural Beings: The interactions with the bear tribe, who respond to the man’s invitations and offer comfort, highlight the connection between humans and supernatural entities within the narrative.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

A man and his wife were living at a certain fort. At that time some disease came into the world and destroyed all of their uncles, fathers, and friends. Then the man thought within himself, “I ought to give some sort of feast to my dead friends,” and he began to gather berries.

One day some ice floated up on the beach below him. He took it piece by piece and put it into the house, treating the pieces as his guests. He poured a great deal of oil into the fire to make it blaze. Then he took dishes, put berries into them, and placed these in front of the pieces of ice to show that he was sorry for the dead people, and desired to give someone a feast. After he had given to them, the ice gave forth a kind of squeak as if the pieces were talking to him, though he could not make out what was said.

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It is from this squeak that the people now know that he invited them, and it is from this circumstance also that, when ice drifts down upon a person in a canoe, he talks to it and gives it tobacco, calling it “My son’s daughter” or “My son’s wife.” This is ahead of the Tcukane’di (i.e., the beginning of the Tcukane’di clan). Therefore they own Iceberg House. [This man can not have belonged to the Tcukane’di himself, because the ice he invited must be of the opposite clan, but his wife may have been. He perhaps belonged to the Ta’qdentan.]

Afterwards this man went out again. He said to himself, “I will invite anyone out on the sea that hears me.” After he had gotten well out in his canoe he shouted, “Everybody this way. Everybody this way,” just as though he were calling guests, and immediately crowds of the bear tribe, thinking they were the ones invited, began coming down between the mountains.

When he saw those animals coming, the man told his wife to be courageous, but for himself he said he did not care whether he lived or died, because all of his friends were dead. When the bear people began to come in, he told them to go up to the rear end of the house, saying, “It is your brother-in-law’s seat you are going to sit down in” (i.e., that was where he formerly sat). His wife was somewhat frightened, but he talked to them as if they were his own people. As he called out the names of the dead men who had held those seats they would say in turn, “Hade’ (present),” and he would pass a dish up to the speaker.

After they were through eating the chief of the bear tribe said to his friends very plainly, “Do not leave this man friendless, but go to him every one of you and show your respect.” So they told the man to lie down in front of them, and before they left they licked him, meaning that thereby they licked his sorrow away. They said, “This is because you feel lonely.” Then the bears started off.

At that time men from some other town came near, watched the big animals come out and heard the man speak to them as if they were his own friends, but they were afraid to go near.

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The unsuccessful hunters

Two hunting companions face supernatural events after injuring a sea-lion chief’s son. One drowns, while the other survives, aided by a puffin spirit. He heals the sea-lion chief’s son and is gifted safe passage home in a magical stomach. Another group’s hunting misstep angers a sea spirit, leading to judgment but eventual forgiveness. Both stories highlight the consequences of disrespecting nature and supernatural intercession.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Conflict with Nature: The hunters’ disrespectful actions toward the sea lion, a creature of the natural world, lead to dire consequences, highlighting the perils of disregarding nature’s sanctity.

Supernatural Beings: The narrative features interactions with spiritual entities, such as the sea-lion chief and the puffin spirit, emphasizing the influence of the supernatural in human affairs.

Divine Punishment: The hunters face retribution for their transgressions against the natural and spiritual order, illustrating the theme of higher powers enforcing moral conduct.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

Two persons very fond of hunting were in the habit of washing in urine, as was usual in old times when one wanted something very much. Then they went to a sea-lion rock, and one of them threw his spear at a sea lion but the point broke off the handle. The animal was the sea-lion-chief’s son. Afterwards that man drowned, but his companion reached the sea-lion rock in safety. He looked about for his friend, but could not see him, so he went up on top of the rock, lay down, and, pulling the grass over himself, fell asleep. While he was asleep and dreaming, some one came to him and said, “I come to help you.” He awoke, but there was nothing visible except nesting birds flying about the island. Then he again fell asleep, and again he heard some one come to him and say, “I come to help you. The place you have drifted upon is a house. When you hear the noise of a shaman’s beating sticks, go straight to the door of the place from which it comes.”

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Soon he heard the noise of the sticks, as the man had forewarned him, just a little below the place where he was lying. He stepped forward quietly, and lo! he came to the door of a fine, large house. Inside of this he saw those who were beating the sticks and a man lying sick “with pneumonia,” out of whom the string of the spear hung. Then he crept in quietly, hiding behind the people, and said within himself, “If it were I, I would push that spear in a little farther, twist it to one side and pull it out.” Upon this everybody said, “Make way for him. This shaman says he can take the spear out by twisting it and then pulling out.” He said to himself, “I guess I can do it,” so he let them have their way. Then he came out in the middle of the house, pulled his blanket about himself, used his hand like a rattle and ran around the fire just like a shaman. When he went to the spear and moved it a little, the sick man cried out. After that he let it alone for a while. He wished very much that they would give him in payment a large animal stomach which was hanging on a post. So the man’s father said, “Pay it to him.”

Now he tied his blanket tightly about himself and said, “Bring in some water.” Then he ran around the sick man again, and, when he came to where the spear was, he summoned all his strength, pushed it in a little, turned it round slightly and pulled it out. At once he pushed it into the water in the customary manner and blew eagle down upon it, when all of the white matter came out of the wound and the sick man got his breath. After that he hid the spear quickly from the eyes of the people.

When he went out, the man who had first come to his assistance came again. This was the puffin (xik). It said, “Take that big stomach, get inside, and go home in it. After you get inside do not think of this place again.” He did as the puffin had directed, but, when he was within a short distance of the shore, he thought of the place where he had been and immediately floated back to the island. The second time the skin carried him right ashore. Then he got out, went home to his friends and reported everything that had happened.

Another canoe also set out to hunt in much the same way. After the people had gone on for a very long time unsuccessfully, they came upon a great seal standing out of the water, and one of the hunters speared it. It was nothing but an old log drifting about which had appeared to him like a seal. That night they anchored their canoe in front of a steep cliff not far from this place and prepared to spend the night there. By and by they heard a skate flopping along on the water near by, whereupon the steersman took his spear and struck it on one side of the belly. Then the skate swam right down into the ocean.

This skate was a slave of the Gonaqade’t who lived under that same cliff, and when the Gonaqade’t heard him groaning under the housesteps where he always stayed, he said to one of his other slaves, “Get up and find what he is groaning about.” Then the skate said, “There is a canoe outside here. The people in that canoe have done something to me.”

Then the Gonaqade’t awoke all his slaves’ nephews and said, “Bring that canoe in here.”

Presently the man in the bow of the canoe awoke and looked about. Their canoe was on top of the inside partitions of a house. He took something and poked his steersman quietly to awaken him, for he saw that something was wrong.

Early in the morning the Gonaqade’t awoke and said to his nephews, “Make a big fire.” Then he exclaimed angrily, “It is of no use to bother poor slaves. Why did they want to kill that slave?”

Meanwhile the friends of these people were searching for them everywhere.

Then the chief told them to come forward, saying to them, “You will now be judged.” One could not see the part of the house near the door, it was so crowded with the nephews and friends of the Gonaqade’t (i.e., all kinds of fishes and marine animals) dressed in every style. They said to them, “To what tribe do you belong?” and the bowman replied, “We are of the Katagwa’di family.” Then the chief said, “If one is going to visit a person, he should enter his house in a polite manner and not destroy anybody. Let them wash their hands. Give them food and dress them up well. I am a Katagwa’di myself, so you are my friends.” Then they fixed them up well, dressing them and combing their hair. But at home the people were beating drums, because they thought these men were dead. Then the chief said to them, “When you build a house, name it Rock House (Ta hit). It is a good thing that we use each other’s emblems.” Afterward the Gonaqade’t people loaded their canoe, combed their hair with cottonwood boughs so that it smelt good, and let them go home. And when they first reached home they were dressed so finely that the people did not know them. The chief said to his friends, “A great living thing saved us. He gave us a thing to go by which shall be our emblem, namely, that whenever we build a house we shall call it Rock House.”

Kats

Kats, a Ka’gwantan hunter from Sitka, married a female bear who sheltered him after a hunt. Living with her, he fathered cubs and discovered bears shed their skins indoors to appear human. Returning to his people, he secretly provided for his bear family. However, breaking his wife’s warnings, he touched his child, prompting his bear family to kill him. Their offspring caused chaos before being eradicated by the Sitka people. This tale explains the taboo against eating grizzly bear meat.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Forbidden Love: Kats’s union with a bear defies natural and societal norms, highlighting the complexities and consequences of such relationships.

Transformation: The story explores physical and metaphorical changes, as bears shed their skins to become human-like indoors, and Kats transitions between human and animal worlds.

Divine Punishment: Kats’s disregard for his bear wife’s warnings leads to his demise, illustrating retribution from higher powers for transgressions.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

Kats belonged to the Ka’gwantan and lived at Sitka. One day he went hunting with dogs, and, while his dogs ran on after a male bear, this bear’s wife took him into her den, concealed him from her husband, and married him. He had several children by her. Indoors the bears take off their skin coats and are just like human beings.

By and by he wanted to go back to his people, but before he started she told him not to smile at or touch his Indian wife or take up either of his children.

After his return, he would go out for seal, sea lions, and other animals which he carried up into an inlet where his bear wife was awaiting him.

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Then the cubs would come down, pull the canoe ashore violently, take out the game and throw it from one to another up to their mother. On account of the roughness of these cubs it came to be a saying in Sitka, “If you think you are brave, be steersman for Kats.”

One day Kats pitied one of his children and took it up. The next time he went up the inlet, however, the cubs seized him and threw him from one to another up to their mother, and so killed him. Then they scattered all over the world and are said to have been killed in various places.

What is thought to have been the last of these was killed at White Stone Narrows. When some people were encamped there a girl spoke angrily about Kats’s child, and it came upon them, killing all except a few who escaped in their canoes, and this woman, whom it carried off alive, making her groan with pain. One man tried to kill it but did not cut farther than its hair. Finally all the Indians together killed it with their spears and knives. [Because a human being married among the grizzly bears, people will not eat grizzly-bear meat]

Various adventures near Cross Sound

In the neighborhood of Cross Sound lies Kude’sqayik, a place rich with tales of ancient practices and mysterious events. Stories recount a tragic accident with a tree climber, encounters with a massive devilfish, and supernatural land-otters that brought chaos to hunters. The community’s struggles with strange disappearances culminated in retaliation against murderers. A shaman’s discovery of flint symbolizes resilience amid these haunting narratives.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The narrative includes encounters with a massive devilfish and land-otters possessing supernatural qualities, reflecting interactions with otherworldly creatures.

Conflict with Nature: The characters face challenges posed by natural elements and creatures, such as the devilfish seizing their canoe and the land-otter causing disturbances, highlighting struggles against natural forces.

Moral Lessons: The community’s response to the tragic death of the tree climber and their subsequent actions convey lessons about revenge, justice, and the consequences of human actions within their cultural context.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

There is a place in the neighborhood of Cross sound called Kude’sqayik, which people used to frequent in olden times to hunt, catch halibut, and so on. People were then in the habit of traveling from camp to camp a great deal.

One time a man and his wife went out to get cedar bark off from some trees, and the man went quite a distance up into the woods from his wife with his stone ax and tree climber. This tree-climber was an apparatus composed of ropes, with a board for the climber to stand on. But, while he was high up in a tree, the board slipped from under the man’s feet, and the rope held him tight to the tree by his neck so that he died. Since he did not come back, his wife went home and reported that he was missing. Then they hunted for him everywhere, and finally a man found him hanging from the tree dead.

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The dead man was brother of a chief. So they took the board that had fallen from under his feet home, laid it across the neck of a slave and killed him to be revenged on the board. They kept the board and exhibited it at feasts. Afterward people were called for the death feast.

People continued going to the different bays hunting, and one day a canoe with two men in it anchored close by a cliff. While they were there one of them saw two huge devilfish arms moving across the bay. They ran ashore and hid under a rock, letting the arms pass over them, while the devilfish took the canoe into its hole under water.

Then the men started up the hill. On their way home they saw in a small creek what appeared to be a little halibut, but on coming closer they found that it was only a white rock which had that appearance.

After they had reached home and had reported what had happened, all the people began to chop at a log. Then they started a big fire and began to burn it. But, when it was half burned, they put out the fire by throwing hot water upon it. They were going to take it to the devilfish hole and drown it there. So they took it over to that place and let it down, but never saw it again.

Later four other men went hunting by canoe one autumn to a place called Watasa’x, where they encamped. By and by one of the party, on going to his traps, found a big land otter in one of them. He took the bough of a tree, twisted it around the land otter’s neck, and carried it home. He did not know what it was. As he dragged it home it went bouncing along behind him and at every bounce something whistled behind him. Arrived at camp he began to skin it. Then he said to his brothers, “Go and get your pot ready to cook it,” but, when they began to cut it up to put it in, something whistled. “That is just what I heard on the way,” he said.

After the pot had boiled and they had begun eating, something began to whistle in a tree near by and threw a rock down. They threw one back and soon rocks were flying back and forth. It was a great thing to fool with. By and by the men said, “You might cut our faces,” so, instead of throwing rocks, they seized long cones and threw these back and forth all night. Toward morning the being in the tree, which was a land-otter-man, began to hit people, and they on their part had become very tired. Finally they tried to get him down by lighting a fire under the tree where he was sitting. When it was burning well, all suddenly shouted, and he fell into it. Then they threw the fire over him, and he burned up. But when they started for the beach to go home, all wriggled from side to side and acted as if they were crazy; and when anyone went to that place afterward he would act in the same manner.

These men lived at a place called Person-petrified (Cakdahana’), and when they came home, it was told them, “A woman and her child have been lost from this place.” This woman had been attacked by some strange man, whom she also killed with the pole which was used to take off cedar bark. At that time many persons had disappeared, and the people were wearied out looking for them. Now, however, they were determined to find the murderers, so all got into one canoe and started along the coast. After a time the high waves compelled them to encamp, and all went up into the woods to hunt through them for a beach. Then they came to a house made of driftwood, where the murderers lived. They went to each end where the main stringer protruded, lifted it off of its supporting posts and let it fall on the occupants. Those who tried to get out between the logs they killed. Then they set the ruined house on fire and burned it with all it contained; and they broke up the canoe belonging to those people.

Close by lived a shaman related to the same people. His spirits told him that there was a mountain near by where flint could be obtained. His spirits had so much strength that he went right to that place and broke it off. In those days every time a shaman cut an animal’s tongue he had more strength, so, when his strength was all combined, it amounted to considerable.

At that time the people did not have any flint, but, after the spirit discovered it, all knew where it was to be found, and they have since brought it from there.

The finding of the blue paint, and how a certain creek received its name

Four Sitka brothers, skilled hunters, discovered blue pigment under a cliff near Mount Edgecumbe during a storm. Taking it risked their safety, as storms seemed tied to its removal. Despite challenges, they brought it home, and its value outweighed fears. Separately, near Sitka, a tragic misunderstanding led a boy to burn his sister, creating the name “Creek-where-a-person-was-burned.” These tales blend discovery and cautionary tragedy.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Origin of Things: The tale explains the discovery of a valuable blue pigment by four brothers near Mount Edgecumbe, shedding light on the origins of this material used for painting and carving.

Conflict with Nature: The brothers’ act of taking the blue paint leads to turbulent weather, suggesting a struggle against natural forces and the consequences of disturbing natural elements.

Moral Lessons: The narrative imparts cautionary lessons about miscommunication and its tragic outcomes, as seen in the misunderstanding that leads a boy to harm his sister, resulting in the naming of “Creek-where-a-person-was-burned.”

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

At Sitka lived four brothers who were very fond of hunting. In those days people liked to hunt about the straits north of Sitka for fur seals, sea otters, etc. One day, while they were out, they were forced to take refuge from a storm at a place near Mount Edgecumbe, called Town-on-the-inside-of-blue-paint-point (Nexi’ntaiataq-an), and while hunting about this place during their long stay they discovered a rocky cave or overhanging cliff from which soft blue stuff continually dropped. The youngest said, “I have discovered a valuable thing which will be used for painting and for everything carved.”

After they had been there for a long time the weather became fine and the sea smooth. Now in olden times people knew that everything was dangerous.

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When the brothers were about to start, they said, “We will take some off now to carry home.” So they knocked off a big piece, rolled it up among their clothes and hid it away. But the canoe had scarcely started before the sea began to get rough. When they were some way out they headed for an island outside of Edgecumbe which they had to pass. Then the eldest, who was steering, began to compose a song about the course he was taking: “Which way shall I steer the canoe, straight out into the ocean or straight on to the shore?” The youngest said, “There is no way of getting home. Would it not be better to throw this blue paint into the water? Then we can get ashore.” So the eldest brother put in the next verse as follows: “Which way shall we steer, straight in or not? Shall we not throw this blue paint into the water? If not how shall we be saved?” Then he exclaimed, “Bring the blue stuff here and tie it to my head, and I will be drowned with it so that things shall eat me up with it.”

They were not drowned, however, and reached shore in safety, so people still speak of their bravery in not throwing the blue paint overboard. To this day they say that, if you take anything from there, the weather will be stormy, and people are still afraid to do it, but take the risk because the thing obtained is valuable.

For a long time after the brothers reached shore with this blue paint the weather was bad and great rollers came sweeping in out of the ocean. No one could go to sea after halibut.

At that time some people were camping a short distance north of Sitka, and one day two women went from there with their children to dig clams. The came into a small inlet and made their camp. Then the women began bringing up shellfish, which they afterwards boiled to get the insides out, ran small sticks through them, and hung them up to dry for their children. One day they went down on the beach as usual, leaving their babies in camp; and the smallest began crying. Then a child somewhat larger shouted, “The baby is crying. The baby is crying.” Its mother said, “Bury one of those cockles in the fire and cook it for her,” but the little boy understood his mother to say, “Dig a hole for your little sister in the fire and put her into it.” So the little boy began to pull the fire apart and to make a hole in the middle of it. He tried to knock his little sister into this hole but she kept getting up again, so he shouted, “She keeps trying to get away from me.” After a while he became too strong for his little sister, put her in, and covered her over.

When his mother came up, she said, “Little son, where is your little sister?” “I have buried her in the fire. She is there.” So after that they named the stream Creek-where-a-person-was-burned.

The poor man who caught wonderful things

A poor fisherman, mocked for his lack of success, accidentally catches a radiant, enormous abalone. Persuaded to release it, he regrets losing such a treasure. Later, he uses his ingenuity by baiting with blood-soaked sponge, catching an abundant, valuable fish nest. Sharing his catch, he gains wealth and respect, turning his fortunes around while symbolically reclaiming the abalone’s promise of prosperity.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Transformation: The protagonist’s fortunes change dramatically from poverty to wealth through his ingenuity and perseverance.

Cunning and Deception: The fisherman uses a clever method—baiting with a blood-soaked sponge—to attract and catch the valuable fish nest, showcasing his resourcefulness.

Moral Lessons: The tale imparts lessons about resilience, the value of sharing, and how resourcefulness can lead to success, as the fisherman shares his catch and gains respect and prosperity in return.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

There was a long town from which all the people used to go out fishing for halibut and other large fish every day. In those times, before bone was used, they made hooks of two pieces of spruce from young trees, sharpened the point and hardened it in the fire. For lines they dried slender kelp stems.

A very poor man living at one end of the town fished among the others, but did not catch anything. While they were having a good time fishing he remained perfectly quiet, and they kept laughing at him.

One day, when he pulled at his line, it acted as if it were fast to something. He thought it had caught upon a rock and pulled it about in the endeavor to free it. All at once it began to come slowly up, and, although every one laughed at him, he held on.

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After he had brought it close to the canoe, he looked down and saw that it was a great live abalone caught in the flesh. Its color shone out of the water. As it ascended it was so big that all the canoes seemed to come inside of it, and it shone in every one’s face. Then some people who wanted to take this valuable thing away from him, said, “Cut the line. It is a great thing that you have caught. You better let it go.” After a while he became tired of the people’s talk, so he cut his line. Then it began to go down very slowly, shining all over.

Then others came to him and said, “You did not do the right thing. It is a very valuable thing you let go.” He said, “Has it sunk?” So nowadays, when a person has lost a valuable thing, they say to him, “Is it an abalone that has sunk?” (De’ca gu’nxa ak we wuta’q) Whenever he thought about this he cried at the riches he had let go.

Another time they went out fishing, and he was with them. He had a sponge in his hand, and taking a piece of flesh out of his nose inside so as to make it bleed, he filled the sponge with blood and let it down into the ocean. When he began to pull up his hook, it was again fast. He pulled it up slowly, for it was very heavy. It was another valuable thing, the nest of a fish called icqe’n. Then he filled his canoe with these fishes, called the other canoes to him and filled them. After that he stood up in his canoe and said, “The abalone has not been drowned from me yet. I still have it.” He distributed these fishes all over the town and began to get rich from the property he received. People gave him all kinds of skins — moose, caribou, fox, etc. He had great stores of riches from having caught the abalone and the nest of fishes.

Beaver and porcupine

A porcupine and a beaver shared a close but complicated friendship, marked by mutual aid and eventual betrayal. Their alliance protected them from predators like bears but soured when the porcupine abandoned the beaver. Later, the porcupine befriended a groundhog, leading to strange events involving a hunter who met his demise due to a groundhog’s eerie prediction. The tale explores trust, betrayal, and supernatural warnings.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Trickster: The tale comes alive with the cunning schemes of the porcupine, whose wit and trickery upset the beaver’s plans, embodying the mischievous and chaotic spirit of a classic trickster.

Moral Lessons: A timeless cautionary tale unfolds, teaching the importance of trust and the inescapable consequences of deceit, as the beaver and porcupine’s actions lead to unexpected turns.

Conflict with Authority: Beneath the surface, the story explores challenges to control or dominance, as characters wrestle for power, turning their conflict into a rich narrative of rebellion and consequence.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

A porcupine and a beaver were once very close friends. They traveled about everywhere and reported to each other all that happened. The bear is very much afraid of the porcupine, but he hates the beaver. Wherever the beaver has a dam, the bear breaks it up to lower the water, catches the beaver and eats him. But he is afraid of the porcupine’s sharp quills, so the latter sometimes stayed in the beaver’s house, which is always dry inside.

When the lake began falling, they knew it was caused by the bear, and the porcupine would go out to reconnoiter. Then he would come back and say to his friend, “Do not go out. I will go out first.” Then the bear would be afraid of the porcupine’s sharp quills and go away, after which all the beavers began repairing their dam while the porcupine acted as guard.

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By and by the porcupine said to the beaver, “I am hungry. I want to go to my own place.” Porcupine got his food from the bark and sap of trees, so he told the beaver to go up a tree with him, but the beaver could not climb. Then the porcupine told him to stay below while he went up to eat. Soon they saw the bear coming, and the beaver said, “Partner, what shall I do? The bear is getting near.” Then the porcupine slid down quickly and said, “Lay your head close to my back.” In that way he got the beaver to the top of the tree. But, after a while, the porcupine left him, and the beaver did not know how to climb down. He began to beg the porcupine in every way to let him down, but in vain. After quite a while, however, the squirrel, another friend of the beaver, came to him and helped him down, while the porcupine was off in a hole in the rocks with a number of other porcupines.

By and by the porcupine went back and saw his friend swimming in the lake. The beaver asked him down to the lake and then said, “Partner, let us go out to the middle of the lake. Just put your head on the back of my head and you will not get wet at all.” Because these two friends fell out, people now become friends, and, after they have loved each other for a while, fall out. Then the porcupine did as he was directed, the beaver told him to hold on tight, and they started. The beaver would flap his tail on the water and dive down for some distance, come to the surface, flap his tail, and go down again; and he repeated the performance until he came to an island in the center of the lake. Then he put the porcupine ashore and went flapping away from him in the same manner.

Now the little porcupine wandered around the whole island, not knowing how to get off. He climbed a tree, came down again, and climbed another, and so on. But the wolverine lived on the mainland near by, so after a while he began to sing for the wolverine (nusk) “Nu-u-sgue-e’, Nu-u-sgue-e’, Nu-u-sgue-e”. He called all the animals on the mainland, but he called the wolverine especially, because he wanted the north wind to blow so that it would freeze.

Then the wolverine called out, “What is the matter with you?” So he at last sang a song about himself, saying that he wanted to go home badly. After he had sung this the whole sea froze over, and the porcupine ran across it to his home. This is why they were going to be friends no longer.

Then the porcupine made friends with the ground hog and they stayed up between the mountains where they could see people whenever they started up hunting. One day a man started out, and when they saw him, the porcupine began singing, “Up to the land of ground hog. Up to the land of ground hog.” The man heard him. That is why people know that the porcupine sings about the ground hog.

After this the man began trapping ground hogs for food and caught a small ground hog. He took it home and skinned it. Then he took off the head and heated some stones in order to cook it. When he was just about to put it into the steaming box the head sang plainly, “Poor little head, my poor little head, how am I going to fill him?” The man was frightened, and, instead of eating, he went to his traps in the morning, took them up (lit. “threw them off”) and came home.

Next morning he reported everything to his friends, saying, “I killed a ground hog, skinned it and started to cook the head. Then it said to me, ‘Poor little head.’” After that he went out to see his bear traps. While he was endeavoring to tighten the release of one of these, the dead fall came down and struck him in the neck, making his head fly off. When he had been absent for two days they searched for him and found him in his own trap. This was what the ground hog had predicted when it said, “My poor little head.’” They took his body down to the beach, beat the drums for him, and had a feast on the ground hogs and other animals he had trapped.

The protracted winter

A group of boys disrupted nature’s balance by moving a piece of seaweed, causing winter to return prematurely, bringing hardship to their village. A blue jay later led them to a nearby town, Kilna’xe, where summer persisted and food was plentiful. This story, from near Wrangell, highlights how people in the past respected nature’s delicate harmony, recognizing small actions could have significant consequences.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Conflict with Nature: The boys’ interference with the seaweed disrupts the natural order, leading to an unexpected return of winter and subsequent hardships for their community.

Moral Lessons: The narrative underscores the importance of respecting nature and how seemingly minor actions can have significant consequences, teaching a lesson about the delicate balance between humans and the environment.

Supernatural Beings: The appearance of the blue jay, which guides the villagers to a place where summer persists, introduces a supernatural element, suggesting that animals may possess otherworldly knowledge or serve as messengers in folklore.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

One time some boys pulled a piece of drifting seaweed out of the water on one side of their canoe and put it in again on the other. It was almost summer then, but, for having done this, winter came on again and snow was piled high in front of the houses so that people began to be in want of food. One day, however, a blue jay perched on the edge of a smoke hole, with elderberries in its mouth, and cried, “Kilna’xe.” This was the name of a neighboring town. So the people took all the cedar bark they had prepared to make houses out of and went to Kilna’xe where they found that it was already summer and the berries were ripe. Only about their own town was it still winter. This happened just beyond the town of Wrangell.

I tell you this story to show how particular people used to be in olden times about things, for it was only a piece of seaweed that brought winter on.

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Root-Stump

In a town plagued by mysterious abductions, a supernatural force carried off all the men and women, leaving only two women behind. One conceived a son, Root-stump, through root-juice. Gifted with extraordinary powers, Root-stump grew rapidly, defeating the airborne abductor and a malevolent canoe-maker who preyed on others. His heroic actions restored balance, embodying the mystical cautionary tale about root-juice’s potency.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Transformation: Root-Stump’s conception from root-juice and his rapid growth highlight themes of extraordinary change and development.

Supernatural Beings: The tale features mystical entities, including the airborne abductor and the malevolent canoe-maker, emphasizing interactions with otherworldly forces.

Moral Lessons: The story serves as a cautionary tale about the potency of root-juice, warning women against swallowing its sap to prevent unintended consequences.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

There was a certain town in which many people were dying of sickness, but those who felt well used to play shinney on the beach every day.

Then something came down through the air and one of them seized it and was dragged up from the ground. Another person grasped his feet, endeavoring to pull him back, but he, too, was carried up and another and another until there were ten. All of these were taken up out of sight.

The next day the same thing came down a second time, and ten more were carried off. This happened every day until all the men in the town were gone. Next it came to a woman, and all the women were carried away in the same manner except two.

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These two women now walked along the beach calling for help. They did not know whither their friends had gone. And every day they went up into the forest after roots.

One day, after they had gone up into the woods, one of these women began swallowing root-juice, and it formed a child in her. This was born and proved to be a boy. After he had grown a little larger, his mother named him Root-stump (Xat-cugu’lki). This is what helped her. All the men who used to chop canoes away from town had also disappeared.

The child grew very rapidly and repeatedly asked his mother, “Where have all my friends gone?” She said to him, “We do not know. They kept going up into the air.” When he was a little larger he began to test himself. He would go up to a tree, seize a limb, and. try to stretch himself. Then roots would run out from him in every direction because his mother had named him to have that sort of strength. [The exact words of the story-teller]

His mother said to him, “Look out when you go down on the beach to play, because those who do so go up into the air and you will also go up. So look out.” Then he ran down to the beach and began playing. All at once the thing came down. He seized it, and immediately roots grew out from him into the ground in every direction. So he pulled down the thing that was killing his people, and it broke into small pieces.

There was another being in the woods who always chopped and made noises to entice people to him in order to kill them. He was in the habit of killing people by asking them to get into his canoe, when he knocked out a thwart so that it closed in upon them. He was the one who had killed the canoe-makers. Root-stump once found this man engaged in making a canoe, and the man asked him to jump inside. Root-stump knew what he was about, however, and jumped out too quickly. Then Root-stump was so angry that he seized the canoe-maker and beat his brains out. He broke up the canoe and piled it on top of him.

This boy grew up into a very fine man. He brought in all kinds of things for his mother. If he were hunting mountain sheep and came to a chasm or other similar place, he would cross it by sticking his roots into the ground on the other side.

This is why they say to a woman who works with roots, “Do not swallow the sap. You might have a baby from it.”

The woman who was killed by a clam

During a famine, a chief’s daughter became trapped by a bivalve while gathering clams at low tide. As the tide rose, she sang a lament until it submerged her completely. Mourning her loss, the people held a feast, offering food, blankets, and other items to the water as a tribute to her memory.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Sacrifice: The woman’s tragic death highlights the sacrifices individuals make during times of hardship, especially in the context of a famine where gathering food is perilous.

Loss and Renewal: The community’s mourning and the subsequent feast symbolize the cycle of loss and the attempts at renewal through communal rituals and offerings.

Sacred Spaces: The sea serves as a sacred space in this narrative, with the community offering tributes to the water, acknowledging its power and significance in their lives.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

There was a famine at a certain town and many people had to depend on shellfish, so the women went down to the beach at low tide every day to gather them.

One time a chief’s daughter went down and reached far under a rock to find some clams. Then a large bivalve called xit closed upon her hand, holding her prisoner.

Presently the tide began to rise, and, when it had almost reached her, she began singing a song about herself. She kept on singing until the tide passed right over her.

Then all felt sad and held a feast for her at which they put food, blankets, and other things into the water.

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