Wolverene and her brothers

In a secluded mountain village, five brothers lived with their sister, Tuitdjyak. As she matured, they warned her to remain indoors during their hunting trips. Curiosity led her outside, where she heard distant singing calling her name. Terrified, she donned a wolverine-skin parka and teeth, transforming into a wolverine. When five wolves approached, she fled, climbing a spruce tree to escape as they circled below.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Forbidden Knowledge: Her curiosity leads her to defy her brothers’ instructions, resulting in unforeseen consequences.

Family Dynamics: The relationship between the protagonist and her brothers highlights themes of obedience, protection, and familial roles.

Conflict with Nature: The protagonist’s transformation and subsequent interactions with the wolves reflect a struggle between human and animalistic instincts.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

Told by Simon’s mother. The narrator says that this is a coast legend, and that she had it from her grandmother, who was a woman of Piamute.

There was once a little village in the mountains where there lived a single family of children, — five boys and their little sister. They did nothing but hunt deer. Fish they knew nothing about, for they were Wolf men. Outside the house, on poles stretched across the racks, how many deer-skins were to be seen, so many deer did they get! Neither did they eat anything but deer-meat. Meanwhile their younger sister was growing up, and in time she became a large girl, and finally she came to maturity. Then her brothers said to her, “Now, while we are off hunting, do not go out of the house. Only when we are in the house do you go out walking, and get the water also,” said they. “Now, Tuitdjyak, while we are away, don’t go out,” said they; for it was the time of her seclusion.

By and by winter drew near. All winter long they spoke to her in the same way, and she began to think it over. “Why do my brothers tell me this?” she thought.

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“I wonder what will happen to me if I go out, that they say this to me!” thought she. “Every day they tell me this,” thought she. At last she thought, “I will go out.” Her brothers went out on another trip. As she sat sewing, she put down her work and went out. She went out to the door, and stood there. “So,” thought she, “I have come out, and here I am, all right.” She went in and sat a while. Then she went back again outside, and listened. And then far away she heard the sound of singing. At that she went down into the house, and thought, “I wonder if this is why my brothers warned me!” and her heart beat fiercely for terror. She went out again and listened. Sure enough, there was singing. There! She heard her own name. “Tuidjyak, go in!” she heard. At that she climbed up into the cache. Bundles of wolverene-skins — many bundles she caught up, and looked through them, and took the good ones with long fur, and with the white parts very clear. She took them into the house, and wet them with warm water, stretched them, and went out again. When she had gone out, she looked up her brothers’ trail and saw five wolves. Sitting there, they sang, “A-yeq-ya, ya-yaq-ya, ho. Teen, Tuitdjyak, it-ka, ho.” She ran in, afraid. She put on the wolverene-skin like a parka, and pulled it around herself; and at the throat it was too short. Then she searched through her work-bag, and got a striped piece, and sewed it on; and again she pulled it around herself, and found that it was large enough. Again she searched in her work-bag, and found some beautiful wolverene’s teeth, and put them in her mouth. She took off the wolverene parka and the teeth and ran out. There they were, coming, close by. They saw her and sat down, and sang their song again. She ran in and put on the wolverene parka again, and put the teeth in her mouth. Then she rushed around the room in the shape of a wolverene. Up to the top of the house they went, and ripped it up with their teeth. Meanwhile the woman was running around as a wolverene. The wolverene made a dash among them, and ran along their trail. They looked, then they too went after her there. While she goes bounding along, over here, close after her they follow. Beside the path stood a great spruce. She caught it and scrambled up. They ran around underneath her, but they could only look up. Then she pushed back her little hood. “My brothers,” said she, “whenever you kill a deer, won’t you please leave the entrails for me?” Then they went off and left her; and the woman came down, and she too went away.

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Wolverene

A hunter’s wife urges him to stay home, fearing visitors, but he dismisses her concerns and leaves. While alone, she encounters a mysterious man who offers her beads and asks her to accompany him, but she declines. Upon her husband’s return, he discovers the beads, becomes angry, and destroys them. The woman later meets the stranger again, who restores the beads and takes her to the moon. The distraught husband searches for her, finds no tracks, mourns, and transforms into a wolverine.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Love and Betrayal: The wife’s interaction with the stranger and her subsequent departure can be seen as a form of betrayal, leading to the husband’s sorrow.

Divine Intervention: The visitor’s influence over the wife and his otherworldly nature suggest intervention by a higher power.

Loss and Renewal: The husband experiences the loss of his wife and undergoes a personal transformation, symbolizing a form of renewal.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

A married couple lived by themselves, and they had a cache and a house. The husband hunted, both with marten-traps and with arrows. “Well,” said he one day, “I must go to my marten-traps;” but the woman was unwilling (to let him go). “No,” said she, “why should you? Come,” said she, “stay here today! Perhaps there will be strangers along.” But the man said, “Who can there be to come? There is nobody around. Mine are the only tracks there are.” And he went off, dressed for the trail. Meanwhile his wife began to cry while she sat sewing in the house. At noon, outside the house, she heard some One brushing the snow off his boots, and another than her husband came in at the door. Then the woman drew her hair over her face, and put some meat and fat into a bowl and gave it to him.

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“Won’t you have something to eat?” said she. “Why, no,” said he, “I’m not hungry. It’s you that I came for. Come with me!” But she refused. Then he gave her some beautiful beads, and put them upon her neck, and went away. Then she made a fire and cooked (supper), expecting her husband, thinking that he would be hungry. By and by he came back, and they ate (supper); and he put on the curtain, and they went to bed. She undressed; and her husband saw the great (string) of beads, and scolded her angrily. “Who gave them to you,” said he, “when there is nobody here?” and he smashed the beads with a big maul, and put them on a snow-shovel, and threw them out at the smoke-hole, and lay down. Then the woman began to cry. “Come,” said her husband, “do your crying outside. There’s no sleep (to be had here).” So she went out and began to cry outside. Then it was dark with the woman, and she looked for the moon. There he was, in it. That man was in the moon. He (looked at her and) laughed, there, in the moon. Then he went toward her. He came to her side. “What say you?” said he. “Oh,” said she, “he smashed the beads.” Then the man went up on the house and took the beads again, and they were whole; and he put them upon the woman’s neck again. Then he took her, and went with her to the moon. Meanwhile her husband roused up, and went outside. His wife was gone. All around the place he went (looking for her); but there were no strange tracks, only his own. Then he began to cry, and burned his parka, hair, and back, and went off as a wolverene.

A young man in search of a wife

A young man paddles along a river, encountering various female figures who claim not to be human. Each time he approaches, they transform into natural elements or animals—a birch tree, a rabbit, and a goose. Frustrated, he finally meets a shaman who, along with his companions, transforms into aquatic creatures, prompting the young man to become a hawk and fly away.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Illusion vs. Reality: Each encounter challenges the young man’s perception, as what seems to be human women are illusions masking their true forms.

Quest: The narrative follows the young man’s journey and efforts to find a wife, leading him through various encounters and challenges.

Cunning and Deception: The beings deceive the young man by presenting themselves as potential partners, only to reveal their true, non-human nature upon closer interaction.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

A young man is paddling along. As if expecting to hear something, he turns his head and listens. Hark! Some one is singing. It is a woman singing. “Ya-xa-nna,” she says, they say. Thereupon he disembarks. A woman stands on the beach. She has long hair, which she is washing in the current, and she is singing. He goes quietly up to her and catches her by the waist. “I’m not human, I’m not human!” says the woman. The man shuts his eyes tight (as she struggles). There is nothing but a birch lying in the water, the current flowing among its branches. The man is holding the birch. Angrily he got into his canoe and paddled off. Again he paddled along, and turned his head as though he expected to hear something, and listened.

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Hark! There is singing again, like another woman. “Another, the same as (the one who sang) just now!” he thinks. “Good enough!” he thinks. “Is it a woman, for sure, that is making this noise?” he thinks. Again he sees some one singing under the bushes. “A-ha-yu-ha-ha,” she says, they say. He gets out of the canoe. What a beautiful woman (he sees), girded with a deer-tooth belt, gathering willow-bark! He grasps her waist. “I’m not human, I’m not human!” she says.

He let her go. “Seems to me you are human, you make so much noise with your songs,” (said he.) She bounded away in the shape of a rabbit. Angrily he went off in his canoe. Again he listens. There is shouting. In the direction from which it comes he disembarks. Under the bushes he goes. What a crowd of people are here! They are playing ball upon the beach. What fine-looking people, men and women together! He keeps (out of sight) in the grass, (and) looks at them. “If they throw (push?) a woman upon me,” thinks he, “I will catch her.” At length they push one upon him. In a twinkling he catches her. He jumps up. “I’m not human, Tm not human!” says the woman, (as) she struggles. He lets her go. A Canada goose, she runs screaming away. The players became geese (and) flew away. Angrily the man got into his canoe. He went on, and again he listened. He hears a sound of men’s voices (and) disembarks. Back toward those who were speaking he went, under the bushes. There is a pond. Here are many men in the water, (and) some one is conjuring, a big man, a huge old man, a shaman, in an otter-skin parka. “Right here,” says he, it seems that you are now to perish.” “Nevertheless,” said they, “notwithstanding what you have told us, let us settle here.” Out of the grass bounds that young man. Down to the side of the shaman he bounds. The shaman became an otter. He dove and swam around; and all the men dove in the form of animals, mink and muskrats and divers and loons, and staid down at the bottom, while the young man became a hawk and flew off.

Story of a young man who was purified from sin

The narrative follows two young chiefs in a large village, focusing on their hunting practices and daily routines. One chief habitually rises early to hunt deer, while the other sleeps in. The early riser discovers a mysterious house on the tundra, leading to events that explore themes of purification and transformation.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Transformation: The narrative centers on the young man’s purification from sin, indicating a profound personal change.

Quest: The young man’s journey to the mysterious house on the tundra represents a pursuit of understanding or redemption.

Sacred Spaces: The fine house with the bellying curtain on the tundra serves as a spiritually significant location where the young man’s transformation occurs.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

Told by Blind Andrew. This story is from the Kuskokwim River. Such stories, according to the narrator, are told in camp, and bring success in hunting.

There was once, they say, a large village where there lived two young chiefs. There they lived, they say, in a large village. Always, they say, they hunted game. And, they say, these two young men had not yet taken wives. So there, they say, they lived. And they say one of the two used always to go to sleep first. Afterward the other one would go to bed. Thus, they say, they always did. And they say that when it began to grow light up at the curtain, he who was the last to go to sleep, taking his arrows, would go back upon the mountains and shoot deer. He skinned them also. (After one of these excursions) he came into the kashime. His partner, they say, was not there. He waited some little time, and the other came in where he was. And they say, said he, the last one who had come in, — and they say, said he, “Well!” he said, they say. “Cousin!” he said, they say, “so then you have come back, have you?” he said, they say. “Yes,” he said, “I am back here. Come, let us make the fire!” said he.

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So they split some wood and took off the curtain and made the fire. Afterward they covered up (the smoke-hole). Then the bowls were brought in also. After they had finished with the bowls, they remained seated. At the back of the room, in the middle, where they were accustomed to sit, they remained, while the men of the village went out to their own houses. So of all the young men, only they two did not go out, but always remained in that place. Then the one who used to go to sleep first, that one went to sleep again; and the one who yesterday was the last to go to sleep again sat up. That one who was the last to go to bed shines at night, they say. Yes, they say, he always does so, because he tries to govern his temper; while the other one does not shine. So then his partner went to sleep; and a long time afterward he too went to sleep, but only for a little while. And he watched for it to grow light up (at the smoke-hole), and by the time that it was growing light he was dressing. And then again he returned to that mountain and ascended it again. It is the same mountain whither he always went since the time when he was a boy.

So he looked around. Lo! they say, where he had been accustomed to get deer, there were none to be seen. Meanwhile it grew light. He looked in both directions. To the southward there was a great tundra. On the other side, mountains were to be seen. The sun was about to rise; and out on the great tundra, a little to one side of the middle, lo! suddenly he saw a fine house, with the curtain bellying out. Was he not looking just now, and there was nothing there!

The young man thought, they say, “I believe I will go to it.” Then he put down his arrows, and his pack also, and went out to the place. So he came there. What a fine house it was! He went and stood in the doorway, and looked around outside. He looked, but there was no cache to be seen. He looked for tracks also, but there were no footprints. He turned it over in his mind. “I wonder,” thought he, “whether there are any people where I am going!” So he went in. Down into the entrance he went, and pushed aside the curtain. Lo! they say, a sudden burst of light. So he went in. There was a very small room. He crossed it. On the other side he turned and looked around. On the opposite side, toward the front of the house, on the platform, sat a beautiful woman, sewing. Without looking up, she pushed her sewing (into the corner) toward the front of the house, and said, “It is because of my intention that you came here. Though I have been looking all over the world,” she said, “I could see no one but you. You only could I see upon this world,” she said. “Because you were pleasing to me have I showed you my house,” said she. Then the woman went out, and was gone for some time. Finally she came in. What a fine, clean bowl of food it was that she brought in, steaming, from the pot! So he began to eat; and when he had finished, he gave her back the bowl. After she had been gone a while, she came in again, bringing great back-strips of deer-skins. She took them directly over to him, and said, “These are for you to lie upon.” He took them from her and put them on the platform. She also gave him a martenskin blanket for his bed. So he lay down, and they went to sleep. The next day also they woke up. So, for two days and two nights he remained in the house, and meanwhile he did not even see the outside. Then, as they arose, she went out. She came in, bringing meat, which she gave to him, and he ate. Then he concluded that he would stay another day also. Then, as it grew dark again, the man said, “Am I still to stay here in this house?” “Yes,” said she. Then said the man, “What a long time it is that you bid me stay in the house!” “Yes,” said she, “what is wanting that you can go and get, that you should say that? Why, already you have become part of my life,” said she. So she gave him to eat, and they finished eating and went to bed. Then the young man lay awake, while on the other side of the room the woman was beginning to go to sleep. And the young man thought, “Can it be that I am destined always to live here in this way? Why,” he thought, “did she show her house to me? I believe,” he thought, “that I will go (over) to her.”

So he arose and left his place, and went out in front of her. Suddenly, they say, he lost consciousness. While he was going out there in front of her, this befell him. He could not tell where he was. Presently, they say, he seemed to himself to wake up; and he sat down again there, in his own place. “What am I doing here?” he thought. “What is this that she is doing to me? I supposed that I was going across to her, but I was asleep.” Meanwhile, on the other side of the room the woman was snoring. Again he thought, “I wonder whether it is I that am doing this, (or whether some one else compels me!) I believe I will go over again.” So he left his place again, and went over to where her head was. Again he seemed to go to sleep. Here he is as if asleep, they say. Then again he seemed to wake; and there at his place he lay, as he became conscious. “Why,” thought he, “I supposed I crossed the room to her head. Sakes alive! what ails me?” Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, the woman was sleeping. “I don’t know what to do here,” he thought. “I believe I’ll try again.” So here he goes to get to the platform beside her head. Thereupon the back end of the room suddenly opened at the middle. At that a great fright seized him. Then from some source of light there was a great illumination. Beside that, from the direction where he turned himself some one laughed. From within, where it is all clean, a woman is laughing at him. Before he could recover himself, the woman said, “Why, what are you about? That is my mother.” Then the man became ashamed. “Come!” she said, and he went to her. Then said the woman, “It is because you pleased my mother that she showed you our house.” She then led him inside and took off his parka and the rest of his clothes, so that he was naked. Then she placed warm water by him, and shaved deer-fat into it. Then she bathed him, and furnished him with clothes. She dressed him in fine clothes. After she had dressed him, she said, “Come, sit down! Come,” she said, “let me have your hand!” From where he sat he held out his hand to her. She took it and put it into her mouth, and sucked it until her mouth was full. When her mouth was full, she emptied it into the water in which he had washed himself. Twice she did the same thing. Then she put his feet also into her mouth. At length it was full, and she emptied it into the water in which he had washed himself. Twice she did the same thing. Then she said, “Come, look at this!” So he looked, and saw that the water in the vessel was as black as coal. Then said the woman, “This is the evil that you have done since the time that you began to grow up. Come, see here your sin!” she said. Then the man spoke, and said, “Yes,” he said, “that is it. It is a great benefit that you have done me; for that I am deeply thankful to you.” And the man threw everything that he had been wearing into the water that he had bathed in.

Then she started to take the water out. “Empty it far away,” said he. Then she took it a long way off and emptied it, and threw away the bowl with it. Then she came in and gave him food, and he ate. After that he made her his wife. So he remained there, living with her.

One day she said to him, “Let me show you this house of mine!” And when he saw it, what a fine house it was! Their house was full of every kind of skin that there is upon this earth below. That was a rich woman indeed. The man said to her, “How did you ever come by this?” The woman said, “I shall not even yet tell you all about it. In time you will find out.” So he continued to live with her there. Neither, while he lived with her, did he go out of doors, or know how his food was cooked. Always the mother, when she goes out, sits close by the house, and brings in what is cooked. Thus they always do. At length the man’s wife gave birth to a baby, a boy, and they brought him up. In time he began to walk. One day the man said, “Am I always to live here in this fashion?” The woman said, “What are you thinking of? What can you do, that you should say that?” “What a long time it is that I am keeping to the house!” said he. The woman answered, “Tell me what is wanting, that you can get by working for it.” That was what she said to him. So then they continued to live there. It came to be a long time after she had said this to him, when she said, “Come, and I will show you from whence I have such an abundance. Come!” she said, and he went to her. He went to her, and they went to the back of the room, at the middle. Then she caused the ground to open, and said, “Come, look down!” So he stooped and looked down. How many were the animals that he saw as he stooped and looked down! How many of the animals of the earth! “Say, then, do you see it well?” she said. “Yes,” said he; and she closed it up, and they returned to their places. Then the man thought, “It must be these people’s doings, that there were no deer where I used to go to hunt.”

He thought this; and his wife said to her husband, Why do you think evil within yourself? Ever since the time that you came here,” she said, “ever since that time I have been able to see plainly what was going on in your mind.” And she said to him, “It is because you were pleasing to us, that we revealed our house to you.” Then the man said to her in answer, “I am thinking about my parents. I wonder somewhat whether they are still living.” “No wonder,” said his wife. “It is now four seasons since you came here.” “What!” said he. “What now? I supposed that I had been here only four days.” — “Because you did not know how the year passed outside,” said she. “This is now almost the end of the fifth year. It is now nearly winter, as it was when you came to us.” — “Is that so?” said he. “How could I tell how the time passed, since I never went outside?” “Do you wish, then, to take a look outside?” said she. “Come, go out!” Then he went out and looked, and, sure enough, the autumn was past. So he went into the house. “I want to go and see how it is with my parents,” said he. “Yes,” said she, “early tomorrow morning you must go and get material for a sled.” So early the next morning he went to get wood to make a sled. He got the wood in a short time, and returned with it to the village, and immediately set at work whittling. That wood that he had brought he whittled out hastily. On the second day he had finished it. The day after he began, his wife said to him, “I should like to go with you.” “Just as you please,” said he. So he loaded up the sled and packed it full. Then said the mother of the woman to the man, “Perhaps, now, she would not care for the society of mankind.” “Perhaps not,” said the man. “It would be well,” she said to them, “that you should spend only four days.” “Yes,” said he. Then she spoke thus to the man. “When you get down to the village, that fellow who used to be your partner — beware of him! When your wife warns you that there is danger, if she tells you that a certain thing is wrong, — if you should do that concerning which she gives you warning, you would be doing wrong,” said she. “Now, I doubt whether your wife will care for the society of mankind,” said she, “for she is not of humankind. Now,” said she, “when you two leave here, when you are not far from this house, be sure to look for this house.” So they left, and they put that little child of theirs into the sled. So they left. The husband pulled the sled, and his wife pushed. So they left; and they looked for the house, but it was gone. They made camp on the way down; and on the next day they went on, and the village appeared in sight. The young men of the village shouted, saying, “The one who was lost is bringing some one with him!” So then they arrived at the village, and went up. They went to the house of the man’s mother. “My child,” they said, and caressed him. His wife also they caressed. The people who lived there were ready to do anything for love of them. The mother made ice-cream and gave it to them. Meanwhile the woman had said to her husband, “I do not feel at home in the society of men.” Bedtime came; and the man said, “Lie down here in my mother’s house, for my cousin has asked me to sleep with him in the kashime.” But his wife was unwilling to let him go. Her husband, however, said that he wished to go to the kashime, and at length she told him to do as he pleased. So he took his bedding and went into the kashime. He lay down by his cousin, head to head, in the middle of the room. Then they fell to talking all night long, telling each other what had taken place. At length the one who lived there said, “Come, go in to my wife yonder, and I also will go in to your wife!” but that one of a good disposition said, “That one with whom I live is not a human being.” His partner, however, kept on urging him. Still he said, “I am not willing.” Still he urged him and at last he said, “Just as you please,” So then the one who lived at the village went to the wife of the one who had come. So then he went in to his (partner’s) wife, also. Then the one who went in to the wife of the one who had come, crept into the entrance and down inside the house. There at the back of the room the woman was sleeping. He approached her, and went to the side of the platform. Then he pushed her, and the woman was greatly frightened. As he pushed her again, she vanished. Then he went out and entered his own house. The one who had come to the village also entered the house, and he told him what had happened. Thereupon he put on his parka and went out. He went over to his mother’s house and entered, looking for his wife; but she was not there. Then he left the house and ran (after her); and as it grew light, [whither he goes,] behold, his wife had gone back. There were her tracks. Behold, where she went along back, she had thrown the mucus from her nose! Plainly, she had been crying as she went back there. Then her husband, too, became sad; and he too returned to that dwelling. He would have gone in; and as he was going in, he came back into the entrance. And, they say, there his feet stuck. How in the world was he to get free? As he stood there, he began to cry. “Ah! therefore it was that I warned you,” said the woman’s mother, speaking to him. “Come, stop that and let me in!” said he. “No,” said she, and he began to cry again. He cried, they say, until the night was past, and the next day also. At last, they say, his foot was freed. Down into the entrance he went also, and again his foot stuck fast. “Do let me in!” he said; but she said, “I will not let you in. Only on condition that you never again see (the village) down (there) will I let you in,” said she. “You shall never see your father and your mother again. Only on this condition will I let you in. Ah! you did very badly by me,” she said. “My child is very greatly downcast on your account. I pity you,” she said, “therefore I will let you in.” Then she let him in, and he went back to where his wife was. She, too, how the tears stream down her face!” What is it that you have come back here for?” said she. “What about that woman that you went in to? Do you intend to live with her?” “Was it of my own accord that I did it,” said he, “that you should say that?”

So, then, there he lived with them; and he went nowhere else, but began to stay there for good, and the mother concealed the house. And year in and year out the man never went to his mother’s to see his relatives. So, then, the story is finished.

Tdjo’xwullik; or, the injured wife’s revenge

In a small village by the sea, a skilled hunter frequently embarked on extended hunting trips, returning with diminishing game. His wife grew suspicious of his prolonged absences and declining success. After falling ill one winter, the hunter confessed on his deathbed, leading to revelations that prompted his wife to seek vengeance for his betrayals. This tale explores themes of trust, deception, and retribution.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Revenge and Justice: The title indicates that the wife seeks revenge, aiming to restore a sense of justice for her husband’s actions.

Family Dynamics: The story delves into the relationship between the husband and wife, highlighting marital strife and the impact on their family.

Prophecy and Fate: The husband’s anticipation of his death and his specific burial instructions may hint at a belief in destiny or predetermined outcomes.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

Told by Simon’s mother. This story is well known on the Yukon. Mr. Nelson has it among his Eskimo legends. It was told to me by Simon’s mother, who had it from her grandmother, who was a native of Piamute, the most northerly of the Eskimo villages on the Yukon.

There was once a little village, they say, where there lived a man and his wife. The man was a great hunter. Two small boys were all the children they had. They lived at the mouth of a river, where it emptied upon the sea. So, then, the husband was a great hunter. In the spring, after the ice had gone out, he would go up the river in his kayak after game. Then he would place logs side by side, and pile his quarry upon it. This was his regular custom. After the fishing-season, also, he used to go there, with the same result; and outside his house, upon racks, he had piles of deer-skins and beaver-skins so many did he kill. Now, the boys grew, as their father followed his customary way of life. They became quite large boys, those two. Their father hunted in the sea also, — seals and white whales and sea-lions.

One spring he followed his customary plan. Again, after the ice had gone out, he went up the river in his kayak. He was gone a long, long time. Meanwhile his wife became anxious about him. “Where can he be?” thought she.

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The time of his absence lengthened out. The little boys kept looking for their father day by day. Their mother, also, did not sleep, but sat up night after night, when finally they saw him coming. Then he came ashore. His wife was disposed to be angry. “What a long time you have been gone!” said she. “The grass has grown, and the leaves have come out, and the mosquitoes have come, while you have been away. How many deer you used to get!” said she. “What a long time you have been gone! Is that one kayakful all that you have killed?” “I couldn’t hit anything,” said he. “I saw game enough, but I missed them.” “And you used to pile up the deer-skins and the beaver-skins on the racks, too,” said she. “I don’t know what made me shoot so badly,” said he.

At length the fish began to run. The salmon-run came, and he worked at his fishing; but while they were still running, he began to talk about going up the river. “I believe I will go,” said he. “No,” said she, “it’s too soon. What a hurry you are in!” said she. “Wait, and go after those leaves have turned,” said she. “Remember how little game you killed last spring. You might not be back for a long time,” said she. At last, although his wife urged him to remain, he went away. “Now, hurry up and get back!” said she, “for we are thinking of you.”

He went, and again he was missing. By and by the ice formed at the edge of the water, and he came in sight. “Only one kayakful again! What a long time you have been gone!” said she. “You used to get game.” Then the man said, “Because, when there was plenty of game near by, up the river, I could get them; but now that they are far away, I kill but few.” Then said his wife, “Why is it that you get so few? There’s only one kayakful.”

So then the frosty weather came. When the days grew short, he fell sick. All winter long he continued to be sick; yet his appetite kept up, sick as he was. It came midwinter, and he grew worse. One day he said to his wife, “Listen! for I am going to die. Then, when I am gone, you must put many fine marten-skins beside me in the kayak, many of them,” said he; “and beaver too, fine ones, and wolf and wolverene, and good deer-fat, and my arrows and bow, and tie a deer-skin over the opening of the kayak, and put poles underneath it (i.e., place it on a scaffold). And now, be good to the boys! Make them fine parkas, and do not be harsh with them! Treat them well!” said he. So he died. His wife put him into the kayak, among fine skins, and tied on a cover, just as he had told her to do. Then they made a fire, and sat by it day by day, weeping. His wife also cut off her hair and burned it, for grief at the loss of her husband.

By and by spring approached. The wife and the boys still kept on mourning. At length pools of water stood on the surface of the rivers. Flocks of geese came, and the smaller birds with them. One morning, while the boys were still asleep, the woman went out early, before sunrise, to weep.

She weeps; and just here, overhead, a little bird is singing. Still she weeps, and does not hear him.

All at once she heard it was the name of her husband. She listened, and looked at him. “Wretched bird!” she thought, “why does it speak the name of the dead?” She looked, they say, she listened. There! It speaks! “Tdjo’xwullik up the river is married: he has a wife, — he, Tdjo’xwullik, Tdjo’xwullik!”

So the woman heard him. “What is it that this bird is saying?” thought she. She got up and untied the string that was around the opening of the kayak. “I will find out what the bird says,” she thought. She removed the deer-skin. What did she find? There was nothing in the kayak. Where was her husband? The wolf-skins and wolverene-skins and his arrows, that had been with him, were gone. She was angry, because she thought it was true that he had been dead. “That’s why the bird said it,” she thought. “Since yesterday it has said it; but while I kept crying, I did not listen. Too truly it spoke,” she thought. She went up into her cache. There were many skins of deer and of bear. An enormous brownbear skin also she found, with light fur. This one she chose, and she wet it with warm water. Hurriedly she wet it all day long, and stretched it. At length it became larger. While she was wetting it, she brought in water for the boys. Meanwhile she continued to wet it. She would wet it, and then put it back in its place wet. At length she had filled the pails and the birch-bark bowls with an abundance of water, and it became dark. Finally, while the boys were asleep, she brought in, from off her cache, meat and fat and king-salmon dried, and piled it up in the house. And then she fitted that bear-skin upon herself, and stretched it out, its claws being attached to it. Then she searched in her work-bag, and found the great teeth of a brown bear. And she put these on, also; the teeth she put into her mouth. And she became a great brown bear, like that one, and rushed furiously up the ravine. She tore up spruces by the roots. In her rage, she broke down the trees also. She came down the ravine and returned to the outside of the house. She took off the skin, and laid it down. The teeth also she put with it. She had not slept when the boys awoke. Neither had she eaten anything, for her anger. Then she brought in to those boys a forked birch stick that had been cut. That birch stick she carried into the house. Then said she, “Listen! I am going away. Do not wish for me,” said she. “I will come soon. Now eat the food and drink the water that I have brought in for you. Do not go to get water, for you will fall in; nor go up into the cache, for you will fall down. If any great beast comes in where you are, hold the stick tightly against his breast,” said she. Do not be afraid of him. I will come to you,” said she. Then she went up the ravine, and went along a mountain that formed the bank of the river. She rushed along in her wrath, going in her might, as the ice moves with the crashing of the trees. Another great mountain she climbed. She went up over a place where there were flat stones; and she thought, “I will put these stones at the sides of my chest, and on my breast and forehead.”

While she was going on, some one overhead, on a spruce, began to laugh. “Why,” said some one, “you have made a great mistake. You are very ridiculous. Take off the stones! they are of no use. Why,” said he, “in time to come it will be a thing for people to laugh about.” So she took them off. Then said the Raven, “There! That’s it! Now you look all right. Now go ahead!”

Then again she went on, hurrying, for she was thinking of the boys. She followed the river-bank. There, below her, she saw a large village, full of people. Toward it she went, and again she took off the skin; and the teeth, too, she removed, and put them under a little spruce. Here she found a good path, and she followed it to the village. She came near to the village from behind it. A large village it was, indeed, with a great kashime, and next to the kashime a large house. She went on in this direction, and there she ran in. On each side of the fire two beautiful women had set their pots to cook. They called to her. “Cousin,” said they, “you have come in, then! That is right, stay with us!” One of them said, “Sit down on my side of the room!” So she sat down on the platform. One was cooking deer-meat in a large pot, and the other was cooking beaver-meat in a large pot. “Cousins,” she said to them, “your husbands, where have they gone?” for she was thinking, as she looked at all the finery there in the house. Beautiful mats there were, and beds of deer-skin, and marten-skin parkas. Then they said to her, “Why, there is only one man living with us! Last spring, after the ice had gone out, a stranger came to us and took us,” said they; “but when the grass had begun to grow, then he left us; and last winter, at midwinter, he came back, and lives with us. He has gone to get wood,” said they.

Then they offered her food. “No,” said she, “I am not hungry. I ate only just now.” — “Come,” said they, “stay with us!” “Yes,” said she. “How very little oil there is on the surface of your pots!” said she to them. “Smile,” said she to one of them, “and bend over the surface of your pot!” When she did it, an abundance of oil covered the surface. “And you,” said she, “squint, and bend over yours!” Then she seized them both by the hair on their foreheads, and pushed their heads down into the big pots until they were dead and then she lifted them up, and put them back in their places. She made one of them appear as if she were sewing, and afterward she did the same thing to the other. One was squinting, and the other was smiling. Then she. ran out and rushed up the hill. Now came their husband, with logs in tow. He tied them up at the beach, and went up to the house and entered it. The woman who was bending over, squinting, he struck. When he did so, her face sloughed off. The other, who was smiling as she sewed, he struck also, and the skin sloughed off. Thereupon he ran out, crying. “What ails my wives?” said he. “My wife has been with them!”

As he goes out, the village is in an uproar. Just now they were walking around quietly outside the houses. What is the matter? Some are crying, and yonder some are shouting. “There goes a brown bear up on the big mountain!” they yell. Up streams a swarm of villagers, armed with spears and ice-picks and arrows. Up, up, they go. On the mountain the great beast stands looking at them. It is Tdjo’xwullik who is in the lead. In an instant she catches him. “My wife, I have come to you!” he says, for the woman has pushed the hood from her face; but that is all he says, for she crushes his head between her jaws, and tears him in pieces. And all the men of the village, too, she destroys on the spot, and down upon the village she rushes. She begins at one end of the village, and goes to the other. Caches and houses, she destroys them all, and the children and the women, and then she leaves.

She left, and went toward her own village, for she was thinking of the boys. She went into her house, and the older of the two boys cried out, “Ulli’yu!” in terror, and began to scream. Meanwhile his younger brother, the little man, caught up the stick that their mother had given them, and set it quickly against that bear’s breast. There he held it firmly. At that, she pulled back her hood. “My children,” said she, “well done! Stay where you are!” said she. Then she went out. Outside, near the house, she took off the skin, and removed the teeth also, and put them under a log and went in. Then she took the two boys on her knees, caressing them fondly. “Ah,” said she, “you have done well. While I was far from you, I was thinking about you.” There, then, they remained all that summer. The leaves turned, and still they staid on. The cold weather came; and then she said to her children, “Let us go now to the place where:our house is to be!” The younger of the two children she loved exceedingly. “As you have done,” said she, “so will men do in years to come. While the older brothers are fearful, the younger brothers will be brave.” They dressed themselves in brown-bear skins, for it had grown cold. Their mother, also, put on the skin that she had worn; and they went up the ravine to the place where their house was to be. On either side of the place stood a large spruce. On the farther one the mother exercised herself, and on this side the children; and when they had finished thus sharpening their claws, they dug out a place for the house. They completed it; and then she said to her children, “From this time on, men shall see but little of us.”

So, then, my story is ended.

Raven kills a giant with a stone axe

In a village where men vanished each winter, the chief asked Raven to investigate. Raven discovered a giant responsible for the disappearances, using a stone axe to kill the men. After confronting the giant, Raven seized the axe, killed the giant, and returned to inform the villagers, revealing the fate of their lost men.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Trickster: The Raven embodies the trickster archetype, using cunning to overcome the giant.

Cultural Heroes: The Raven acts as a foundational figure, protecting and shaping the fate of his society.

Revenge and Justice: The Raven delivers justice by avenging the deaths of the village men.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

Told by Walter

There was a big village, full of people, with only one kashime. A Raven man lived there, too. Every winter the people hunted for deer, and every summer they fished for salmon, for a winter supply. Now, every winter one man disappeared from the village, and at last there was nobody left but women. Then the Chief said to the Raven, “Well, Raven, can you find out what has become of all the people?” And the Raven said, “I think that is too hard for me.” But afterwards he went off for seven days, and he came to a great earth house. He went in, and saw a giant. “Halloo!” said the giant. “Halloo!” said the Raven. “Well, Raven,” said the giant, “will you stay with me?” “Yes, sir!” said the Raven. So he went out of the house again, and looked around and saw a big cache. He went up on the cache and went inside, and saw plenty of dead men.

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Then he went down again and went into the house, and said to the giant, “I went up into your cache and saw plenty of dead men. How did you kill all those people in your cache?” And the giant became angry with the Raven, and caught up a big stone axe to kill him; but he did not kill him, and the Raven took the big stone axe and cut off his neck, and ran out, and the house was full of blood. So he went back home with the big stone axe, and went into the kashime and said to the chief, “Tell all the women to come in; I want to tell them what I have seen.” So the women came in, and the Raven went out and got the big stone axe, and put it down in the kashime, and said, “A big giant killed all the men of this place with this stone axe, and every one of them is dead.”

(The storyteller closed with the English words, “And after, every women get cry.”)

Raven and his eye

Raven removes one of his eyes and places it atop his canoe to serve as a lookout while he gathers materials in the woods. Hearing his eye call out, he returns to find it missing. Unable to locate it, he returns to the forest.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Trickster: The Raven is often portrayed as a cunning figure in various mythologies, using wit to navigate situations.

Sacred Objects: The Raven’s eye can be considered a sacred object, imbued with special significance and power.

Conflict with Nature: The Raven’s journey into the woods and his interactions with the natural environment highlight a relationship with nature.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

A Raven was paddling along in his canoe at the edge of the river, and he thought to himself, “I must get some fish-trap sticks!” So he went to the shore, and got out on the beach. Then he took out one of his eyes and put it on top of his canoe, and said to it, “If you see any one coming, you must call me, and I will come to you.” Then he went up into the woods to find some fish-trap sticks, and began to cut them, when he heard his eye calling him. He ran out of the woods; and when he came to the place where he had left his eye, it was gone. He could not find it anywhere, so he ran back to the woods.

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How Raven got a good meal

Raven, feeling hungry during his travels, catches a large fish and smears its scales on his parka to appear as an expert fisherman. He convinces a village to follow him to his bountiful fishing spot but feigns forgetting his knife, sending them ahead. While they’re gone, he returns to the village and consumes all their provisions. Upon discovering the deception, the villagers attempt to shoot Raven but fail. A poor boy, with a bow made by his grandmother, successfully kills Raven; however, the villagers ultimately perish from starvation.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Trickster: Raven embodies the archetype of the cunning figure who uses deception to achieve his goals.

Conflict with Nature: Raven’s manipulation of natural resources and the villagers’ subsequent struggle for survival underscore a tension between humans (or animals) and the natural world.

Community and Isolation: The tale explores the dynamics between the individual (Raven) and the community (villagers), illustrating how deceit can lead to communal suffering and isolation.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

Told by Stephen Morton

Raven was travelling on a long journey, and he became very hungry. After a while he saw a big fish under the ice, and he made a fire and caught the fish. He put the scales aside; and after he had finished eating, he smeared them all over his parka, to make it look as though he had been doing nothing but catch fish. He went on, and after a long time he came to a big village. He went up into the kashime, and found it full of men. The old men were telling the younger ones to make the fire for the daily bath. So they made the fire; and after the bath, they asked the Raven for the news. He told them how his house stood alone, and how good the fishing was; and when they looked at his parka, they thought that he was telling them the truth. “Come,” said he, “everybody shall go with me tomorrow, and I will give you all the fish that you can carry away.”

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So the next morning they all started out together; but when they had gone some distance, the Raven said, “Sakes alive! I have left my knife in the village!” So the men said to him that he had better go back and get it.

“All right,” said he, “but you go ahead; and if you get to my house before I catch up with you, go into my cache, and help yourselves to the best fish that there are there.” So he left them; and when they were out of sight, he flew back to the village, and went into the caches and ate up all the fish and meat that were there. Then he went into the houses and ate up all the parkas and bed-clothing, and everything else that he found. When the people found that they had been fooled, they came back, and found everything gone. The Raven was flying over the village, and the young men tried to shoot him with their arrows, but no one was able to hit him. There was a poor boy, however, who told his grandmother that he would like to try. So his grandmother made him a little bow and arrow, and he killed the Raven; but all the people in the village died of hunger.

How Raven enticed a man away from his home

Raven, lacking food, discovers fat floating in a river and traces it to a man’s home. After befriending the man and his wife, Raven convinces the man to journey to his village, promising abundant skins. Mid-journey, Raven deceives the man into retrieving a forgotten knife, then flies back to the man’s home to feast. The man, realizing the betrayal, returns home exhausted to find his family in destitution, leading him to kill both his wife and Raven in despair.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Trickster: Raven embodies the trickster archetype, using cunning to deceive the man.

Good vs. Evil: The story portrays the struggle between the man’s innocence and Raven’s malevolence.

Moral Lessons: The tale imparts a lesson about the dangers of trusting deceptive individuals.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

The Raven was paddling along. He had no food, and was not expecting to see anybody. So all summer long he kept on his way up the river. Now he paddled through some bubbles, but he did not look at them or think anything about them. But as he paddled along, he saw a large one between himself and the shore; and as he was passing it, he looked at it. He examined it, and it was fat. So he took it and smelled of it, and began to think about it. “What can this be?” thought he. “Suppose I eat it!” So he ate some of it. It seemed sweet to him. He smeared his parka with the rest of it, and his canoe also, and went on. By and by he saw a house up on the bank. Below the place, deer-bones had been thrown over the bank. Below the bones there was a great quantity of fat.

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“This is where it came from, then,” thought he. He got out at the place. There he saw only one house, but a great many caches. There were also many deer-bones lying outside the house. So he went in. There was a woman there, alone. She stared at him. Then she said, “I didn’t suppose there was anybody else around here;” and the Raven said, “I, too, thought that there might be no one here.” Then she offered him meat; but the Raven said, “I don’t care for meat, I get tired of it: fish is the only thing that I care for.” She gave him some fish, and he ate it. Soon her husband returned. “Cousin,” said he, “I didn’t suppose there was any one in this neighborhood.” “Neither did I think that there was any one here,” said the Raven. Then said the man, “Won’t you stop with us?” — “No,” said the Raven, “for I have a wife, and children too. Come with me to my village tomorrow,” said he. “I believe that there are more skins at my village than there are at your village,” said he. “Part of them shall be yours.” The man did not care to go, but the Raven urged him. “Come,” said he, “come, hurry up! Come along with me!” So at length they started out. As the man was going along in the lead, the Raven pulled out his knife and thrust it into the ground. So they kept on, going back from the river. As they were going along in the back country, the Raven cried out, “I have forgotten my knife!” And he said to the man, “Cousin, go and get it for me. I will give you a marten and an otter and a beaver for your trouble, if you will.” “No,” said he, “get it yourself!” — “All right,” said he, “I will go and get it, and you keep on till you get to my village; and when you get there, have a good feed.” So the Raven went back; and when he was out of sight, he took to his wings. “K’gak!” said he. Then he flew to the village and gorged himself with everything that was in sight.

The man went on for four days. As he went along in the day-time, he saw nothing whatever, and he was hungry. Then he thought, “I wonder if it is true! I believe that Raven was lying.” Meanwhile his strength was gone, and he wanted water, so he went back. A great many days he crept along, exhausted. Finally he dragged himself to a spot above his house, and lay down and slept. He awoke, and looked at the place. There was nothing, — no food or meat. He went to the door of his house. Some one was crying inside. He went in. His wife had on an old, ragged parka, and there were two children with her. “So, then!” said he. “So, then, did you have any children while I lived with you? The Raven is to blame for this!” And he killed her and the Raven too. Then he went out. “Better that I should go somewhere,” he thought. “Soon I shall be dead and gone,” said he. So he went into the mountains. He had no food, and saw no deer. At length his strength gave out. Then he crawled to the side of a river and went to sleep. He awoke and listened. Below him some one was coming, and he called out. Whoever it was, was eating. “What’s making that noise?” said they. “It sounds like a hawk. Let’s leave some food for it!” So they put out some food, and went on, up the river. Again the man went to sleep. He awoke; and near him there was plenty of food, and fat also. He gathered it up thankfully, and ate it, having turned into a hawk.

(Another version) A man and his wife lived together in a house in the woods. The man was a great hunter of deer. He filled his cache with the skins, and he and his wife lived entirely upon the meat. Every year the man would go off hunting, and come back with great loads of meat and skins. Once, after he had returned from hunting, as he was sitting in the house with his wife, they heard some one coming, and brushing the snow off his boots at the door. Presently the mat which hung in the doorway was pushed aside; and in came the Raven, stamping his feet, and congratulating himself upon having reached shelter. The hunter looked up and greeted him. “Well, friend, so you have come?” said he. “Yes,” said the Raven, “and I am glad enough to get to a place to pass the night, for I am all tired out.” The woman gave him a bowl of deer-meat, saying, “This is the only thing we have to eat. Will you have some?” The Raven took it, but he did not seem to relish it very much; and finally he said, “We have so much of this to eat at our village, that I do not care very much about it. Do you have to go far for your deer?”

The hunter told him that in former years the deer used to be plenty, but that lately he had been obliged to go a long way to find them. Upon this, the visitor proposed that he should go with him to his village, where they were so thick that one could get them by going just a short distance from the house. At first the man objected; but finally he consented, and they started out together. When they had gone a long way, and had come into a country that was unknown to the hunter, one day, as they were nearing the place where they were to make camp, the Raven suddenly exclaimed, “There! I left my knife at the last place where we made a fire. I must go back and get it. You go on and make camp, and I will come back and follow your tracks and find you.” So they separated, and the hunter went on; but the Raven had no sooner got out of his sight than he lifted up his face and called for snow. Then there came a great storm, which covered up the trail, and the hunter was left alone in a country that was unknown to him. He waited for the Raven, but he did not return. Then he began to wander around, trying to find some landmark by which he could locate himself; but, although he spent the whole winter in this manner, he only became more confused as to his whereabouts. So he wandered around until the ice began to melt in the spring. Then he came to a stream, which he followed up until it led him to a gorge, heading up towards the mountains. As he went up this gorge, he began to make a song, weeping over his misfortunes, and crying, “The Raven, he is a liar!” As he went along, he found that the backs of his hands were changing, and becoming scaly, and that they were becoming feathered also. Beside this, the tears running down his cheeks made furrows, which took on a stain, and at last he found himself turning into a hawk. Sitting on a crag and wheeling in the air above the stream, he heard the sound of voices, and soon saw a party of men coming in canoes. They passed him, and went on up the river without noticing him. Afterwards he heard the voices of another party. This was led by an old man, who called out to those following him that he saw a hawk, and told them to throw out some scraps of food for it. He also found that they had left food on the rocks as they passed along. When the first party returned from their hunt, they had nothing in their canoes; but when the other party returned, their canoes were loaded down, so that they had to put poles across them to transport the meat.

How Raven stole the old woman’s bear-meat

An old woman lived alone, subsisting on fish and game. After killing a bear, she stored its meat. Raven visited, feigned helpfulness, and borrowed her fishskin parka and boots, which he secretly consumed. While she searched for the missing items, Raven devoured her bear meat and vandalized her home. Upon her return, she discovered his deceit, killed him, and later encountered two women seeking their husband. A confrontation ensued, resulting in the old woman killing them both.

Source:
Ten’a Texts and Tales
(from Anvik, Alaska)
by John W. Chapman
The American Ethnological Society
Publications, Volume 6 (ed. Franz Boas)
E.J. Brill, Leyden, 1914

► Themes of the story

Trickster: Raven embodies the trickster archetype, using cunning and deceit to achieve his goals.

Revenge and Justice: After discovering Raven’s deceit, the old woman takes justice into her own hands by killing him.

Loss and Renewal: The old woman experiences loss after Raven’s theft but encounters new challenges and characters, suggesting a cycle of loss and new beginnings.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

There was an old woman who lived year in and year out in the same place. In the summer she fished with a net, to get her winter supply of fish; and in the winter she lived in an earth house, and worked at snaring rabbits and grouse. One day, as she was making a fire, a bear made his way into the house, and she killed him, and afterward she went to bed; and next morning she got up and skinned the bear, and cut up the body, and filled her cache with the meat, and buried some of it in the ground. Then she went into the house and cooked the bear’s feet for herself. As she finished cooking them, the Raven came in. “Where did you come from?” said she. “From somewhere,” said the Raven.

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So she gave him some of the meat; and he said, “Dear grandmother, I want to get some wood for you.” The old woman agreed; and the Raven said, “But I am too cold. Lend me your fishskin parka and boots.” So she let him take them, and he went off as if he intended to get some wood; but when he was out of sight, he ate the parka and the boots. Then he came back; and the old woman said, “Where are my parka and the boots?” And the Raven said, “Oh, my dear grandmother! I forgot, and left them where I was getting wood.” And the old woman said, “Well, go back and get them!” And the Raven said, “I don’t want to go back for them. Get them yourself, grandmother!” So the old woman started off to get the boots and the parka, but she could not find them; and while she was gone, the Raven flew up, alighted on her cache, and ate all her bear-meat. Then he went down into the house, and turned everything upside-down, and smeared the place with bear’s grease. Pretty soon the old woman came back to the house, and found the Raven playing with the bear’s fat. “Where did you get that bear’s grease?” said she. “Dear grandmother,” said the Raven, “that is what you gave me yesterday evening.” Then the old woman killed the Raven, and hung up his skin in the house; and afterward she cried all the time, because she had no food for the winter. Some time after that, she came in one day, and found two women in her house. “Oh, my!” said she, “where did you come from?” “We have lost our husband,” said they, “and we are looking for him.” “I haven’t found anybody,” said the old woman; but one of the women began to look around, and she saw the Raven’s skin; and they both set upon her to kill her, but she turned out to be the stronger, and killed them both.

(Another version) There was once an old woman. She lived in a little house. One day she heard a great noise at her door. It was a big beast trying to get in. The old woman got her hammer and awl, and she struck the beast and killed it. Then she brought it into the house and cooked it, and there was plenty of meat and fat on it. She put it all into her cache, except the entrails; and she was cooking these, when she heard some one coming. It was the Raven, and the old woman told him to come in. They ate the entrails, and afterward the old woman told the Raven to get some wood for her. She gave him a pair of fish-skin mittens and a fish-skin parka and fish-skin boots. As he was going out, he ate one of the mittens; and while he was in the woods, he ate the other, as well as the boots and the parka. Then he got some wood and came back to the house. The wood was wet, and the old woman threw it all out again -, and at that the Raven came in, and she asked him where all the clothing was that she had lent him. He said that it had been very hot, and that he had left the things on a tree and had forgotten all about them. She told him to go and get them, and he refused. Then she went into the woods to get them herself, and the Raven stole all the fat that she had put into her cache, and fouled the floor of the cache with his excrement. When the old woman came back, he had made a ball of the fat, and was playing with it. The old woman asked him where he got the fat; and he said, “You gave it to me this morning.” She was angry, and said, “I did not give you that this morning.” Then she went to look at her cache, and saw what he had done, and that the fat was gone. This made her angry, and she got her hammer and awl. When she went in, she told the Raven that she was going to cut his hair, but she hid the hammer and awl under her parka; and when she came up as if to cut his hair, she drove the awl into his head with a blow of the hammer, and killed him. Then she pounded him to a pulp with her hammer, and put him into a bowl, and put him into a hole in the ice, and went into her house again. As she sat in her house, she heard a noise at the door. There were three women, and they had three little babies on their backs. They came in, and asked where the Raven was. She said, “I don’t know where he went.” But they did not believe her, and they began to fight with her, and dragged her down to the hole in the ice and fought with her there; but she forced one of them into the water, and then another, and then the other, and then she went back to her house.