Tag: 01. Creation

How the world or life began

Agait’osdunne, the hair scrapings man

An old woman discovers a mysterious child among hair scrapings. She raises him, noticing his rapid growth and peculiar behavior, including transforming into a buffalo at night. The boy aids his starving relatives by providing beaver meat and later, as a buffalo, leads them to a successful hunt. His actions bring prosperity to his people.

Source: 
The Beaver Indians
by Pliny Earle Goddard
The American Museum of Natural History – Anthropological Papers
Volume X, Part 4
New York, 1912

► Themes of the story


Creation: The tale begins with the mysterious appearance of a child among hair scrapings, suggesting a unique origin or birth.

Supernatural Beings: The boy’s extraordinary abilities and origins point to interactions with or the existence of supernatural entities.

Conflict with Nature: The narrative includes elements of humans struggling against natural forces, such as starvation and the need to hunt for survival.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about the Dane-zaa people

One time when many people were camping about they heard a child cry where they had been dressing hides. All the women ran to the place. When they did not find the child they took up the hairs of the scrapings one at a time and put them to one side. There was nothing there. Then an old woman went there and found a child crawling among the scrapings. She took the child up and put it in her mitten.

She took care of it after that and it became large very quickly and was soon walking about. He became a person from the buffalo. “Grandmother bring me only grass,” he said to her. She brought him grass for a bed. During the night it all disappeared.

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“He is always doing such things,” she said to herself. When she lay down again she watched him through a hole in her blanket. She saw him get up and shake himself and immediately become a buffalo. “Why did I do this?” she said to herself and lay down again under her blanket. “So this is what you are doing,” she thought. After that she took good care of him.

Once the Indians were all chiseling out beaver. “I will watch them,” the boy thought and went where they were eating the beaver meat. When he saw the meat, he reached to take some a man was offering him. The man pulled it back again, fooling the boy. He was very angry. One old man gave him something to eat. After the Indians had gone he picked up a beaver leg and swallowed it, saying, “You will not kill beaver until I pass this bone.”

After that his grandmother traveled alone with the children behind the main band who were starving. Her nephews were starving; they were having a hard time. “Grandmother, I will fish with a hook and line. There are fish here in this old beaver pond,” he said. She cut a hole in the ice for him. “I will fish here,” he said. She went over where he was fishing. He took out a large beaver. He pushed a stick into the water and caught four beaver which he killed with a club. “Grandmother, there are four fish down there which I have killed,” he said to her. His grandmother went there and found he had killed four large beaver. She carried them back and put them by the fireplace. They ate beaver meat. “Grandmother, give me the mesentric membrane,” he said. She did as he requested.

Then his grandmother took him on her back and carried him after the other Indians. When the advance party saw the mesentric membrane he had in his hand they acted like crazy people about it. They threw down the children they were carrying to run after him. They got hold of the membrane and pulled it from side to side. This made him angry.

His uncle had set snares for beaver. He was sitting there by them and started to cry. “What is the matter?” he asked. “Kill it for me,” he said. Then he passed the leg bone of a beaver. Then all who were there, all his uncles, took out beaver.

Then they moved on ahead. Again they were starving, when someone reported having seen buffalo that did not know people were about. After the others had gone to bed he took arrows from each man and went to the buffalo. When he came near them he transformed himself into a buffalo and started to play with them. He killed them all and started back. They had a big fire ready for him and were sitting there, waiting. His grandmother was sitting on the pile of wood, crying. “Grandmother, why are you crying?” he asked. He took an arrow and held it on his bow. “One buffalo was caught in the willows. Who said this about me? Who said of me that, ‘he went along the people’s trail carrying arrows?’” he inquired. No one spoke and for that reason he did not shoot. He held two arrows by their heads, broke them, and threw them into the fire. “What did I do to your animals?” he asked them. They thought the buffalo were all ahead of them.

They started away, but one old man sat there after the others had gone. Agait’osdunne had put some buffalo fat in the fold of his blanket. He pulled that out for his grandfather. “Grandfather, the wolves killed a young buffalo. I thought I would put its fat in my pocket.” He passed it to him. “It is not young buffalo’s fat,” the old man said to himself. Then he told his grandfather that each man who knew his own arrows would know which buffalo belonged to him. His grandfather went away along the road after the others. They thought the buffalo were lying there alive and they were sitting over them ready to shoot. “.Why are you sitting there?” he asked. They thought the buffalo were still alive and they would take them all in snares. When he came to them he said, “Take the ones your arrows are sticking in.” He thought he and his grandmother would have an animal and he had left an old arrow lying on it. They stepped over that buffalo.

Agait’osdunne was very poor. The large band that camped ahead had a certain man for chief. He had a daughter no one liked. She went out one time and looking at Agait’osdunne said, “I do not like your eyes.” He was very angry because of that and after she had gone he went there and urinated.

She was very soon pregnant and gave birth to a child. “Make a medicine lodge,” the chief said. They made a medicine lodge. “The child will urinate on the man who is its father,” the chief said. They all came there where the medicine lodge stood. He disappeared now and then and then he was not about at all. [This probably refers to the spirit supposed to assist in the divination.] They did not know who could be its father. Agait’osdunne was the only one who did not go there. “Well, let everyone of the men come here,” the chief said. His grandmother was sorry for the child and liked it and for that reason went there. As soon as she took it, the child urinated. All the women then stripped the clothes from Agait’osdunne and put out his fire, but his grandmother put some fire in sinew and put it inside a pillow. They drove him away from his grandmother. “I hope when they get up they will take out the sinew,” she said. The next morning when they arose there was nothing they could do anything with. “Look inside grandmother’s pillow,” he said. She went there and found fire under the sinew where it had been left and built a fire with it.

“I wish you would make some arrows for me,” he told the woman. She made arrows for him from some poor willows. “I wish three wolves would come along here to us,” he said. Before long three wolves came there and he killed them all. The women went to them. They took hold of the wolves by their noses, rubbed them, and pulled the entire body out of the skins. Then they put on the skins with the hair still on them. “I wish thirteen caribou would come along here,” he said. They came very soon and he killed them all. They made a tipi cover of their skins. He wished again for three moose and they came. He killed them and they had the leather they needed.

He wished the others might die of starvation. For his grandmother, however, he used to drop fat along behind. “Because they did not care whether he starved or not, let them be very hungry and die of starvation,” he was thinking about them. “Well, let them come here,” he thought. They came there. He told them that before he had resolved not to get meat for them. He went away from them but before leaving, he told them that if many moose went by they were not to shoot the leader but only those following behind. Then owl, who was a person then, shot the moose that was in front. His wife took a skin and ran after him. She ran far away to him. “You are alive. You will not die quickly,” she said to him. “Roll up in the skin,” she told him. Then they beat owl with a club and that is why his head is large.

Second version. A child was heard to cry from a buffalo skin. An old woman went toward it and found a child sitting among the hairs which had been scraped from the buffalo skins. She took up the child and because she felt sorry for it, took care of it and raised it, although the others tried to dissuade her.

It grew quickly. “Put nothing but grass under me, grandmother,” he said. She put some grass under him but in the night she saw it was gone; there was nothing but bare ground under him. “What are you doing, grandchild?” she said to herself. She watched him through her ragged blanket one night and saw him stand up, a large buffalo. He ate up the grass he was lying on. “My grandson is a buffalo,” she thought.

A famine was killing the people when someone saw a herd of buffalo. There were many people camping there who decided to go together and kill the buffalo. The boy saw the buffalo and at night, while the people were asleep, took an arrow from each man’s supply. He went to the buffalo during the night and shot them all because they were not afraid of him. “The buffalo will belong to the man whose arrow is on it,” he said to himself, and distributed the arrows on the dead buffalo. “We will make meat of this one for my grandmother,” he said, and placed two of his arrows on one of the animals.

He went back to the camp to find someone had built a big fire. His grandmother was sitting on the wood, crying. “What is the matter, grandmother?” he asked; “You went for the people’s animals and they say they will burn you.” “Who says that about me?” he asked. “They all say it of you. They are not pleased.” “None of your animals ran away. They are still where they were last night. Go to them,” he said.

An old man was sitting there after the others had left. He took a seat by this old man and said, “I saw the wolves kill a young buffalo, grandfather.” They two followed along the way the others had gone. They found some of the Indians lying in front of the dead buffalo while others were trying to surround them. When they came up to the buffalo they found they had all been killed and the arrows were lying on the bodies. The people were all very much pleased.

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The Dog-Rib legend of Ithenhiela; or, the creation of the Rocky Mountains

The Dog-Rib legend of Ithenhiela, as recounted by James Mackintosh Bell in 1903, tells of Naba-Cha, an enormous and cruel man from Canada’s Northwest. He mistreats Ithenhiela, a young Wood-Cree boy known as the Caribou-Footed. The tale explores themes of power, cruelty, and the natural world’s mysteries, offering insight into the Dog-Rib people’s rich oral traditions.

Source: 
The Fireside Stories of the Chippwyans
by James Mackintosh Bell
The American Folklore Society
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.16, No.61, pp. 73-84
April-June, 1903

► Themes of the story


Creation: The narrative explains the origin of the Rocky Mountains.

Hero’s Journey: Ithenhiela embarks on a transformative adventure to confront Naba-Cha.

Cultural Heroes: Ithenhiela serves as a foundational figure shaping the natural landscape.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about the Chipewyan people

The first religious ceremony at which I was present with the Dog-Ribs and Hare-Skins remains vividly in my memory, and shows how thoroughly they mix the picturesque of their old religion with that of the new. It was at the celebration of the midnight mass at a northern Roman Catholic mission. The Indians had travelled long distances across the snow, from the depths of the forest to the southward, from the wind-swept Barren Lands to the eastward, and from the lonely lake country to the northward, to be present at the ceremony. Some 600 in all had assembled, and, dressed in fur costumes, knelt upon the floor of the rude log church as the priest, a Frenchman of old France, sang the majestic service. When he reached the Adeste fideles, he sang one verse through in his rich Gascon voice, and then all the Indians joined with him, and finished the beautiful hymn in Dog-Rib.

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I stood at the door of the church as the Indians came out and noted the impression the service had left on their countenances. The sky was bright with a thousand colors, the ever-changing beauty of the northern lights, which flickered and faded and relighted as the Indians passed me. Looking up to the heavens, they saw that strange phenomenon which is to them the most mysterious thing of nature. “Ah,” they said with their faces bowed before this great light, “’tis the fingers of Ithenhiela beckoning us to the home beyond the sky. Now some of us will pass to that great country which we know not.” Later I heard the story of Ithenhiela, and to me it was the most beautiful of all the Dog-Rib stories. It is as follows:

In the great Northwest of Canada there flows one of the mightiest rivers of the earth, known to the whites as the Mackenzie, and to the Northern Indians as the Too-cha-Tes or Big Water. On the very border of the Arctic Circle another great river joins the Big Water from the southwest. This river the Dog-Ribs still know as “the river that flows from the country of the Big Man.”

Naba-Cha, or the Big Man, was one of the most enormous men who ever lived. His wigwam was made of three hundred skins of the largest caribou that could be killed on the vast plains far to the northward. It had taken the bark of six huge birch-trees to make the onogan from which he daily ate his meals. And it took one whole moose, or two caribou, or fifty partridges, to feed him each day. Famous indeed was Naba-Cha throughout the whole North Country, and many were the expeditions of war he had made into distant lands to the north, east, south, and west. He had travelled northward to the mouth of the Big Water to fight the Snow Men or Eskimo, eastward across the Great Lake of Many Slaves to the country of the Yellow Knives, where he had seen the pure copper shining in the sands of mighty rivers, southward away on to the great plains to the country of the Crees, where there were so many large animals, — but westward he had never ventured far, because in that direction it was said that a bigger man than Naba-Cha dwelt. Now Naba-Cha was not only big, but he was also cruel and wicked, especially to a young Wood-Cree boy whom he had brought back from the South once when on the warpath, and who had neither father nor mother nor sister nor brother to help fight. Ithenhiela, the Caribou-Footed, as the boy was called, had, however, one great friend at the wigwam of Naba-Cha. This was Hottah, the two-year-old moose, the cleverest of all the northern animals. Truly he was clever, for he had travelled all the distance from the mouth of the Too-Cha-Tes to the wigwam of Naba-Cha in three days, and this was very far indeed. Now Hottah had long thought of a plan by which he might help Ithenhiela. He knew that far to the westward, much beyond where Naba-Cha had ever gone, flowed another river almost as great as Too-Cha-Tes, and that safety for a hunted man or beast lay on its farther side, because there dwelt Nesnabi, the Good Man.

One day Hottah came to Ithenhiela, and said to him, “We will go away. You get a stone, a clod of earth, a piece of moss, and a branch of a tree, and we shall escape from the cruel Naba-Cha.” Ithenhiela got what he was told to get, and soon they were ready to be off. Hottah took Ithenhiela upon his back, and before long they were out on the great plains which lie many days beyond the Too-Cha-Tes. Hardly had they started when they saw coming behind them Naba-Cha on his great caribou. Then said Hottah, “Fling out behind you your clod of earth.” Hottah did so, and immediately there rose up behind them, and between them and Naba-Cha, great hills of earth so wide and so high that it was many days before Naba-Cha again came in sight. And during this time Ithenhiela ate the ripened berries, while Hottah chewed the sweet grass which grew beyond the hills.

When Naba-Cha once more appeared in sight, Ithenhiela flung out behind him the piece of moss, and a great muskeg-swamp lay behind them. And for days the great man and his caribou floundered in the thick sphagnum. Meanwhile, on and on towards the country of the Setting Sun passed Hottah and Ithenhiela. And when once more Naba-Cha appeared, Ithenhiela dropped the stone, and great indeed were the high rocky hills which intervened between them and Naba-Cha, Up to the very clouds rose the hills, white with snow, and magnificent, such as had never been seen before. Long was it before the fugitives again saw Naba-Cha and the great caribou, and far had they gone towards the West before Ithenhiela had to throw the branch of the tree from him. Then arose a great and mighty forest of which the trees were so thick that Naba-Cha could not pass between them, and had to cut his way through, while the caribou was left behind because his horns had stuck in the branches, and he could not pass on. All this delay helped Ithenhiela; and when he once more saw the cruel Naba-Cha, he and his moose-friend had already crossed the Great Western River which they had tried so hard to reach. Away into the Northwest wound Tes-Yukon, through the high rocky hills to the northward, foaming as it flowed. Soon came Naba-Cha to the other side of the Tes-Yukon, and called aloud, “Help me, Hottah, across this mighty river. Help me to reach the country that lies beyond, and I shall do no harm to Ithenhiela.” Then across for him went Hottah; and as he brought him back across the great Tes-Yukon, he overturned him, and down he swept through the swirling rapids of the river, and was lost. This was the last of the wicked Naba-Cha.

Then came Hottah to Ithenhiela standing upon the bank, and, turning to him, he said, “Ithenhiela, I must leave you now, and return whence I came. Go you and follow this great river, and soon you will come to a great tepee. This is the home of Nesnabi, the Good Man. Great indeed is he, and far has he travelled, into our country to the eastward, among the golden rivers lost in mountains to the southward, to the great water which has no ending to the westward, and to the silent plains, all snow-covered, to the northward, where live the Snow-Men. He, like Naba-Cha, is big, but he is not cruel, and harms no one. He will aid you.” Then departed Ithenhiela, and following the bends of the great Tes-Yukon through the high spruce forest, he came to the wigwam of Nesnabi, who stood silent beside his home. “Whence have you come, young man,” said he, “and where are you going?” At this, up spoke Ithenhiela, “Great Chief, I have come from far. I have neither father nor mother nor brother nor sister. My home was with my own people away in the South Country, and there I lived happily until the coming of Naba-Cha, who took me away with him to the cruel North Country, where the snow lasts long in winter, by the sweeping waters of the Too-Cha-Tes. Hard indeed was Naba-Cha to me, and many a season passed I in misery with him, until I came away with Hottah, the two-year-old moose who brought me to your country, O Great Nesnabi, and but now has he left me.” To this answered the kind Nesnabi, “Ithenhiela, I have long known that you would come to me. Stay with me as long as you like, but if at the end of the week you wish to journey away, I will then prepare you for your journey farther into the West Country.”

Thus it was that Ithenhiela stayed at the wigwam of Nesnabi; but when the week was done, he came to his protector, and said to him, “I must now leave you, and travel farther. Give me that preparation for my journey that you have promised me.” Then took Nesnabi seven arrows from his wigwam, and said to him, “This is enough to help you, Ithenhiela, but should you shoot at any bird or beast in a spruce-tree and the arrow stick in the branches, take you care that you go not after it, for if you do, surely something will happen to you.” Hardly had Ithenhiela left the good Nesnabi, when he saw a squirrel in the branches of a red spruce-tree, and, raising his bow, he shot an arrow at it, Down fell the squirrel, but the arrow lodged in the branches. At once, Ithenhiela, forgetting what Nesnabi had told him, started to climb after the arrow. As he mounted, the arrow went up, too. Up, up, they went, until at last they came to the sky, and the arrow passed through, and he after it. Great was Ithenhiela’s surprise when he entered the Sky Country. It was so different from what he had expected. He had imagined a glorious country, where the sun always shone, and where herds of musk oxen, caribou, and moose roamed at large in plenty, with many of his own people camped in large wigwams here and there. But instead, the air was damp, dreary, and cold; no trees or flowers grew; no herds of animals ran on the silent plains; the smoke of no wigwam greeted his anxious eyes; the war-whoop or hunting-cry of no Indian of his own people was heard; only, far in the distance against the sky shimmered a great white mass, like a pile of snow, when the sun shines upon it in the early summer. Towards this great white thing ran a winding path from the very spot where Ithenhiela stood. “I will follow it,” thought he, “and see what I come to, and find out what lies in that blazing wigwam over there. As he passed along, he met an old woman who said to him, “Who are you, and where are you going?” “I have come from far,” said Ithenhiela. “I am the Caribou-Footed, Can you tell me who lives over there in that big white wigwam?” “Ah,” said Capoteka, “I know you, Ithenhiela. Long have I thought you would come here. But you have done wrong; this is no country for man. In that great wigwam over there lives Hatempka; and unhappy is he because he has lost his belt of medicine, and until he gets it again, no one will be happy in the Sky Country. The belt is at the tepee of the two blind women who live far beyond the wigwam which shines so white, and no one can get it from them. Whoever finds it, and gets it from the bad blind women, will have the daughter of Hatempka, the beautiful Etanda, for his wife.” Off then started Ithenhiela, and, travelling hard, soon came he to the home of the two old blind women. And as he entered the wigwam, he saw hanging upon the side the belt of Hatempka, and many indeed were the skulls which hung about it, for many had gone to seek the belt, but none had returned. The blind women bade him welcome, and said to him, “When you leave, Ithenhiela, tell us, so that we may bid you good-by.” Now Ithenhiela had noticed that each of the two old women had behind her back a knife of copper, long and sharp. “Ah!” thought he, “when I leave, they mean to kill me,” for one sat on either side of the door in readiness, “but I shall fool them.” In one part of the wigwam lay a muskamoot (or bag) of bones and feathers. To this he tied a string, which he pulled over the pole above the door. Then said he, “I am going now, blind women. Remember I am old and fat, and when I leave, I make much noise.” At this he pulled the string, and towards the door passed the bag of bones and feathers. Immediately the two old blind women stabbed; but striking only feathers, the long knives passed through them into each other, and both were killed. Then took Ithenhiela the belt of medicine, and went he unto the shining white home of Hatempka, and said to him, “Great chief, be you happy now, I have brought to you your healing” belt. Give me now my wife, your daughter, the beautiful Etanda, that I may leave you.” Then said Hatempka, “Oh! much pleased am I, Ithenhiela. You have saved my people. Now shall the sun shine again. Now shall musk oxen, caribou, moose, and bear live once more in our country. Again shall we see the smoke of many wigwams. Once more shall we hear the voice of many hunters. Take you now my daughter, the fair Etanda, but leave me not. Stay with me, and be a great man after me.” So Ithenhiela remained at the shining white home of Hatempka.

Hence was derived the name and country of the Big Man. Still the Indians in that distant country, when the northern lights flit across the sky, see in them the fingers of Ithenhiela, beckoning them to the home he has found for them so far away.

The influx of fur-traders into the Mackenzie River region, and even to Great Bear Lake within the last two years, since my return, has, I believe, very much altered the character of the Northern Indians.

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Wisaketcak

In Chipewyan lore, Wisaketcak, anticipating a great flood, built a canoe and refused to share it, leading to the drowning of others. After the flood, he enlisted a duck to retrieve mud from beneath the waters, recreating the earth. In another tale, Wisaketcak, after getting his head stuck in a deer skull, transformed into a deer, narrowly escaping hunters. Later, he deceived a bear into eating berries to fatten it, killed it, and overindulged in its fat, resulting in his own discomfort.

Source: 
Chipewyan Tales
by Robert Harry Lowie
The American Museum of Natural History – Anthropological Papers
Volume X, Part 3
New York, 1912

► Themes of the story


Creation: The narrative describes a great flood that submerges the land, leading to the reconstruction of the earth from mud brought up by a diving duck.

Trickster: Wisaketcak exhibits cunning behavior, such as preventing the beaver from damaging his canoe and deceiving the bear to ultimately kill and eat it.

Conflict with Nature: The incessant rain causing a flood and Wisaketcak’s interactions with animals highlight struggles against natural forces.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about the Chipewyan people

Long ago it commenced to rain. It rained incessantly. The Indians fled to higher ground. They gathered on the highest mountain. Wisaketcak, who had expected a flood, built a canoe. When the land was nearly submerged, he embarked. The other Indians were having the water up to their knees. Wisaketcak did not permit anyone to get into his boat.

The Indians asked the beaver to punch a hole into the canoe with his teeth. When the beaver got near the boat, Wisaketcak asked, “What are you coming for?” “Just to look at your canoe.” “Let me see your teeth, I think they are sharp.” Wisaketcak threw a stone down the beaver’s throat so that he could not injure his canoe. When the mountains were flooded, all the Indians were drowned.

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Wisaketcak called a kind of long-tailed duck. “Brother, come here! It has ceased to rain. Dive down, and see whether you can find any mud.” It dived for a long time. At length it came up with some mud on its feet. It dived again and again, and every time it rose to the surface it brought up some mud until the earth was entirely rebuilt.

* * *

Wisaketcak was traveling about. He got to a deer skull. There were many maggots inside. He addressed them as follows: “Brethren, let me eat with you.” They consented. He shoved his head inside; it stuck fast, so that he could not get it out. He turned himself into a deer, and continued to travel along. He got to a river. Not seeing any one near by, he began to swim across. When more than half way across, he caught sight of four birchbark canoes coming down. The people in the canoes were saying, “There’s a deer crossing the river ahead of us, let us shoot him.” They hurried towards him. The deer got ashore on a rocky bank. Falling down, he struck his head against the rock and broke his skull. He turned into his natural shape, and ran into the brush. The people cried, ‘This is Wisaketcak!’

He was traveling alone through the brush when he heard a bear running. “Brother, why are you running away from me? Stop there.” The bear stood still. Wisaketcak began to feel about his ribs. “You are very lean, how is that?” “There are no berries around here, that is the reason.” Wisaketcak said, “I know a place not very far from here, where there are lots of berries, let us go there.” They started out, Wisaketcak leading. They got to the place, and the bear began to eat. When he had eaten his fill, he lay down in the sun, then he ate again. Wisaketcak noticed that the bear was fattening. He felt his ribs again. The bear asked, “What are you doing this for? “Oh! I always do that to my brother.” Wisaketcak began breaking some sticks. “What are you doing this for?” “Oh, I just feel like working.” Wisaketcak continued breaking sticks. While the bear was eating, Wisaketcak from time to time felt his ribs, saying this was but an old trick of his. Finally, the bear lay down, and fell asleep. Wisaketcak went up close to him, took a stick and struck him over the head, ears, and stomach until he had killed him. Then he cut him open, and feasted on him. He ate so much fat that he began to have pains in the stomach. Looking around, he caught sight of two juniper trees growing together. “Brethren, spread apart, I have pains in the stomach.” They obeyed, and he got between them. The trees closed, and jammed him tight. While he was in this position, some whiskey-jacks came and began to eat of the bear meat. “Little brethren,” said Wisaketcak to the trees, “let me go to watch my food.” However he could not get out. In the meantime, the birds devoured all the food, leaving nothing but bones. “Brethren,” he said again, “separate and let me get out.” After a long time, he succeeded in freeing himself. Being angry at the trees, he began to twist them about. Since then junipers have had irregular trunks.

When he got down, he found nothing but the bear bones. Pounding these, he extracted the marrow and put it in a bladder, because it was too hot to be eaten. He got to a creek, sat down, and caught sight of a muskrat swimming there. “My brother, come here,” and cool this grease for me in the water.” The muskrat replied, “My tail is too big, I can’t swim well with it.” “Come here, and I will fix it for you.” He pulled the muskrat’s tail and made it small. The muskrat said, “My brother, I feel quite well now, let me have the bladder now, I will cool it.” “Be careful, so that it will not burst.” The muskrat dived down. The bladder burst, and the grease began to float down stream. Wisaketcak ran along, dipping it up with his hands.

Wisaketcak traveled along night and day. He found fresh tracks; they were those of a moose-cow and two young moose. “My brethren, why are you running away? Wait for me.” They stood still, and he caught up to them. “My brethren, you are foolish to stop like this. The Blackheads (Chipewyan) are following your tracks and will kill you. Keep traveling in a circle, back and forth, turn about, and lie down on the leeward of your path. Then they will not know which tracks to follow, and you will be able to scent them and make your escape.” This is what the moose do today, because Wisaketcak taught them.

Wisaketcak started off again. He found that his eyes were getting weak. When he came to a big lake, he said, “I will try to get new eyes.” He cut out his eyeballs, and went about blind. Whenever he struck a tree, he would ask it, “Brother, what kind of a tree are you?” And the tree would answer, “Poplar” (or whatever other species it belonged to). At last he got to a pine, and the tree answered, “I am a pine, I have plenty of gum.” Wisaketcak found the gum, chewed it, rolled it between his palms and put the gum balls into his sockets. Thus he got new eyes.

He traveled on, and got to a big lake, where he found many Cree Indians. The Cree recognized him, and asked him whether he knew of any Chipewyan near by. “I did not come here to tell you about my brethren.” He left them, and went towards the Barren Grounds. There he espied a great many lodges in the open country, and encountered a large band of Chipewyan. “My brethren, don’t stay here too long, for many Cree are looking for you.” He started off again. After a long time, he reached another band of Chipewyan, who were starving. “My brethren, why are you starving? There are plenty of deer not far from here, you ought to go and live there.” In those days they had no guns. They started in the direction indicated, and got the deer. They constructed a deer pen and set snares near its opening. Some began to drive deer, and many were dispatched with bows and arrows. At that time the Indians had no clothes.

Wisaketcak said, “It will not be always like this. You will not wear deer raiment forever. Some time you will wear another people’s clothes.” And this has come true.

Wisaketcak left the Indians. He got to a range of rocky mountains. “My brethren, you are too high, you had better come down into the valley, then I shall walk better.” They came down, and he continued his journey. He reached a creek. Being thirsty he stooped to drink. He saw some fish. “Little brethren, what are you doing here?” “We are eating.” “Where is your father?” “We don’t know, he is just traveling.” “If you see any Chipewyan Indians with nets, enter the nets and feed them.”

He started off again. He got to two mountains, where there were many birches, all without a single branch. “Brethren, you look too pretty without branches, you can’t live long that way.” He picked up brushes, threw them on the birches, and thus made numerous holes. That is why birches are striped nowadays, and Indians find it hard to make birchbark canoes.

He went on traveling. He reached a little lake. He saw ducks swimming there. “Brethren, come ashore here.” There was a female with young ones. “This little one looks like you,” he said. “There are lots of you. If you see any Chipewyans, or Crees, fly around them, so that they may kill you and feast on you.”

He went on. He got to a little river, where he slaked his thirst. He saw two otters swimming towards him. “Brethren, what are you doing? You have exceedingly short legs, they are not good for walking on land.” “We are meant to live in the water.” “Live wherever there are fish. There are plenty of. Chipewyan and Cree Indians going around starving. Go, and put fish on top of the ice to help them.” The otters consented.

Late in the fall, Wisaketcak reached a little river. He saw two beavers eating. “What are you doing here?” “We are just eating.” “Why don’t you build a house? Stick birches and poplar branches around, use mud for plastering, and put branches at the bottom. Thus you may live in the winter. Build a dam. If you don’t do this you will have no water to swim in.” He taught them. Since then they have always built dams. He further told them not to swim about before sunset, or the Indian huntsmen would kill them.

Wisaketcak continued his journey. He came to a herd of buffalo. Some of them began to run away. “Brethren, don’t run away, I have come to see you.” Then he asked, “What are you eating?” They said they were eating branches and trees. He told them to eat nothing but grass. “If you see starving Indians, let one of you lag behind so that the Indians can feed on you.”

He traveled on. He got to a clump of pines.[I am using, of course, my interpreter’s designation.] All the trees looked alike. “You all look alike, I will make one of you different.” Addressing one of them, Wisaketcak said, “Brother, be stickier than the rest. You shall have more gum than the others.” Thus originated the balsam fir, of which the gum is still used by the Cree.

He started off again. His buttocks were getting blistered. He tore off the scabs and threw them on birch trees. Thus originated touchwood. Wisaketcak came to a lake. There he saw a flock of geese, some old, some young. “Brothers, come here for a little while. I am making a dance not far away, and I should like you to accompany me.” He erected a lodge, and bade the geese enter. He called all kinds of other birds inviting them to join. He bade all shut their eyes. They began to drum. Wisaketcak, as the leader of the dance, sat on one side. They danced around. Whenever a fat bird got near him, Wisaketcak pulled it over, killed it, and threw it aside. At last one young goose opened one eye and saw Wisaketcak pulling its father by the leg. “Wisaketcak is killing us!” it cried. The surviving birds all fled. As the water-hen and the loon were running out, Wisaketcak stepped on their feet. That is why their feet are not fit for walking on land. Wisaketcak cooked the fattest geese, and had a great feast. Of the rest he took out the gizzards and put them aside, then he went in search of a stick to put them on. He forgot all about them, however, and traveled on. He reached a place where there were plenty of ants. “Little brethren how do you live in the winter? You have a very low dwelling.” “That is why birds are killed.” (?) He showed them how to build ant-hills.

* * *

Wisaketcak was traveling in the spring. He came to a place where a bear had been defecating and saw the excrements covered with fish scales. He laughed at the scales. The bear came, and said, “I heard you laughing about my excrements; I have come to see what you are laughing for.” Wisaketcak said, “I was only saying it was a pity there were no bones or berries there instead of scales.” They quarreled, and began to fight. Wisaketcak called on the ermine to help him. “My little brother, get into the bear’s anus and destroy his guts, or he will kill me.” The ermine entered the bear’s body, ate his heart, and thus killed him. When the ermine came out, Wisaketcak washed him, holding him by the tail, that is why ermines have white bodies and black tails.

Wisaketcak continued traveling. He got to a rocky mountain, where he found plenty of black objects which cause flatulency. He ate many of them. After a while he began to break wind and was unable to stop. So he heated a stone, and sat on it. His rump became covered with scabs. He was obliged to scratch the itching parts until he tore them off and threw them up on the top of birch trees, where they are still visible.

Wisaketcak set out to travel. He saw a band of geese. “My brethren, come hither.” They came down. “Give me half of your feathers, so that I may fly with you to your country.” They consented, and he flew along with them. They were obliged to pass through a rocky, mountainous country, where many Indians were living. Nets had been set to catch geese. When the birds approached these snares, they scattered to avoid them, but Wisaketcak’s borrowed feathers dropped off and he fell down among the Indians. “This is Wisaketcak again, we will dung on him.” They placed him in a pit. “Whoever shall defecate, shall befoul him.” In the night an old woman rose to ease herself and went to the pit, but in the meantime Wisaketcak had got out, merely leaving his clothes. The old woman soiled his clothes.

Wisaketcak went traveling again. He saw two moose. “Brethren,, wait for me.” He overtook them. “Brethren, you had better give me some hair, then I shall be a moose and stay with you.” He became a moose and traveled with them. They told him that no Indians were near by. He joined about twelve moose. About the time of the heavy ice crust, Wisaketcak and one of the moose heard a noise. “It seems,” said Wisaketcak, “that some one is coming after us. I will travel ahead and let you follow.” The Indians came and killed the moose, one by one. Wisaketcak was left alone. When they got close, he tore off the moose-skin, turned into his real form, and ran off, leaving the skin behind. The people said, “That’s Wisaketcak again.”

Wisaketcak was traveling. He came to a big lake where he saw some swans. “Brethren, come ashore to me.” He asked them for some of their feathers, saying that he should like to be a swan. They consented, and he became a swan. One calm evening, one of the swans said to Wisaketcak, “You had better not cry so loud, or the Indians will hear us.” It was the swan’s molting time. Wisaketcak replied, “There are no Indians near by.” However, he caught sight of some canoes going after them. The swans started out on the lake to escape, but got too tired to fly. Most of them were killed. At last, two of them and Wisaketcak were the only ones that remained. The two birds approached the shore and were also killed. Wisaketcak set foot on shore and tore off his skin. The people said, “That’s Wisaketcak again.”

Wisaketcak got tired. He sat down. “I will not travel any more.” He seemed to turn into a stone. For a long time he continued to sink below the ground. Only his hair was still visible on the outside of the rock. That was the end of him.

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The trip to the sky

In a time of scarcity, a tribe discovered that all animals had ascended to the sky. They journeyed upward and found sacks containing various creatures and elements. Upon releasing a sack holding heat, it fell and scorched the earth, leaving only water. To recreate land, birds were sent to retrieve mud from the depths, gradually rebuilding the world.

Source: 
Chipewyan Tales
by Robert Harry Lowie
The American Museum of Natural History – Anthropological Papers
Volume X, Part 3
New York, 1912

► Themes of the story


Creation: The narrative describes the reformation of the earth after a catastrophic event, detailing how a bird’s efforts led to the reconstruction of land from the waters.

Journey to the Otherworld: The community embarks on a journey to the sky in search of the animals that have disappeared, aiming to retrieve them and restore balance to their world.

Conflict with Nature: The story highlights the struggle against natural forces, particularly when the accidental release of heat from the sky leads to the burning of the world and subsequent flooding.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about the Chipewyan people

Once in the summer, the Indians had neither fish nor game to eat. They had a council and decided to make medicine. One man said, “Let us get some squirrels.” They got one squirrel and put it alongside the fire. They worked medicine until the squirrel’s hair was singed yellow. The medicine-worker thus found out where good weather and bad weather, rain and snow, as well as all the animals, were kept. He told the people all the animals had gone up to the sky, and advised them to go there also.

The people set out in canoes and kept traveling for a time, then they made a portage to a little lake. They saw a cloud hanging across the sky. All animals were kept in this cloud in different sacks, and the last sack was nearest to the sky-hole.

► Continue reading…

The men paddled up (sic) their canoes until they got to the cloud, and a little fellow told them what kind of animals were contained in each bag, until they got to the last. They asked him several times what was contained in it, but he refused to answer.

At last they seized the sack and ascended to the sky with it, then they dropped it through the sky-hole. The sack contained all the heat, and in falling it burst, so that the heat came out and burnt up the world. They also took the jackfish and threw it down that is why it has such a peaked head now.

There was no earth then, only water was left. [This is unintelligible from the version here presented, but becomes clear from Petitot’s tale, in which the expedition to the salty takes place during an exceptionally severe winter for the purpose of getting heat from the upper world. When the sack is opened, the heat spreads rapidly, melting all the snow and thus producing a flood.] The people sent down birds from the sky to dive for land. They dived down but came back without finding land. At last one bird (pin-tail duck) dived. It did not return for a long time. It came at last, with mud in its mouth and feet. It was sent out again, and brought more mud. It kept flying back and forth, bringing more mud; and thus gradually built up the earth again.

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How Raven brought light

In a time of perpetual darkness, a beautiful woman refused all suitors. Raven, determined to win her, embarked on a journey through the darkness. He discovered a village bathed in light and identified the woman’s house by a distinctive flag. Transforming into a spruce needle, he entered her home and, through cunning, managed to bring light to his own dark world.

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

Creation: The tale explains the origin of light in the world, a fundamental aspect of creation myths.

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

Quest: The story centers on Raven’s journey to obtain and bring back light, a classic quest narrative.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Koyukon people

There was a big village, they say, — a big village where there were many people. There, they say, there lived a certain one who did not wish to get married, a very beautiful woman. Her father, they say, was very wealthy, — he whose daughter it was who did not wish to marry. All the young men of the village tried hard to get her. Some of them brought wood and put it on top of the house (near the smoke-hole). That enemy of Cupid ran out. “What are they getting it for?” says she. She throws it over the bank and goes in again. All the men do the I’ll-try-to-get-I’m-the-one-that-will-try-to-get act, but it is of no use. Some of them set her father’s fishtrap for him, and then they went back and sat down. “Enough of her!” said those village boys. “We just can’t get her,” said they.

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At length they took other women, ugly or not. Men came to see her from other villages, too; but they got nothing but “No.” Some went to get deer. [The local term “deer” has been used throughout for “caribou”] “No,” it was. Then the people of those villages quit her. “Enough!” said they. People from villages everywhere came to see her, north and south, saying, “Let me try!” but “No,” it was. Then they gave it up, too.

Down in the kashime was a Raven man. Now, he began to think, that Raven, there in the dark. All night long he lay awake, thinking. “I think I had better try, too,” thought he. Now, it was dark while they had been doing all these things. So he went out; and he travelled, and he travelled. Dusk or darkness, no sun no moon, only darkness, yet he travelled. When he was tired (of walking), then he would fly, and then again he would change into a man. When his wings hurt him, he would change into a man; and when his legs hurt him, he would fly. By and by it became light with him, as if dawn were approaching, and at length it was as bright as day. Then, as he flew, he saw a village where there were many people (walking around in the) daylight. Then, near the village, he changed himself into a man, and kept on toward the village.

He mingled with the people, but there were so many of them that they were not aware of his presence. Those village people took no notice of him. Now, yonder there was a big kashime, and beside it a large house with a pole raised over it, with a wolverene-skin and a wolf-skin tied to the end, like a flag. Thought the Raven, “Only unmarried women’s houses are like that.” He went up to it. He stood looking, and a great many people came out, busy about their work, and among them a woman. Such a beautiful woman she was, going for water, dressed in a parka made only of marten-skins, with a wolf ruff, of longer fur than usual. “There’s the princess herself,” thought he. He considered how he should act concerning her. Meanwhile the woman left the house to get the water. In the doorway of that house of theirs hung a mat. Out of sight over the bank went the woman. Thereupon he rushed into the doorway and became a spruce-needle, and fell into the interstices of the mat in the shape of a spruce-needle. So there he is, just so. Soon the woman came to the doorway, bringing the water. With her free hand she carried water in a little wooden pail. She was about to push aside the curtain, when the spruce-needle dropped into the pail. She went back to her place in the house, with it floating around in the water. “I will drink some water,” said she; and when she drank, she swallowed the spruce-needle. “Ugh!” said she, “my throat hurts. I swallowed some grass with it.” — “Why didn’t you look inside?” said her mother. “Does it hurt much?” “Why, no,” she said, “it was only a little piece of grass.” The next day at daybreak she called to her mother, so they say. “Ma,” said she, “what’s the matter with me? My belly seems to be big.” “What makes it?” said her mother. “Are you sick?” “Why, no,” said she, “but my belly is big.” The next day she called to her mother again. “Ma,” said she, so they say. “There is something moving in my belly, like a little fish,” said she. “Come here and feel of my belly!” said she. So she felt of her belly. “My daughter!” said she, “what has happened to you? You are just like we are when we are with child” said she in a fright. “If you have not been with anybody, how did you get this way?” said she. “It is only women with husbands that get this way,” said her mother in a fright. “What is going to happen to you?” said she; and when she felt of her belly, the child moved. “That is a child, sure enough,” said she. Soon she began to be in pain. Then her mother said to her, “I’m sure you have not been immodest, yet you are in this condition,” said she. So then that child was born, and it was a boy. It was just like a little raven. They washed him, and dressed him in a fine parka, and he stared with those big eyes of his. He looked all around him, and behind his grandfather hung something that gives light. His grandfather and his grandmother brought him up. They did not sleep, for filling him up with deer-fat. Yes, and his mother’s brothers and sisters took care of him too, that little raven. He crept, and by and by he walked, and then he began to cry incessantly, that child. “What is that bawler saying?” said his grandfather; and his relatives said the same thing. “Perhaps he is in pain,” said they. Sometimes he would stretch out his hand imperiously toward the light. “Maybe he’s saying that he wants that,” said they. “Go ahead and put it by him!” said they. “Just let him see it!” So they took it and gave it to him. He stopped crying right away. By and by he grew bigger, and they gave it to him sometimes, and then put it back again. At length he went out of doors; and whenever he came in, he cried for that thing, and they gave it to him. Even when he was grown up, he would cry for it. “Go ahead and put it on my neck!” said he. “Make a string for it. It will be here at my breast,” said he. Then they put it around his neck. He wore it on his bosom, and went out with it, and ran back into the woods among the bushes. “I hope they will forget me,” thought he. “They never say ‘Where is he?’ about me.” He flew back with that big, shining thing, toward his own village. When he was tired (of walking), he flew; and when his wings were tired, he walked; and at last he came back to his own village.

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The Sun and the Moon

In a village shrouded in darkness, a woman refuses all suitors. One night, she discovers her secret visitor is her own brother. Overcome with anger and shame, she cuts off her breasts, places them in a bowl of ice cream, and presents it to him, declaring that sickness will now afflict mankind. She then transforms into the sun, and her brother, in remorse, becomes the moon

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

Creation: The tale explains the origins of the sun and the moon.

Forbidden Knowledge: The sister’s discovery of her brother’s actions reveals hidden truths with significant consequences.

Divine Punishment: The sister’s declaration that “with mankind shall there be sickness” introduces a form of retribution linked to their actions.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Koyukon people

There was once a large village where there lived a family of children, — four boys and their younger sister, making five. Now, the girl did not want to get married. Many strangers wanted her, and came to visit her, as well as the people of her own village; but she was unwilling to marry. At length the women and men of the village took partners. At that time darkness was over all the earth; there was no sun or moon there.

And there that woman lived, and strangers (came) no (more), and the people of the village took no notice of her. She walks outside, but they never look at her, since others are their wives. So then, one night, some one scratched her head while she slept.

► Continue reading…

“There are no strangers, who is it that is doing this?” she thought: yet she spoke with him. Daily that man who had come in to her began to do the same thing. He became as a husband to her. “Who is it that is doing this?” she thought. “All the village people have their wives, except my brother; he has none, and when there are no strangers, I will tie a feather to his hair; and when they leave the kashime, I will look for whoever has his hair tied,” she thought. “Come,” said she, “go into the kashime and get some sleep! I am sleepy too,” said she, his hair having been tied (to the feather). So the man went to the kashime; and she lay awake, thinking. Soon it became light, and she went out and stood in the door of their house.

So it came the time when we come out; and then she watched the men as they came out, but there was nothing in their hair. Then her brother leaped out. She looked, and there was the feather. It became dark with her, and her face was suffused with blood; then she became hot with anger.

And when it was day, she brought in her fine parka, the clean one, the best she had. Deer-fat too, and berries, she brought in. Neither did she say anything, though her mother spoke to her; and at the time that she made the fire she bathed herself.

Then, dressed in her fine parka and moccasins, she puts ice-cream into this bowl of her brother’s, and takes a dressing-knife, and, (reaching down) within (her parka), cuts off her breasts. Then next she puts them upon the ice-cream; and in (each) she sticks an awl, and takes them into the kashime. When there, she straightens herself up. There sits her brother at the back of the room, opposite the door. She placed (the bowl) by him.

“It was you, then, that did it,” she said. “I supposed that it was some one else that did this thing. Now, with mankind shall there be sickness,” said she. Then she went out; and there yonder she went, and the sun rose; and her brother too put on his parka and his moccasins also, but only one of them, in his hurry, thinking, “It may be that my sister has escaped from me.” Then he too went away, and became the moon.

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The Creation (3)

The story discusses Koyukon beliefs about creation and morality. It describes a time when only water and mountains existed, followed by the creation of living beings and the first humans. When these humans committed wrongdoings, their food was taken away as punishment. The narrative emphasizes that divine beings observe human actions and that moral transgressions lead to divine retribution, often through the loss of sustenance.

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

Creation: The narrative explains how the world and life began.

Divine Punishment: The first humans faced consequences (loss of food) for their wrongdoing.

Origin of Things: The story provides explanations for natural phenomena and human existence.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Koyukon people

From the same village on the Chageluk, 1910. Isaac Fisher’s uncle, now the oldest man, gives this account.

He did not know of the name “Our Father” being taught before the missionaries came. The children were taught that if they did anything wrong, some one who lives above would see it. Eating out of doors in winter was doing wrong. He believes that when the people get to doing very wrong, God punishes them by taking away their food. Then they return to the right way. He says that there spring up right-minded men who lead the people in the right paths.

As to the origin of the world, he says that at first there was nothing but water about here, except the mountains. Living things were made next, and afterwards a man and a woman were made. Food was provided for them. When they did wrong, their food was taken away.

► Continue reading…

As to the belief in the state of the dead, it seems to rest upon a story, which they accept as true, of a woman who was met by a spirit who supposed that she was also dead, and who took her to the abode of the spirits. The spirit is supposed to stop, on the way to its final abode, at different places where flies, mosquitoes, and other insects live.

Another account of the creation of men says that one who is above made a string of mud men reaching from the earth to the sky, and animated them.

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The Creation (2)

The earth starts small and expands over time. A pair of people emerge, finding sustenance and clothing mysteriously provided. They encounter a man who claims ownership of the provisions and commands their obedience. This man, living with other men but no women, captures a woman who transforms from a goose. The men marry these transformed women, have children, and send them across the river to populate new areas.

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

Creation: The narrative explains how the earth expanded and life began.

Origin of Things: It provides an explanation for the emergence of the first humans and the peopling of the river regions.

Cultural Heroes: The man who captures the goose-woman and initiates the lineage of people serves as a foundational figure in the culture.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Koyukon people

This account came from the oldest man in Nihlte’uxaidli’nktu, in 1896. He was the father of Benjamin and Go’uxolo’ihl Witho’. (This is from the Chageluk Slough. It would seem to be a mixture of two legends.)

The earth was small at first, and the land gradually increased. There was a small pair of people going about here and there in the grass. They warmed themselves in the grass, and grew with the earth. They slept, and found food placed near them, which they ate. Clothes were provided in the same way, and also berries. At length they met a man, who spoke to them angrily, and asked them why they had taken his food and berries. “For this you will obey my commands.” The man went away, they did not know where, — but he re-appeared to them from time to time. His village was across the Slough from Nihlte’uxaidli’nktu, where he lived with other men, but no women. Going about in his canoe, he heard the noise of talking and laughing, which proceeded from many women. He went up quietly and launched his spear, which passed through the parka of one of them. The rest turned into geese and flew away; but he captured this one and took her home. The rest of the men began to get wives in the same way. They gave their children food and clothes as they grew up, taught them different tongues, and sent them away, up and down the river, which they peopled.

► Continue reading…

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The Creation (1)

An unnamed being from above creates the world, fashioning a porcupine, a white bear, a man, and a brown bear as the first beings. After completing creation, he ascends to heaven. The Raven remains on earth, altering the original design, introducing death, and establishing the path for departed souls. The narrative also touches upon afterlife beliefs and the origins of rituals honoring the deceased.

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

Creation: The story explains the origin of the world and its first creatures.

Underworld Journey: The tale describes the path souls take after death to their final destination.

Ritual and Initiation: The narrative explains the origin of rituals performed by the living to honor and support the deceased.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Koyukon people

There was some one above who made the world. They do not name him, but speak of him as being above. He was upon the world that he made, and did all the various works that men were to do. The natives say nothing of his resting upon the seventh day, as the Christians do.

The first of the creatures that he made was a porcupine, the next a white bear, the third was a man, and the fourth a brown bear.

After that, he made all other things, and then went up to heaven, and there he remains; and there is no heaven higher than the one where he is.

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But there was on the earth another man, the Raven, who remained, and changed many things; so that what was originally intended to be good became perverted. He made wooden images, and flung them in different directions, and told them to come to life and do whatever they pleased. Originally men did not die in the same way as they do now, but passed into the spirit state and back again. The Raven changed that by making a trail for the dead people to take, and since then they do not return. When the spirit enters upon this path, it has to camp for four nights before it reaches its destination. At the end of each day, it finds a camp-fire burning. This fire burns perpetually. The path leads to some place near the sources of the Yukon River. There is a story of a young man who went up the river as far as he could go, but was warned by the people there that he should go back; for they told him that if he kept on, he would come to a portage that the souls of the dead took, and that if he were to enter on that portage and hear any sounds, he would never be able to return. So he was afraid to continue, and went back. There is also another story of a young woman who was snatched up, and found herself among the dead; but she made her escape and returned to her own people. While she was among the dead, she was sustained by the offerings of her friends, who supposed her to be dead; and it is from that time that the feast for the dead began. At this feast, clothing and food are formally given to some one who represents the dead person, and it is supposed that this turns to the benefit of the one who is gone. In general, the happiness of those who are gone is affected by the conduct of those related to them, who are still living. If these are generous and kindly, the dead will be kindly received by those who have gone before.

As to the actions of those who are still on the earth influencing their own future existence, the souls of all, both bad and good, start on the same path, but the paths separate. Those who were unkind, and wantons, whether men or women, go to a kind of kashime, where they are tortured perpetually in the fire. Those who have hanged themselves go to a place where they remain suspended in the wind. The good go to a place where they have no more trouble.

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The Great Flood

In ancient times, all beings coexisted in a single land, sharing one language. A wise man predicted a great flood, but many dismissed his warning. As relentless rain fell, waters rose, submerging all but the highest peaks. Survivors sought refuge on these summits, while others perished. The floodwaters eventually receded, leaving the remaining people to repopulate the earth.

Source: 
Tahltan Tales
by James A. Teit
The American Folklore Society
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.32, No.124, pp.198-250
April-June, 1917
Vol.34, No.133, pp.223-253
July-September, 1921
Vol.34, No.134, pp.335-356
October-December, 1921

► Themes of the story

Creation: The tale explains a significant event that reshapes the world and its inhabitants.

Good vs. Evil: The narrative contrasts the wise man’s foresight with the people’s arrogance and disbelief.

Divine Intervention: The flood can be interpreted as a higher power’s response to human behavior.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Tahltan people

Very long ago, when the world was very young, all the people were together in one country. They talked one language, and were of one race. Many of them were highly gifted with knowledge and magic, while others knew very little. In some respects the people were very wise; and in other respects they were very helpless, simple, and ignorant. In appearance they were similar to the people of today, and most of them were well-meaning and good. Besides these people, there were many others in the same country who were not altogether human, but more like animals with human characteristics [Some say, “people with animal characteristics.”]. They were nearly all highly gifted with certain kinds of knowledge, and possessed of magical powers of many kinds, often of a high order. Besides these human and semi-human beings, there were many kinds of animals, some of them of immense size, and different from any on the earth at the present day. Most of the semi-human beings were very wicked, and some of them were cannibals. There were also giants in those days.

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A wise man [possibly Beaver] of the people said, “Something is going to happen, maybe a great flood will come;” but the people would not believe him. Now the animals became very tame and came into people’s houses. They seemed to have a foreboding of something. Then the people said to one another, “Something is going to happen. See how tame the animals are!” Many people laughed. They said, “Let the flood come! We shall save ourselves on rafts.” Others said, “We shall climb the trees. We shall climb the mountains.” Yet others said, “We shall subdue the flood with our magic. We shall escape by our magical powers.”

At last a heavy rain set in, and it rained for many days and nights. The creeks and rivers overflowed their banks, and the ocean rose and flooded the land. At the same time the earth tipped, and the water ran to that place where the people dwelt. Now there was a great flood, and the waters rose so rapidly that people were surrounded in many places and could not escape. Some climbed trees and rocks and hills and mountains; but the water overtook them, and they were drowned. For ten days it rose continually and rapidly. The rain and flood were accompanied by storms, high winds, and darkness. The sun, moon, and Dipper stars were lost. The whole earth was covered by water excepting the highest peaks. Only two peaks in the Tahltan country were not covered by the deluge, — Takitstsi’tla [Chesley or Shesley Mountain] — on the west side of Chesley River; and Tse’toxtle [Cone Mountain], on the south side of the Stikine River. Some people tried to save themselves on rafts, large and small. In the darkness the wind and sea drove them hither and thither. They all became separated and lost. They did not know where they were. Some saw mountain-peaks exposed above the water, and tried to reach them. Some succeeded, and others did not. Some rafts were driven off a very long way; others went to pieces, and the people on them died or were washed off. Rats and mice got aboard some of the large rafts, and gnawed the withes binding the logs together; so that they came apart, and the people were drowned.

Some people reached the two mountains in the Tahltan country, and went ashore. Some others went ashore on the high peaks which were not submerged in other countries. However, only a few were saved, and they were at widely-separated points. They became the ancestors of all the people in the world at the present day. Very few of the wicked semi-animal people survived, and only a few giants. Some animals escaped by taking refuge on the high unsubmerged peaks in various countries, but most of them were drowned. Some kinds of animals became extinct. The surviving animals spread afterwards from the high peaks into neighboring parts of the country, and multiplied. They are the animals now known to us.

After ten days the flood subsided; the rain, storms, and darkness lessened; and in another ten days the waters had receded completely. The survivors came down from the mountains, but everything was soaking wet. They could find no dry fire-wood, and could make no fires. They tried many different kinds of wood and bark, but they would not light. At last they tried the inside bark of the balsam poplar. This was the only dry thing. Water cannot penetrate it. They made fire with it.

The people were very poor. They had lost almost everything. They had very few tools and clothes, and game was now very scarce. They came down into the lowlands to live by fishing. Being but remnants of the people, much of their former knowledge and magic had been lost. The few surviving bad people (semi-animals and giants, cannibals, and others) settled down and preyed on the good people. All were later transformed or killed by Raven, or their powers for evil were taken away by him. Raven also located and brought back the sun, moon, and Dipper, which had been lost. The people who survived the Flood increased in number at the several points where they had located, and gradually spread over the country. In time some of them migrated here and there into other districts in search of better living-conditions; others did likewise when they became too many in one place.

After a long time, some people came into contact with others at certain points, and thus they learned that there were people in the world besides themselves. When they met, they found that they spoke different languages and had difficulty in understanding one another. This came about by their being separated and living isolated for a long period of time. That all the people were one originally, is evidenced by many customs, beliefs, and traditions which are common to all. [The narrator instanced several beliefs regarding bear and salmon held in common by all the neighboring tribes.] These customs survived the Flood. The people who landed on Cone Mountain went down to the coast, and became the ancestors of the Tlingit of the neighboring part of the coast. Those who landed on Chesley Mountain went down the Taku River, and became the ancestors of the Taku Tlingit. Probably the Tahltan country was not inhabited for a long time after this, when the women from Nass and Tagish met at Tahltan; and since then other people from east and west have come into the country. Some people say that the Flood came to destroy all the bad people that were on the earth long ago.

Running and expanding this site requires resources: from maintaining our digital platform to sourcing and curating new content. With your help, we can grow our collection, improve accessibility, and bring these incredible narratives to an even wider audience. Your sponsorship enables us to keep the world’s stories alive and thriving. ♦ Visit our Support page