A woman, captured by the Eskimo, escapes with her child. After a long journey, she encounters a vast herd of caribou, from which she secures meat. Leaving her greedy child behind, she continues alone and discovers a hill of metal. She collects some and later shares its location with strangers, believed to be Europeans, introducing them to metal. The stone markers she erected to retrace her path reportedly grew large over time.
Source:
Chipewyan Texts
by Pliny Earle Goddard
The American Museum of Natural History – Anthropological Papers
Volume X, Part 1
New York, 1912
► Themes of the story
Quest: The woman’s journey to escape captivity and her subsequent travels in search of sustenance and safety represent a quest.
Origin of Things: The story provides an explanation for the origin of metal possession among certain people, attributing it to the woman’s discovery.
Cultural Heroes: The woman serves as a foundational figure who brings the knowledge of metal to others, significantly impacting their society.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Chipewyan people
This myth is briefly given by Samuel Hearne (A Journey from Prince of Wales’ Port in Hudson’s Bay to the Northern Ocean, London, 1795), in reference to the copper mines near Coppermine River which he visited in 1771, Petitot secured this myth at Cold Lake in 1881 with the interesting additional incident of the woman gradually sinking into the mountain. This conclusion of the story was also given by the informant from whom text 13 was secured. He added that the shallow place crossed by the woman was caused by the body of a giant who fell there in a combat.
Once a woman was stolen by the Eskimo. After she had lived with them for some time and had a child, she went away, taking it with her. She went a long distance killing birds and rabbits for food. The child was very greedy often eating everything up away from its mother. After a time they came to a large lake where she sat and cried. While she was sitting there she saw a wolf walking through the water. She wondered how he was able to cross the lake. He came up to her and licked the tears from her eyes. She soon got up and broke off two sticks. “I want to see how deep the water is,” she said to herself. She waded far out into the lake but the water was only a little below her knees. Finally, she could not see the land behind her. It grew dark but she continued to wade until morning. Toward evening of the next day, there was something behind that looked like land. “The Eskimo must be following me,” she thought. Ahead of her there also seemed to be land. When she came close to the shore, whatever it was behind her was also approaching. She walked very fast; the water was always at the same depth. When she came to the land, she found that it was a vast herd of caribou that was following her. She had only an awl with her but tying it to a stick she sat with it by the trail. As they came by her, she speared them. There were so many of them that they looked like land. They continued passing her until the trail was worn down so deep that only their horns stuck up. When she had killed a large number, she began drying the meat so that she could carry it with her. “I am going to leave that greedy boy behind,” she said to herself. “I will make some soup for him, in a paunch.”
► Continue reading…
“My son, wait here for me, I am going to carry the meat to the top of the hill,” she said to him. She started away without him. When she came to the top of the first hill she looked back and saw that he was still sitting there, eating. She went on to the top of another hill and from there she could still see him eating. The woman walked along alone. When it was night she saw a fire toward which she continued walking. She walked on for many days and nights. Every night she could see the fire. When she came to it, she found it was metal. She gathered up the best pieces and placed them in her blanket and carried them with her. As she went back she piled stones on top of each other on the tops of all the hills, so that she would know the way if she wished to return. Finally, she came to some kind of people whom she did not know. When they saw that she had metal they asked her where she got it. “Very far away, in that direction, there is one hill of nothing else. It was there that I found it.” “Take us to it,” they said to her. She went with these people who are believed to have been Frenchmen [any European except an Englishman]. Ever after, they knew about metal and were the only people who possessed it. The stones which she placed one above the other were always to be seen after that. They say the stones have now grown to be very large.
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