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.”)

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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.

No’unne’gu

A wealthy young man named No’unne’gu seeks to marry Ka’muxa’isyuk’s daughter. Ka’muxa’isyuk, a powerful shaman, has previously killed No’unne’gu’s brothers using two brown bears. No’unne’gu overcomes deadly challenges, including retrieving lava stones from Siberia and confronting the bears. After marrying the daughter, he kills her in revenge for his brothers and leaves her body in her father’s fish-net.

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

Quest: No’unne’gu embarks on a perilous journey to Siberia to retrieve lava stones, a task assigned by Ka’muxa’isyuk.

Cunning and Deception: Ka’muxa’isyuk employs deceitful tactics, such as creating a storm and setting traps, in attempts to thwart No’unne’gu’s mission.

Revenge and Justice: After successfully completing the tasks and marrying Ka’muxa’isyuk’s daughter, No’unne’gu exacts revenge for his brothers’ deaths by killing her and leaving her body for her father to find.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

A story told in connection with the feast of animals’ souls.

No’unne’gu is a rich man, who has a parka of marten skins. He lives with several of his brothers at a place on the Yukon some distance above Anvik. He is the youngest of the family. Below Anvik lives a rich man, who has a wife and a daughter. His name is Ka’muxa’isyuk. He has two sons. They live in one of the Ingalik villages. Every year one of the young men of No’unne’gu’s family goes down to court Ka’muxa’isyuk’s daughter, but her father kills them, with the help of two brown bears that he keeps. Finally it comes No’unne’gu’s turn to go down. He is a strong man. Ka’muxa’isyuk sends him to Siberia to get tcachl (lava-stones) to put into the fire when the kashime is heated, so as to preserve the heat. He takes his baidara and sets out. He gets the stones; but when he starts to return, Ka’muxa’isyuk, who is a powerful shaman, creates a great storm.

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But No’unne’gu has a charm bound up in his hair at the back of his neck. It is a small, black stone. He takes this out, and throws it toward the shore from which he has come, and a path of smooth water appears, while the waves rage on each side. The shaman thinks that he has finished him; but he gets back, with the stones. Then the shaman sends him into the woods for a load of fuel. There is a path under the spruces; but the two brown bears have been set to watch for him, one on each side of the path. He is not afraid of them, but takes one with each hand, by the back of the neck, and gives them a shaking and goes on. He brings back the wood and splits it in front of the door of the kashime, and makes a fire, and heats up the stones that he has brought. The shaman thinks that by sending him into the kashime while the fire is hot, he will cause his death; but he survives, and the shaman gives in, and lets him have his daughter. He takes her in his canoe and goes off; but on the way he takes off her parka, and ties a string around her neck, and throws her, screaming, into the water, and drags her until she is dead, in revenge for the death of his brothers. When he reaches her father’s fish-net, he fastens her body in it and goes home. The next day her father finds the body in the net, with the rope around the neck, and he understands.

The deceitful wife

A hunter struggles to find game, leaving his family starving. His wife discovers a bear’s den, hides it, and secretly kills the bear, feeding herself and their children while deceiving her husband. When her brothers arrive seeking food, she lies about their situation. Upon learning of her deceit, the husband kills his wife and children for hiding food and betraying him.

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

Family Dynamics: The narrative centers on relationships within a family, highlighting betrayal and the consequences of hidden actions.

Revenge and Justice: The husband’s act of killing his wife and children serves as retribution for her deception and selfishness.

Moral Lessons: The tale imparts a lesson on the destructive consequences of deceit and selfishness within a family unit.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

A man was out hunting. He had a wife and four children. He could find no large game. All he could get were small birds, sometimes only one or two a day. They were starving, and moved their camp. The woman found a bear’s den. She heaped a pile of snow over it to conceal it, and camped alongside. Her husband was hunting. That night he heard near the head of the bed growling as of a dog. He asked his wife what it might be, and she answered that she was scratching herself.

They were to move camp again the next day. In the morning her husband went ahead to try to find some game. He was barely out of sight when the woman killed the bear. She cooked the meat. Her husband smelled the burning hair and meat, and came back. As soon as she saw him, she hid the bear, and put the head of one of her children into the fire and scorched his hair.

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She told her husband that one of the boys had gone too close to the fire and had singed his hair. When he saw the boy with his hair burnt, he believed what she said, and departed. The woman fed herself and children, and put the rest of the meat on her toboggan. Now, her brothers were also starving, and, thinking that their brother-in-law might be well provided with game, they journeyed towards his camp. When they struck his trail, they followed it, and came to the place where their sister and her children had been eating the bear-meat. They saw the bear’s skull hanging there. They were glad, and thought that their brother-in-law had been successful in hunting. The woman concealed the bear-meat from her husband, and kept it for herself and her children. When her brothers arrived in camp, they said to their brother-in-law, “We are starving;” and she answered, “So am I.” They said, “We saw the skull of a bear that you had killed, and we thought you had meat.” Then the woman said, “I will give you some meat to eat,” and she took some out of her toboggan. The brothers were ashamed, and went off without eating. Then the husband killed her and the children, because she had hidden the food and deceived him.

The faithless wife; or, the origin of witchcraft

A wife feigns illness to deceive her husband and secretly lives with her lover. Upon discovering her betrayal, the husband attempts various methods of witchcraft for revenge, ultimately succeeding by using a dog’s bone to gain supernatural abilities. He kills both his wife and her lover discreetly, leading the community to suspect him. This event marks the origin of witchcraft among the people.

► Themes of the story

Love and Betrayal: The wife’s infidelity and deception towards her husband.

Revenge and Justice: The husband’s actions to punish his unfaithful wife and her lover.

Forbidden Knowledge: The husband’s discovery and use of witchcraft to achieve his revenge.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

A family lived in a large, long village in the Hutcenu’ country [a division of the Tlingit (Hutsnuwu, “bear-fort”)]. It consisted of husband, wife, and some children. The wife feigned sickness when her husband was at home. Whenever her husband was away, her lover came and staid with her. She said to her husband, “I have been sick a long time now; I am going to die soon.” Later she said to him, “I am going to die tonight. Do not burn my body, but put it on top of the ground in a house of poles.” [Some of the people in Hutsnuwu are said to have disposed of their dead in this manner.] She had already put rotten clams underneath her body. The people buried her as she had directed, and her husband went to the grave and cried for his dead wife. She was not there, however, for she had departed the first night after the pole-house had been erected over her. She went off with her lover, and was living with him in the farthest house at the end of the village.

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Some time afterwards one of her sons, who was a big boy, happened to go to this house. He was surprised to see his mother there. She never spoke to him, and feigned not to know him. When he came home, he told his father, who said, “You must be mistaken. You know that your mother is dead. The woman you saw may have a face resembling that of your mother, but it cannot be that she is alive.” The boy went back to the house and had a good look. He came back, and told his father he was sure it was his mother. His father then went, and, looking through a crack in the house, recognized his wife. He went home, and said to himself, “I wish I could do something to kill them!” He tried to bewitch them with every kind of thing, including dead people’s bones, but did not succeed. Then he tried the bone of a dead dog. When he put this bone on his body, he began to shiver as shamans do when their spirits come into them. He kept on working with the dog-bone and dog-spirit until at last he was able to fly. Now he made two arrows of hard wood [some people say that he took two hard-wood sticks and sharpened the points.], and, flying the whole length of the village, he caused everybody to fall asleep. He went to the place where his wife and her lover were, and pushed an arrow into his wife’s rectum, thus killing her. He killed her lover in the same manner. When the people woke up, they said, “Why have we slept so late this morning?” They wondered why the woman and man did not get up. They examined them, and found them stiff and dead, with arrows sticking in them. They prepared the bodies for cremation, and wondered how they had been killed. Now the husband dressed up in his best clothes. He seemed very happy, and went around laughing, and challenging people to play the stick-game. When he played, he always won. The people noticed that when he played, he always joked and called the trump toq qetz, which means “anus root-digger.” This and his changed demeanor made the people think that he was the murderer of the woman and her lover; but they said nothing about it at that time, as they did not know of witchcraft. Afterwards all the people of that place became famous as witches, and witchcraft spread from them to other tribes. In this way witchcraft was introduced.

The Water-Being as a lover

A man discovers his wife’s affair with a water-being from a nearby lake. Suspicious of her frequent absences and adornments, he disguises himself as her, lures the water-being, and kills him. He then cooks the creature’s flesh and serves it to his wife, revealing the truth mid-meal. Overcome with guilt and horror, she becomes ill, leading to her demise.

► Themes of the story

Forbidden Love: The woman’s secret affair with a supernatural entity defies societal and marital norms.

Cunning and Deception: The husband’s use of disguise and trickery to uncover and punish the affair showcases themes of wit and deceit.

Revenge and Justice: The husband’s actions represent a form of retribution for his wife’s betrayal.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

A man had a wife who fell in love with a water-being who lived in a lake near their camp. The husband noticed that his wife was always sick and could do little work. When she went for fire-wood, she brought only a little. Yet every day she painted her face and combed her hair as young girls do. He became suspicious; and one day, instead of going hunting, he watched her. She went to the edge of the lake, where the roots of a stump extended into the water. Here she gave a signal. The water-being looked up in the middle of the lake, disappeared again, and came to the tree, where he made love to the woman. Afterwards she went home lame. The next day the man asked his wife to bring in some meat of the game that he had killed; but she protested, claiming to be too sick. Finally she went. Then the man painted and dressed himself to resemble his wife, went to the tree at the lake, and gave the signal.

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The water-being came out of the lake and embraced the man, who at once stabbed and killed him. He cut off his large privates and carried them home. He boiled them with pieces of fat and other meat. When his wife returned, he said, “I am sure you must be tired and hungry. I have cooked something nice for you.” When she had been eating a short time, he remarked, “Women now eat their lovers’ privates.” She looked, and recognized a piece of the meat, and at once became very sick. Her husband killed her and cut off her head. He then returned to where the other people lived, and told them what had happened.

Second version. A man’s wife always went to the shores of a certain lake to gather roots, and brought back hardly any. She would not go to any other place. Her husband became suspicious. She complained of being sick and lame. One day he told her he was going hunting, but instead sat down on a hill above the lake and watched. His wife came along; and when she reached the shores of the lake, she began to sing a love-song. A water-being came out and played with her. The husband told her he would go the next day and gather the roots, as she was sick and not able to gather much. He disguised himself. When he sang a love-song as his wife had done, the water-being came out. The man cut off his privates with a knife which he had concealed in his bosom. He boiled them, and gave them to his wife to eat. When she saw what she had been eating, she vomited, and afterwards, through shame, committed suicide.

The cannibal women who lured men

A cannibal woman and her daughter inhabited an island, luring men to their deaths. The daughter seduced visitors, convincing them to lie beneath her, then used her sharp forearm to slit their throats, after which the pair consumed the bodies. One man, suspecting foul play, visited the island armed with a knife. He reversed the roles, killed the daughter, and fled. The enraged mother pursued him but, exhausted from attacking his fortified shelter, was ultimately slain by the man.

► Themes of the story

Cunning and Deception: The protagonist employs cleverness to uncover the women’s plot and defeat them.

Good vs. Evil: The man’s struggle against the malevolent cannibal women.

Revenge and Justice: The man seeks to uncover the truth behind the disappearances and delivers justice by killing the cannibal women.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

A cannibal woman and her daughter lived on an island. When men landed on the island, they were lured by the mother to make love to her daughter. The daughter induced the men to lie underneath her; and then she slit their throats with her fore-arm, which was as sharp as a knife. The two women then ate the men’s bodies. A man who lived on the mainland near by had noticed that no one who went to the island ever came back, and he wondered what became of them. He watched, and saw that they entered a house and never came out. He hid a sharp knife in his clothes and went to the island to investigate. He was called by some one who had a sweet, attractive voice. He followed the sound to the house. There he was met by the old woman, who invited him in, saying, “Come in and see my daughter! I have a fine daughter of great beauty.” He went in, and noticed the old woman sitting some distance away, partly concealed.

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Presently a very fine-looking young woman came in from the other side of the partition, arrayed in fine garments and nicely painted and combed. She asked him if he cared to lie with her, and he nodded his assent. She told him to follow her to the other room. She asked him to take the lower position. He said, “No, I will not do that, in my country the man always is on the top.” The old woman thought they were taking a long time. She became anxious, and called, “Are you not ready yet?” The young woman answered, “No, he wants to be on the top, he will not go underneath.” Her mother said to her, “It does not matter, you can cut him just the same.” The young woman then agreed, and they lay down. The man quickly cut her throat, and covered her mouth with his other hand, so that she could not make a noise. The old woman asked again, “Are you not through yet?” and the man answered, “No, pretty soon.” When he was sure that the woman was dead, he withdrew his hand and quickly ran out of the house. The old woman was surprised to see him run out, and went to see her daughter. When she found her lying dead in a pool of blood, she gave chase. The man ran to a strong fort in the forest. The old woman, who was in a great hurry, ran straight through the forest, cutting a wide swathe of trees and bushes with the large knives on her fore-arms. When she reached the log fort, she attacked it with her arms, the knives cutting slices out of the logs. As she kept on cutting, she became more and more tired, and the knives more and more dull. When the house was almost cut through, she became so tired and the knives so dull, that she could hardly cut any more. The man then ran out and killed her with his knife.

The man and his sister

A man secretly engages in an affair with his sister, neglecting his own family. When her husband discovers the infidelity, the brother kills him and desecrates his body. The man’s wife uncovers the betrayal and, seeking revenge, kills both her husband and his sister, desecrating their bodies in turn. She then moves her children to the sister’s camp, utilizing the ample meat supply, and later shares her story with their community, who commend her actions.

► Themes of the story

Love and Betrayal: The narrative centers on the man’s betrayal of his own family through his affair with his sister and the subsequent treachery involved in murdering her husband.

Revenge and Justice: The man’s wife seeks retribution for the wrongs committed by her husband and his sister, ultimately delivering justice through their deaths.

Tragic Flaw: The man’s moral weaknesses—his lust and betrayal—lead to his downfall and death.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

A man lived with his wife and children near the head of a creek; and near by, at the head of another creek on the opposite side of the mountain, lived his sister and her husband. Often, when her husband was out hunting, the man went to his sister and cohabited with her. Her husband became suspicious and watched her. On several successive days he saw a man go into the camp. He asked his wife who it was that visited her; and she answered, “Only my brother, that is nothing.” The husband said no more. After this he came home one day and found him with his wife. He was angry, and they fought. The brother killed him, and, opening up his body, defecated inside. After this the brother spent more time with his sister than with his wife. The game that he killed he took to her, and nothing to his wife and family. His wife noticed that he looked tired every night, and in many ways showed that he had killed game.

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Still he always came home empty-handed, and claimed to have killed nothing. The family was starving; and the wife proposed that her husband go and see his brother-in-law, as he might have plenty of meat. He answered that he had been there, and his brother-in-law also could get no game and was out of food (he wanted his wife to starve). One day when her husband was away, the woman went to her sister-in-law’s camp, and found it full of meat. She also found the dead body of her sister-in-law’s husband, and saw what had been done to it. Her own husband was not there. She returned to camp, and made an arrow with a specially large head. The next day, when her husband was away, she went to his sister’s camp, and concealed herself in a place adjacent to the dead body in which he defecated, but at a lower level. When he came to the place to defecate, she shot the arrow up his anus. He cried out, “Come, sister! Some one is killing me!” His sister ran out, and the woman killed her also. She opened up both the bodies and defecated in them, saying, “Now I have my revenge.” As she had many children, she moved to the camp where the dead bodies were, and lived there, as there was a vast supply of meat. Later she and her children returned to the main body of the people, and told them of the wickedness of her husband and his sister. They approved of her deed.

Story of the ants

Two brothers married to two sisters hunt caribou daily. Overhearing a suspicious conversation between the sisters, the elder brother kills his wife by pushing her into a large ant nest. The younger sister, suspecting foul play, later kills both brothers. This story explains why ants have red heads and bite people.

► Themes of the story

Love and Betrayal: The narrative involves marital relationships that are tested and ultimately broken through acts of betrayal.

Revenge and Justice: The story depicts acts of retribution following betrayal, leading to the demise of the offending parties.

Origin of Things: The myth explains the reason behind certain traits of ants, linking their current form to past events.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

Two brothers were married to two sisters. [It is not clear that these people were ants, but it would seem so.] The husbands hunted every day, and brought home plenty of caribou-meat. When they came home, they always listened before entering the lodge. One night, when they were listening, a squirrel made a noise, as squirrels do in the evening-time. The younger sister said, “He makes a noise just like the one I make.” The elder one said to her, “Don’t say that! Our husbands might become suspicious.” Next day they moved camp, the elder couple travelling some distance ahead. They came to a place where there was a very large ant’s nest in rotten wood. The man pushed his wife into the nest; and the ants went all through her, coming out at her ears, nose, mouth, and eyes. The man then went on and made camp. When the younger sister arrived, she inquired for her sister, but the man never answered.

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Then she thought that he must have killed her. On the following day the men went hunting, each going his own way. The brother who had killed his wife then came back to camp, and wanted to have connection with his sister-in-law, saying, “Let us go to a hidden place!” The woman hid a knife in her bosom and went with him. When they embraced, she said, “I must be on top: I always do that way.” He agreed, and she suddenly pulled out the knife and cut his throat. That night she killed her husband (the other brother) in the same way. This is why ants have red heads now, and bite people. [The connection is not clear; but probably their heads are red because they were beheaded, and their heads bloody]

The fisherman and the killer-whales

A fisherman and his wife catch an unfamiliar fish, which they prepare and dry. When the wife washes her hands in the sea, Killer-Whales seize her in revenge. The fisherman seeks help from the Fish chief, who sends Shark to assist. Shark creates a distraction, enabling the couple’s escape. As they flee, Shark battles the pursuing Killer-Whales, allowing the couple to return home safely.

► Themes of the story

Underworld Journey: The fisherman’s journey to the underwater realm to rescue his wife.

Revenge and Justice: The Killer-Whales’ act of abducting the fisherman’s wife as retribution for killing their companion.

Cunning and Deception: Shark’s clever tactics to create a distraction and facilitate the rescue.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

A man was out fishing and drying halibut, and his wife helped him. One day he felt something very heavy on his hook, and could not pull it up. He tied the line to the thwart of the canoe, and paddled ashore. With much trouble he managed to land the fish on the beach. He called on his wife to kill it quickly, and she despatched it with her knife. She cut it up and hung it up to dry, as is done with halibut. They did not know what kind of a fish it was. It was quite strange to them, but they thought it might be good food. When the woman had finished her work, she went to the edge of the water to wash her hands. As soon as she put her hands into the water, something seized them and pulled her underneath the sea. She had been taken by the Killer-Whales, who had come to have revenge on the man for killing their friend. The man followed the trail of his wife and her captors under the sea.

► Continue reading…

He came to the house of the Fish chief, and asked him if he knew where his wife was. The chief said, “Yes, the Killer-Whales have taken her to be their slave.” The man asked the chief if any fish of his company would care to help him get back his wife. The chief asked the fishes if any of them would volunteer, and Shark said he would go. Shark went ahead to Killer-Whale’s house, and hid the man outside the door. He went in, and saw that the Killer-Whales were about to eat their evening meal. Their chief said, “Make the fire blaze, that we may see well!” Shark was standing next to the fire. He jumped up quickly and put much wood on the fire, so that it blazed up. The chief then said, “Some one fetch water!” Shark seized the buckets and ran out to draw water. As he came in and was passing the fire, he stumbled purposely, and upset the buckets in the fire, thus causing a dense cloud of ashes and steam to arise. Quickly he caught up the woman, pushed her out into the arms of her husband, who was waiting, and followed them. Shark kept in the rear, and said to the man, “Keep a-going! If they overtake us, I shall fight them,” When the man and woman were nearly home, they looked back, and saw a severe fight in progress. Shark was fighting all the Killer-Whales, biting them with his sharp teeth, and tearing them with his rough skin.