A girl defies her father’s wishes, refusing marriage to a man, instead calling nightly for a ke’le, a mythical being from the lake. She forms a secret bond with the creature, but her parents deceive and kill it. Heartbroken, she searches in vain, her sorrow culminating in the discovery of a skull, symbolizing loss and unfulfilled desires.
Source
The Jessup North Pacific Expedition
edited by Franz Boas
Memoir of the American Museum
of Natural History – New York
Volume VIII
1. Chukchee Mythology
by Waldemar Bogoras
Leiden & New York, 1910
► Themes of the story
Forbidden Love: The woman’s romantic relationship with the lake spirit defies societal and familial expectations.
Family Dynamics: The story highlights the conflict between the woman’s desires and her parents’ expectations, leading to tragic consequences.
Loss and Renewal: The woman’s profound grief following the loss of her supernatural lover signifies themes of loss and the search for closure.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Chukchee people
This tale was left unfinished, because the next one, which was taken down earlier, and from another person, forms its continuation. The two tales form a unit; but the second half is more popular among the Chukchee, and has been found in various localities.
A girl refused to be married at the behest of her father. “To whom do you want to be married? You do not consent to be married to a man. Perhaps to a ke´lẹ you want to be married.” She paid no attention (to her father’s words). At the same time, every evening she would sing outside of the tent, “From the lake, O penis, come out!” After that she would enter (the house). Her father heard this, and said to his wife, “Oh, this daughter of ours, when we try to persuade her to marry, she quarrels with us; but to whom is she married? She is married to a ke´lẹ of the lake.” They said nothing to her.
Evening came. She went to the lake. Then she began to sing on the lake-shore. “From the lake, O penis, come out!” Then a [mere] penis appeared. She sat down upon it, and she herself copulated with it. At the dawn of the day she went home.
Then her father said to her, “Go and fetch some wood!” She obeyed. Meanwhile they went to the lake, he and his wife, and they deceived it (by this song): “From the lake, O penis, come out!” Then from the lake a penis was thrust out. They caught it and cut it off. Thus they killed it.
► Continue reading…
The wood-carrier came home. Evening was approaching. The girl quickly cooked food. Evening came. Then again she went out to the lake. Then she was secretly watched.
Again she began to sing, “From the lake, O penis, come out!” Nothing appeared. Another time, “From the lake, O penis, come out!” After that she even began to cry. “Oh, how strange!” Then again, “From the lake, O penis, come out!” Nothing (appeared).
Then she cried. She sorrowed much for the penis. Her house-mates were secretly watching her. Oh, oh! but it was not there. She finished crying, and again (sang), “From the lake, O penis, come out!” She cried much, as if she were sorrowing for a dead (husband). At last she came home. She could not do anything. On the next day she went to the open country and found a bare skull.
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Dreamtime Whispers 