Tag: 22. Journey to the Otherworld

Travel to realms beyond human experience (paradises, heavens, magical lands)

A young man is taken to another world by fledgling geese

A hunter captures young geese and asks them to take him to their mother’s land. He falls asleep in his canoe and awakens in a different world. Following a wolf, he encounters a man who offers his daughter in marriage. After hunting together, the man advises the hunter to return to his own people, which he eventually does.

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


Journey to the Otherworld: The protagonist is transported to another realm by the fledgling geese.

Sacred Spaces: The otherworldly lake and the land he arrives at can be seen as sacred or significant locations.

Guardian Figures: The wolf guides the man, acting as a protector or mentor.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about the Dane-zaa people

A man was hunting in a canoe when he saw some young yellow geese. He paddled up to them and caught them. He thought they were too small to kill. Tying them to the canoe, he told them to tow him to their mother’s country. He lay down in his canoe and fell asleep. He slept very soundly and a long time passed before he woke up, and then the geese were nearly large enough to fly.

It was not this earth on which he stood when he woke up, but he thought he was still in his own country. It was a large lake. He waded ashore and walked along by the lake, thinking intently. Suddenly in the distance he saw a wolf running along. The wolf was looking toward the man.

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The wolf ran down until he came to the water which he entered. As he walked through the water he kept looking back toward the man who began to follow the wolf. They continued this way, the wolf running ahead and the man following until after they had gone a long distance when land appeared. He went ashore and walked along by the water.

He came where a man was living who had many children. This man gave the stranger a daughter in marriage. The man who lived there went hunting by himself and killed a moose. The other man killed nothing. The first man thought much about it. “He is my son-in-law and a relative, let him hunt with me once anyway. Let him hunt with my snowshoes.” He loaned him a pair of his own snowshoes and he went hunting. He had not gone very far when he killed a female with young. When he came back to the camp he saw many tracks. They thought they were the tracks of a good many people but they were really their own tracks. He returned the snowshoes to his father-in-law. “Go back to your relatives,” the old man told his son-in-law. He went hunting, paddling in his canoe. In the distance something was moving. When he crossed to them he found they were his relatives.

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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.

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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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The Monster Bird

Two young men embark on a journey, initially using geese to pull their canoe. After consuming the geese, they receive sustenance and guidance from wolves, who warn them not to retrieve arrows stuck in trees. Ignoring this advice, one man climbs a tree after his arrow, leading him to ascend into the sky. There, he encounters an old woman and her two daughters, who deceive and entrap him underground. Wolves eventually rescue him, providing enchanted arrows and further counsel for his journey.

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 young men undertake a journey with uncertain outcomes, seeking sustenance and adventure.

Forbidden Knowledge: Despite warnings from the wolves, one young man seeks to retrieve an arrow from a tree, leading to unforeseen consequences.

Journey to the Otherworld: The protagonist undergoes a significant change by ascending to the sky, entering a new realm, and facing challenges that alter his understanding and circumstances.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about the Chipewyan people

Petitot, Emile (Traditions Indiennes du Canada Nord-Ouest, Paris, 1886) secured a version of this myth from a native of Great Slave Lake which differs in the beginning in telling of the father of the two young men who sent them out to hunt and in the omission at the end of the capture of the young man and his second imprisonment in the nest. He also includes a myth recorded by Faraud in 1859 of very different import in which the same characters, both human and supernatural appear. Dr. Lowie’s version obtained at Fort Chipewyan is exactly parallel except that giants first befriended them instead of wolves and that the burning of the nest is omitted.

In the beginning, two young men secured some geese and tied them to their canoe so that they might be drawn through the water by them. The young men lay down in the canoe, saying to the geese, “Take us wherever your land may be.” When they stood up, they found the geese full grown. As they were without food, they killed them, built a fire, and cooked and ate them, and when they had finished their meal, continued their journey.

After they had gone a long distance, they again found themselves without food. Some wolves came to them and fed them with fat and pemmican. “Do not eat it all,” the wolves warned them, “leave some to eat in the morning after you have slept.” The wolves also gave them arrows but cautioned them as to their use and said, “If you should shoot grouse, after a time, and the arrow sticks up in a tree, do not climb up to get it.” The young men resumed their journey. After a time, one of them shot grouse and his arrow fell rather high on a tree. Not heeding the warning of the wolves, he said to his companion, “I am going to get it.” “No,” said the other, “the wolves told us not to do that.” Thinking the arrow was not very high, he stood on something and reached toward it. The arrow moved still further out of his reach and the young man involuntarily ascended toward the sky after it.

The one who had ascended to the sky traveled alone until he came where a tipi stood. He found an old woman there who blackened his face with a coal. He heard two girls laughing in the brush behind the house.

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When they came in, they said, “Mother, what sort of a bad animal has come here?” They laughed at him a long time, and then went out again into the brush. The old woman immediately washed his face and combed his hair. Soon he heard the girls talking again, saying, “We will go in again and laugh at that thing which came.” As soon as they came in each said, “I would like to have that man. I will marry him.” That night, one lay down on either side of him. After a time, when the man woke up, he found he was under the ground and could not move. In the morning, he heard the family going away. He heard the two girls laughing as they started; but the old woman was crying, and saying to herself, “They have done that way to many nice men who have come to me.” Not long after that he heard some wolves coming to the campsite. “What has happened?” one of them said, “There is the smell of a live man.” One of the wolves, named Ebedaholtihe, was addressed, “There is a man under the ground. We will take him out. Go and get the partly chewed bone we left behind the old camp.” The man heard someone tapping with a spear on the ground as he ran along. Soon he heard the same sounds as the wolf returned. They tried to dig with the rib which he had brought, but it broke. “Get something else,” he heard him say. He went again and brought the leg bone of a moose which has the two side bones and dew claws. That did not break and with it they soon dug the man out. Then he found it was the wolves who had done all this.

The wolves then gave him two arrows and directions for their use. “This arrow is female,” one of them said, “and this one is male. If when you hunt, a cow moose runs away into the brush, you must shoot this female arrow toward the place. But if a bull moose runs into the brush, shoot in that direction with the male arrow. When you have killed a moose, take the intestines and tie them back and forth on a tree. Then you must tell one of the girls that you have left a rope with which she shall carry the moose. If her rope breaks and she begins to curse we will attend to her should we hear her saying, ‘mean wolf’.”

Then the man went on, following the tracks of the women. When he came close to them, he began to hunt. Seeing where a cow moose had run into the brush, he shot the female arrow. Where a bull moose had run in, he shot the male arrow. He found that each of his arrows had killed a moose. He then went where the people had camped and said to the two girls, “Go and get the moose I have killed.” To one of the girls whose name was Weasel-vermin he said, “You need not take a rope with you, for I have left one for you.” He told the other girl called Mice-vermin, to take a rope. The girls started for the moose, the man following along with them. When they came near the place where the moose were lying, he said to Weasel-vermin, “You get the one that is over there.” He found that each of the girls was accustomed to carry an entire moose on her back at one time. Weasel-vermin found that he meant the intestines when he told her that he left a rope hanging in the tree for her. When she attempted to carry the moose whole with it, the rope began to break. She began to curse and finally said, “mean wolf.” Immediately, he heard her running in a circle and shouting. When he came to the place, he found only some human hair lying there, and the marks on the snow where the body had been dragged away. He ran immediately to the other girl and pulled her clothes off. Mice ran under the snow. He found that she was a mouse and the other girl a weasel. After that, she became a person and married the man. The man lived there with his mother-in-law.

He remained there for considerable time. He killed many moose but did not know what became of the skins of the moose which he killed. His mother-in-law had dressed just one of them. After a time, she said to him, “Your relatives are lonesome and I do not like that. There is a hole through the sky here ahead of us. Let us go there.” When they came to the place, she wrapped the man in the one moose hide she had dressed. He found that she had made rope of the other hides. With the rope she lowered the man. “When you feel yourself touching the ground,” she told him, “you must untie the rope and pull it several times.” After a time, he thought he felt the ground under him. He crawled out of the hide, pulled the rope repeatedly, and it disappeared toward the sky. When he looked about he was astonished to find that he was not yet on the ground but on the nest of the flying things which feed upon people. Human bones were lying about. A young one of the birds was sitting there. He took a liking to the man and said to him, “I usually eat people but you shall live. Sit here under my wings.” The bird was so large that a person could hide under it. Soon it spoke to him again, saying, “After a while, it will be dark as if it were night. It will be my mother coming. When it becomes light again, my father will come.” After a short time it grew dark, and the mother bird lit there. She said to the young one, “I smell a human odor coming from you.” “Oh, its the human remains lying there which you brought,” the young one told its mother. “No, it is not. It is the odor of a living person, which I smell coming from you,” the mother replied. When she had found the man, the young one said, “You shall not do anything to him, he will live. If you kill him you must kill me too.”

After a time it became light again and the father bird arrived. He said the same things to the young one and received the same replies. On account of that the man was allowed to live. When they had both gone off again, the young one said to the man, “I am going to put my wings on you. You shall fly across.” The man found that the nest was on an island and that there were rapids on either side in the large stream flowing there. The bird put the wings on the man saying to him, “Fly around here until you are sure you can fly across.” The man flew about the nest a little way until he felt certain he could fly across the stream. “Do not put my wings right on the ground, lean them against a tree,” the young bird told him. “On your way home, do not travel at night. Even if you think you have not far to go, lie down wherever night overtakes you.”

Then the man flew across from the nest, took off the wings, and leaned them against a tree. From there he started toward the place where his relatives used to live. He came where a beaver had his house and commenced to dig it out. After a time, it became dark without his knowing it. “The house is not far away. I will not sleep here since it is so close by,” he said to himself and started on although it was dark. As he walked along, he carried his spear with which he had been chiseling for the beaver. Suddenly, he felt himself being taken up into the air without visible cause. He found that Hotelbale, the bird monster, had taken him away. When he had been carried a long distance, above a high rock he was thrown down upon it. Catching the top of the rock with the spear, he jumped over it and saved himself. Again, he was caught and carried away. When he was thrown again upon a sharp rock, he placed the end of his spear against it and jumped over it. He found that this rock was covered on both sides with dried human blood where the people had been killed. He was carried, still alive, to the young bird. When the young one saw him it said, “This is my grandchild, that I love. This is the one I said you must not kill. If you kill it, you must kill me too.” For that reason he was not killed. “You shall remain here,” the young one said to him, and he lived there with him.

When he had been there some little time, he began to think how he might kill them. They slept only in the daytime. He placed a quantity of hay and small brush on the tree under the nest. When there was much of it there, the old one said, “Grandson, why are you doing that?” “Oh, I am playing with it,” he replied. After some time he spoke to the old bird, “Grandfather, let me have your firedrill. I want to play with it.” He addressed Hotelbale, as grandfather. He was given the firedrill. Then when they were asleep, during the day, he set the brush and hay on fire and burned the nest with them in it. They lay with their wings all burned. Taking a club he struck the old birds on the crowns of their heads and killed them, but he let the young one live, rubbing the burned portions of its wings away. He said to it, “If you had been the only one, I would not have done it; but your parents have killed many of my relatives.”

After that, there were no such monsters but the young one was still alive. Someone has recently heard from the west that it has grown again.

A man who has knowledge of magic does not get killed.

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The Raven woman

In a village by a river, a Raven woman befriends a young girl who offers her hospitality and fine clothes. An old Raven man, living in the communal kashime, becomes enamored with the Raven woman. After being rejected by the household, he takes her away to a distant mountain, where they build a home and prosper. A young man later joins them, becoming their adopted son, and eventually brings a wife to live with them.

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

► Themes of the story

Love and Betrayal: The Raven man takes the Raven woman as his wife, suggesting elements of romantic bonds and potential challenges within their relationship.

Journey to the Otherworld: The couple’s departure to a distant place and the establishment of a new home can be interpreted as a venture into an unfamiliar or symbolic realm.

Family Dynamics: The introduction of a young man who becomes their son and brings a woman to live with them touches upon themes of familial relationships and structures.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Koyukon people

Once there was a Raven woman walking along by a river; and she came to a big village, and found a young girl, who asked her to her house and gave her something to eat. In the same village there lived a rich man; and when the people were hungry, they went to him, and he gave them whatever they needed. The young woman went to him and got some fine clothes for the Raven woman. In the same village there lived an old Raven man, who had no house, and staid in the kashime all the time. One night he said to himself, “I should like to go into the house where the Raven woman lives:” so he went in there, and took the Raven woman for his wife. And the next morning, when the people in the house got up, they saw the Raven man, and told him to leave the house.

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He began to cry, and to say, “I like this woman very much. Why do they tell me to go out?” Then he went out sadly, and went to the kashime. The next night he went into the same house, and took the woman outside, and they went far away together; and when they reached the foot of a high mountain, they made a house and caught plenty of fish.

One day they saw a young man coming; and he said to them, “I will be your son;” and they agreed, and he worked for them. After a while he went away; and when he came back, he brought a woman with him, and they lived there always.

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The chief’s son and the ghoul

In a large village, a chief’s two sons embarked on a hunting journey. Each night, one brother mysteriously died, only to reappear the next evening, claiming the other had left without him. This cycle repeated until they reached the ocean, where they parted ways, agreeing not to look back. The elder brother then encountered a sled laden with dead men, driven by a small old man.

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

Resurrection: Both brothers die multiple times and come back to life, highlighting the theme of returning from death.

Journey to the Otherworld: The brothers’ travels, especially onto the ocean and their eventual separation, can symbolize a venture into unknown or otherworldly realms.

Loss and Renewal: The repeated deaths and resurrections represent cycles of loss and renewal within the story.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Koyukon people

Once there was a large village where a chief lived who had two sons who were old enough to go out hunting. One evening, when they went to bed, they agreed to go out hunting together the next day; so in the middle of the night they got up and dressed themselves, and got their snowshoes and started out.

They walked all that day; and when evening came, they made their camp, and the next morning they started again. Twice they camped in this way, and on the third evening they made their camp as usual; but the next morning when the older brother got up, he found that his younger brother had been eaten by mice and other small animals during the night.

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Then he wailed for him long and loud, and afterward he left him lying in the camp, and started on again. He walked all day, and in the evening he made his camp; and after he had built the fire, as he sat weeping for his brother, he heard a noise in the direction from which he had come; but he did not look up. Then some one said, “What is the matter? What are you crying for?” and he looked up, and saw his brother standing by the fire and smiling at him. “I thought that you were dead,” said he, “and that you had been eaten up by the mice.” — “You are mistaken,” said his brother, “you only failed to tell me that you were going, that was all.” So they had their supper and went to bed; and in the morning the younger of them got up, and found that the elder had been eaten up by the mice, too. And after he had cried for him, he left him lying in the camp, and went on.

At the end of the day’s walk he made a camp; and no sooner had he made a fire and sat down, than he heard a noise. So he looked up, and saw that his brother was coming into the camp; and his brother said, “Why is it that you did not wait for me this morning?” “Well,” said the younger one, “I did not wake you up, because you had been eaten up by mice and some other little animals.”

Now, the next morning the older brother got up and found that his brother had been eaten again; but this time he did not cry, because he knew that he would come to life again. So he left him there and went on his way, and did not stop to rest all day until he found a place to make his camp.

When he had found a good place, he camped and made his fire; and as he sat by the fire, he heard a noise again, as he had the day before, and looked up and saw that it was his brother. “Why is it,” said he, “that you did not let me know when you were starting this morning?” “Well,” said his brother, “I could not let you know when you had died and were eaten by mice.”

The younger brother was eaten three times, and the older brother was eaten four times, and after that it did not happen to them again.

So they travelled along without any more trouble until they came to the ocean. They went right straight out upon the ocean; and finally they stopped and said to each other, “We cannot travel together this way all the time.” So the older said to the younger, “You shall go south, and I will go north. You must not look back when you have left me.” So they left each other, and neither turned to look back.

As the older brother was going on his way, he saw something on the ice in the distance. It was too far away to tell what it was; but as he came nearer, he saw that it was a great sled loaded down with dead men, and that there was a little old man behind it. The sled ran as fast as though nine dogs were pulling it; and the old man had a hatchet behind his head, which he pulled out, and with it he attacked the young man and tried to kill him. But the young man was too much for him, and he was unable to kill him. By and by the young man took away his hatchet; and the old man said, “My grandson, I did not intend to kill you, I was just fooling. Sit on the sled among the dead people.” The young man said, “Are you sure that you will not kill me?” “I am sure,” said he. So the young man got into the sled; and the old man pushed it, big as it was; and it ran along as easily as could be. In the evening they came to a kashime. There were no other houses, except a brush-house, standing beside the kashime. The old man took all the dead men into the brush-house, and the young man went into the kashime and fixed himself up nicely, as the old man had told him to do. Then the old man gave the younger one some king-salmon and some icecream, and everything that he called for.

After the young man had gone to bed, the old man went out and built a fire in the brush-house, and staid there all night; but he had told the young man not to go out during the night. In the morning the young man got up and found the old man sleeping, and he looked into the brush-house and saw nothing. The dead men had all been eaten up. He went back to the kashime-, and by and by the old man woke up and came in and gave him food again, the same as he had done the day before.

Then the old man took the big sled again and went into the woods, and after a while he brought it back loaded down with spruce hens. He put these also into the brush-house. During the night he ate everything up again. The next day he remained at home all day; and the following morning he said, “My grandson, today there will be strangers here. I am glad of this.” In the afternoon the young man went out and saw some strangers coming, all in line, with axes and spears in their hands, intending to kill the old man. The young man told the other that they were close to the place; and the old man dressed himself and put his girdle around him, and took his axe and went out to meet them. But he told the young man to stay in the house, and not to go out until the fight was over. Then they began to fight, and there was a great noise outside for a long time; and then the young man went out, and found that the strangers had all been killed by the old man. Not one was left alive. Then he helped the old man to put them into the brushhouse; and there were so many of them, that it was late in the evening before they finished.

The old man staid in the brush-house again all night, among the dead people, and the next day he brought in another sled-ful of grouse. The day after that he staid in bed again all day, sleeping; and the following day he said, “My grandson, there will be more strangers here today, and you must fight them this time. I think you will be all right.” In the afternoon more people came than the last time; and when they drew near, the young man went out to meet them and killed them all, as the old man had done. He filled the big sled with them, and brought it to the brush-house and put them into it; and the old man passed the night cooking them.

The next day the old man told the younger one to take the big sled and get some grouse. “Where can I find them?” said he. The old man said, “You will find them all in one tree. Take my arrow and shoot to one side of the tree, and they will all fall down.” The young man went away; but he had not gone far, when he saw a big tree filled with grouse. Every branch was loaded down. There was one grouse larger than all the rest, sitting on the lowest branch. He had great eyes, and was looking straight at him. The young man tried to shoot him in the eye; but the arrow glanced upward, and did not strike him. But the other grouse all fell down dead, while the big one still sat looking at him.

He brought the grouse back to the brush-house and put them into it; and then he went into the kashime and found the old man there, but something was the matter with his eyes. “Grandfather,” said he, “what is the matter?” but the old man did not answer. Then the young man remembered that he had shot close to the big grouse, and he told him about it; and the old man opened his eyes wide, and was sick no more.

The next morning the old man said, “We had better go to see your grandmother.” The young man agreed; and the old man brought out the big sled, and fitted up a little place at the back with deer-skins, and had the young man get into it; and he put in a man’s rib with the meat on it, and lashed it in so that it could not fall off. Then he hitched a great harness made of brownbear skin to the sled, told the young man not to peep, but to keep himself under the skins, and started off. In the evening they came to a house. Then the old man told the younger one to get out of the sled and tell his grandmother to come out and see the dead people; and the young man saw that the sled was full of dead bodies, but he did not know where they came from, for he had seen only one rib put into the sled. So he went into the house, and all at once he heard the old woman saying, “Here comes some fresh deer-meat!” but the old man said, “It is your grandson, you must not kill him.” They unloaded the sled and went into the house; and the old people made ice-cream for the young man, and they began to eat the dead people, but they would not allow the young man to eat with them.

The next morning the young man said that he would like to go to see his father and mother; and they made two bowls of ice-cream for him, and put them into the sled, and made a little place for him in the sled, and the young man got in, and that evening he was at home.

When he came near to the house, he saw some women crying, as though some one were dead. He left the sled in the woods; and when he tried to get into the house, he could not (for want of strength), so he fell head-first over the porch and fainted. When he came to himself, he found himself in bed, with his father and mother on either side of him. He opened his eyes slowly, as though he were at the point of death, and said, “Mother!” “My son,” said his mother, “is that surely you? You are out of your mind (Ni ye’ge” tuxaiudu’t, qwuta’).” — “No,” said he, “I am not crazy, I am all right, but where is my brother?” His father said, “My son, your brother has been dead for a long time.” Then he got better every day, until he was well, and they lived there together.

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The Tri’gudihltu’xun and the two bears

In a large village, a woman reluctant to marry joins a berry-picking trip, falls asleep, and awakens to find herself taken as a wife by two men, who are actually brown bears in disguise. They live together, and she bears them three children. Longing for her parents, she expresses her desire to visit them. Her husbands build a sled, load it with provisions, and transport her and their daughter back to her village, instructing her not to look at them during the journey. Upon arrival, she reunites with her family, and her bear husbands depart.

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

Family Dynamics: The story explores the relationship between the woman, her bear-husbands, and their children, highlighting complex family interactions.

Conflict with Nature: The woman’s integration into a family with bear-men represents a union and potential conflict between human society and the natural world.

Journey to the Otherworld: The woman’s life with the bear-men can be seen as a journey into a realm beyond normal human experience, akin to an otherworldly adventure.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Koyukon people

There was once a big village where there lived some one who was unwilling to marry. Now, they used to go to get berries; and once they started off, and the Tri’gudihltu’xun went with them in a canoe. At last they came to the path that led to the berry-patch. Now, the Tri’gudihltu’xun did not pick berries, for she was very sleepy; and at length she put down her bowl, and lay down under a spruce and went to sleep. After a while, she felt herself crowded, and awoke, and looked, and saw that it was a brown bear. She went to sleep again, and awoke, and got up, and there were two big men there. “You shall be our wife,” said they; so they took her for their wife. Now, they were always fishing. Day after day they kept at it.

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“Do not watch us,” they said to their wife, and she promised that they would not. So they went out and closed the door, and soon afterward there was a splashing down at the water. At that she made a little opening in the side of the house, and looked; and there they were, standing in the water, throwing out fish. Soon they came up into the house. “Go out now,” they said, “and take a look down there!” So she went down and looked around. There was a great quantity of fish. Then she went into the house.

So then a year passed by, and she conceived a child. Poor thing! She bore him with great difficulty.

Now, they took good care of him; and in the morning one of his fathers took the little fellow and went out of the house with him. He walked around with him outside, and cut up some wood; and at evening he brought him in again, and took him out of his parka, and, lo! he was changed. He sat up and crept about. He grew a little larger. One morning his father placed a big root at the door for him, to exercise with.

So then I don’t know how many years passed, and the woman conceived another child; and this one, too, she bore with great difficulty. They cared for him; and one of his fathers took him, and went out with him, and kept him out a day and came in again. Lo, he was changed! He crept around, and they cared for him, and he grew up.

Again years passed, I don’t know how many, and again she conceived; and this one too, poor thing! she bore with difficulty. Again he took it, and kept it outside a day, and brought it in at evening. He took it out of his parka, and it sat up.

So then it grew a little larger. I don’t know how many years it was after that, when the woman sat one day with her head bowed down. “Eat something!” said they; but she refused. “What is the matter?” said one of them. “I was just thinking of my parents,” said she. So then her husbands said, “We will go to them presently.” In the morning they got up and girded themselves, and went to look for material for a sled. During the day they came back and began to make a big sled. I don’t know how many sleeps passed while they were making it. At last they had it done, and the next day they loaded it. Deer-skins and fat, and skins of various kinds, they put into it, until they had packed it full. At the same time they had made a place for the wife to sit. So the day after they were to start. Then they put the woman into the sled, with her little daughter, and covered them up. They placed food beside them, too, and then they started. “Do not look at us,” they ‘said to her, and she promised not to do so. Then they got into the harness and went off. So here they go. Now, the woman wished to see; so at last she made a little opening, and peeked. Lo, they were changed! Two great bears were pulling the sled. So they went along. “Now,” said they, “get out, for the village is near!” So they got out of the sled, and they put on their best clothes and came to the village. “Yeq!” said they, “the Tri’gudihltu’xun that was lost is coming back!”

So they came into the village, and the Tri’gudihltu’xun saw her father and her mother again. Meanwhile the men had gone down into the kashime; and a fire was made in the kashime, and the bowls were brought in. Then, at evening, the boys went for water, and finally it became bed-time. Then they said to the strangers, “Do you sleep on the other side of the room.” So they lay down on the other side. During the night some one awoke, and on the other side of the room there were some great bears. He lay down again; and when the people woke up in the morning, it was broad daylight. I don’t know how many days they staid there, when one morning they made ready to go away. Finally they left, and passed out of sight of the village, and came to their own village. There they lived during the winter, and for a year more.

Then the Tri’gudihltu’xun’s older brother came over to them. Back in the grass he went, while those two were down at the river. Meanwhile he kept under the grass. There was no way for him to come out into view, because he was afraid. “They will kill me,” thought he. So he gave a whistle. Thereupon the ones who were down in the river thought, “There is an up-the-river man come down here.” They ran up the bank, and went off to the village up the river in the shape of bears. They had become full of rage. At last that woman’s brother went into the house. She said to him, “What made you come from up the river? That means death for the village people up the river. Come,” said she, “go and hide!” So he went out and went up the river.

After that, he was going along. He heard a sound, as though some one were coming. He got under the grass, beside the path. There he waited. Afterwards those men came along in the shape of bears. They were running, and they passed him. Their noses and mouths were covered with blood. He hurried on up the river, and went towards the village. It was gone! He hurried on. There among the houses all was in ruins. The path was covered with men’s blood. Every one had been killed. He climbed up to his cache, looking for a bear-skin. At length he found one, and brought it down, with the teeth that went with it. He dressed it; and when he had finished it, he put it on. It fitted him. The arms and legs were just right, but the neck was a little too small. He searched for a piece for it, and finally found a scrap and brought it down. It fitted exactly. Then he put on the skin, and went out wearing it. He rushed around the village. Then he went away. He came to the village; and there the men were, in the water. He stood looking down upon them, and pushed back the hood. “Come, now,” said he, “kill me also, for you killed all my neighbors!” Then he went up to one of them. They fought together, and at last he killed that one. Then he went to the other. So he killed them both. Then he went up the bank. “Well,” said he to his sister, “I have killed them. Don’t be sorry!”

How long they staid there I don’t know. One day he said to his sister, “Your house is to be out there-,” and he became a fox, and the woman became a mink, and they went into the mountains and made a house. The end.

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

Origin of the Feast for the Dead

A cherished young woman becomes separated from her family during a hunting trip and encounters two mysterious figures who lead her to a shadowy realm. There, she experiences strange customs and eerie phenomena, ultimately discovering that she is among the spirits of the dead. This narrative explains the origin of the Feast for the Dead, a ritual honoring departed souls.

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

Journey to the Otherworld: The protagonist is taken to a mysterious and dark house, symbolizing a venture into a realm beyond the living.

Ritual and Initiation: The story delves into practices and ceremonies associated with the Feast for the Dead, highlighting the cultural significance of honoring ancestors and the deceased.

Ancestral Spirits: The tale emphasizes the connection between the living and the spirits of ancestors, showcasing the influence of forebears on cultural practices.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Koyukon people

The Feast for the Dead is also called Parka feast, or spirit feast

There was a family living on the Upper Yukon, — a man and his wife and several children. All the children were boys except the youngest, who was a girl. Now, because they had but the one sister, the young men thought a great deal of her, and did everything they could think of to please her. They saw that she had the finest parkas and boots that could be had, and, among other things, they made her a beautiful sled.

One spring they all started to the hunting-grounds for the annual hunt. Each of the party had his own sled; and as they went on. the girl fell behind, and her father and brothers got so far ahead that they were out of sight. She hurried on, trying to catch up with them, and occasionally looking up to see whether she was overtaking them.

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As she did this, she became aware of two men standing beside the path. Their forms were vague and shadowy, and she could hardly distinguish them. She was afraid, but they told her to come on; and since there was no other way for her to do, she went forward and tried to pass them; but when she came up to them, they seized her, and she lost consciousness, and knew nothing more until she was set down at the door of a house, and the two men were standing on either side of her. They told her to go into the house, and to go to their place at the back of the room. She went in; but the room was so dark that she could see nothing except that high up above her head there was a faint ray of light about as large as the eye of a needle. She stood looking at this place for a long time, until she heard the voice of an old woman, saying, “Why did they bring this woman here?” The young woman had not been aware that there was any one in the room, and she hung her head. Some one else said, “Do something to her!” Upon this, she heard the voice of the old woman coughing as she came toward her. She had a wand in her hand; and she led the young woman back to the door, and made passes around her with the wand. When she had done this, the place seemed suddenly to become light, and the girl saw that the room was so full of women that there was no place vacant except the one belonging to the two young men; and she ran to take refuge in that place, for she was ashamed to think that she had stood so long in the presence of all these people, gazing up at the ceiling. She staid where she was for a long time, until finally the two young men came in. They remained but a short time, and then said that they were going into the kashime. When the time came to make the fire for the evening meal, and they had started the fire, the young woman was hardly able to breathe, because of the stench in the room. [The story-teller said that it was like the odor of a stable, and that perhaps the cows came from that place; for the white people are the shades of the dead, and that is why they are coming so thick.]

The only way that she could keep from stifling was to pull her parka up over her face, and breathe underneath it.

She looked at the fire, and saw the sticks move together of their own accord as they were consumed, and she wondered at this, and jumped down and ran to the fire and poked it hard. When she did this, the fire leaped up, and some one screamed out, “You are burning me!” Some one else said, “These women from down the river have no shame about anything.” When she heard this, she looked, and saw that there was an old man sitting by the fire, with his parka pulled up, warming his back. He was the one who had been burned; and the reason that the sticks moved was, that there were a great many women, whom she could not see, getting brands from the fire. Their forms were so shadowy that she could hardly make them out. A voice asked why she did not let them get the fire, instead of beating it down. After the fire had gone down, and they had put the curtain on, they told her to go outside and look; and when she went out, she saw the largest city that she had ever seen. It was so large that she could not see from one end of it to the other. There were people walking about everywhere. She had never seen anything like it before. After a while she went in, and then those two men came out of the kashime; and when they entered the house, their mother sent them a bowl of fish, which they offered to share with her, but she could not even look at it without being nauseated, on account of the smell. So they ate without her that night, and every day afterward, because she could not touch the food that they offered her.

For a long time she went without food. Every day she walked outside; but the young women made fun of her, perhaps because they wanted the young men for themselves. She staid there for a long time, until she became thin, and so weak that she could hardly stand up or move. She could hardly breathe, either; and she kept her face in her parka nearly all the time, so as to get breath. When her life was nearly gone, she wanted water more than anything else. She thought that she was about to die. She lifted her face to take one look around, and there, beside her, she saw a bowl of water, clear and good: and beside it was a bowl of food such as she used to love, — mashed blueberries mixed with seal-oil, with the best kind of dried whitefish laid on top. She caught up the water and drank it all, and ate some of the food; and when the young men came in, she asked them if they would not eat with her. They would not look at the fresh food, however, but turned to their own filthy food and ate it. By this means her life was preserved until she was able to move around. At intervals for half a year or more she found food and water by her side. She did not know where they came from, but in reality they were her parents’ offerings made in her behalf, because they supposed her to be dead.

After a while the people with whom she was living told her that they were going to some place where she could not follow them. They said that they would come to a hill where they would have to leave her, for she could not go beyond it. The other women told her this in a jealous mood; the mother of the two young men, however, said that it was true that she would not be able to go over the hill with them, but she would tell her what to do. She was to make as many bags of clothing as she could, such as they used to make up the river, — moose-skin mittens and boots and coats, and such things, — and to keep them concealed from the two young men. So she made I know not how many bags of clothing, and at last the time came for the people to make their annual journey. The whole village started off; but this girl and the two young men and their mother were late in starting, and were left a little behind. They travelled on and on, all the people being ahead of them-, and finally they came to the foot of a range of hills, and to a precipice which barred their progress. The rest of the people had gone up this place without any difficulty whatever; but when the party in the rear came to the precipice, the girl’s feet stuck fast to the ground, and she could not move, no matter how hard she tried. So the two young men went on ahead, but the old woman staid behind with the girl. Finally the girl turned as if to go back, and then she found that her feet were loosed; so she could return if she cared to, but she could not go forward.

The old woman told her that the two men would come back four times in search of her, but that she would conceal her under the trail, and tramp it down so that they could not find her; and that after they had been back four times to find her, they would give it up; that she was then to take all the bags containing the things that she had made, and go down the river a long way, to a place where she would find a summer camp, with fish-nets and racks, and that she was to remain there until summer, catching fish. Then at the proper time, after the ice had gone, the means of getting down the river would be provided for her. She said that this was all that she could do for her. So she made a hole in the trail, and bade the young woman get into it; and she covered her with snow, and tramped it down, so that there was nothing to show that she was there. Before she concealed her, however, she had told her that if they came back and found her, they would kill her; and then it would be possible for her to go up the hill, as the rest had done, and that they would probably kill her also, for having hidden her. Then the old woman went away; and after she had gone, she heard the young men coming back in search of her. For four days they kept up the search, and after that the noise ceased; and she came out and went down the river, and found it all as the old woman had said. She remained in the fishing-camp until spring; and when the fishing began, she caught fish in abundance; but she could not use them, for they smelled like those that had been offered her before; but she caught as many as she could, and hung them up on the fish-racks until she had filled the racks with pike and whitefish, and all other kinds that are caught at that season. Then the break-up began; and one night, after the ice had stopped running, she went to bed, but was awakened by a great noise. She jumped up and ran out to see what had happened. A great log, the biggest that ever was, had grounded in front of the house. She ran in and got an axe, and made her way out on the log, which was covered with branches, and chopped out a hiding-place among the branches, weaving them in and out, so as to conceal herself more perfectly. Then she brought down the bags of clothing and stowed them away in her hiding place, and tried to push the log off, but it would not move. Then she remembered that she had not brought her work-bag down with the rest of the things, and she ran up to the house and got it; and when she stepped upon the log again, she found that she could easily push it out into the current. It floated out into the middle of the stream, and I know not how many weeks it went drifting down the river; but at length she came in sight of a village and heard the noise of dancing and singing. She kept herself out of sight; and as she drifted along, she heard some one say, “Why do they not go out to see what is on the log?” Finally two men started out to examine the log. When they came alongside, they were some distance below the village. She peeped out, and told them to say that they had found nothing, and she paid them for this service with some of the clothing that she had stowed away in the bags. So they went ashore and told nobody, while she kept on down the river; and so many villages did she pass, that her supply of clothing gave out. The summer passed.; and when fall came, she was still floating down the river. When it was nearly time for the ice to form, the log floated ashore on the right-hand side, going down. After that, she walked on down the river, on and on and on. I cannot tell you how many villages she passed. One day she saw some one coming upstream in an old, broken canoe. As he came nearer, she recognized her father. She called out to him, but he seemed not to hear her. She ran along the bank, calling at the top of her voice, but he paid no attention to her; so she gave it up, and turned back, down the river. It became cold, and the ice commenced running; but she kept on her way. Winter came, still she kept on; and when the snow became deep, she turned into a bird seldom seen in these parts, and flew down the river, still on her way home. When she came to a house, she would light on the edge of the smoke-hole and sing; and the people in the house would look up surprised, because they said that the bird named in her song the girl who had been lost the year before. She passed village after village, and at length the time came when the parka feasts are now celebrated. At last she came to her own village, and then she resumed her own form. She saw nobody outside the houses. Every one was either in the house or else in the kashime, and there was a sound of weeping everywhere. She went into her own house, and saw her mother sitting by the fire; but she paid no attention to her, even when she went to her and sat down in her lap and put her arms around her and kissed her. Yet the old woman stopped crying, and said, “What is it that makes my lap itch, and my waist and my cheeks?” The girl called again and again to her mother; but, even though she was sitting in her lap, she never heard her. Then the girl began to look around, and saw some fish eggs lying in the corner. She took them and rubbed them all over herself; and then her mother saw her, and screamed out and said that it was her own daughter, and did not know what to make of her. Then the daughter told her mother where she had been, and what she had done, and how she had seen her father making his way up the river in a broken canoe. Then her mother told her that her father had died in the fall, and that they had put half a canoe on the grave, and that it was this that he was using. Then she asked for her brothers; and her mother told her that they were all in the kashime, celebrating a parka feast on her account. Then the mother made ready to take her daughter into the kashime. She took with her a great beaver blanket; and when they came to the door of the kashime, she spread it out and covered the girl with it; and so she got her into the corner of the kashime without the knowledge of the rest that were there.

There she remained until they were just ready to give the feast, and then she danced out before them all. Every one was amazed, and no one knew what to do. Then she went to her place; and her brothers brought her all the parkas and boots that they had intended to give away, and asked her to tell where she had been and all that she had seen; and from that time, the parka feasts have been celebrated. Now, as for that log, it came from underground, or from wherever the dead people are, to this world, where we are.

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

The sisters who married stars

Two sisters, living apart from their community, whimsically wished upon stars to become their husbands. That night, they were transported to the sky, marrying the stars they had chosen. After some time, they yearned for Earth and crafted a rope from skins to descend. Upon returning, they found themselves atop a tall tree. With the help of Wolverene, they safely reached the ground.

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

Journey to the Otherworld: The sisters are taken from Earth to the sky realm to live with their star husbands, representing a voyage to a realm beyond human experience.

Supernatural Beings: The stars personify supernatural entities who interact directly with the sisters, influencing their fate.

Cunning and Deception: The sisters employ clever tactics to descend from the sky and later to manage their interactions with Wolverene, showcasing the use of wit to navigate complex situations.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about Tahltan people

Two adolescent sisters who were living together were staying apart from the other people. One evening when about to retire, they were playing and joking with each other. Happening to look up at the stars, one of them said, “Do you see that nice star? That is my husband. I wish he would come here and take me!” The other sister looked around among the stars, and picked out one which seemed very beautiful. She said, “That one is my husband. I wish he would come for me!” Soon after this the girls fell asleep. In the morning they found themselves in the sky. The stars they had chosen had taken them up during the night. They lived with these men as their husbands. The star men were great hunters, and always killed an abundance of game. The women had to carry home all the meat and skins. After a while they discovered a hole in the sky, and they used to watch the people moving on the earth below.

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They thought by what means they might be able to descend to earth, and, according to the elder sister’s suggestion, they secretly cut up skins and made a long rope. They told their husbands that some animal was eating the skins. When they thought the rope was long enough, the elder sister said, “I will go down first. If you feel me shake the rope, you will know that I have reached the ground. If I do not shake it, and all the rope is out, you will know that it is too short, and you must pull me up again. If you follow me, tie the end of the rope to the cross-stick over the hole, pull it up, and come down yourself.” Their husbands were out hunting. Both sisters reached the earth in safety. The rope was not quite long enough, but they alighted on top of a tall tree.

The younger woman had just got clear of the rope when the star men arrived, and, finding that their wives had descended, cut the upper end of the rope, which fell down and lopped off all the side branches of the tree. The women could not descend, and sat in the top of the tree, where a few branches were left. They called for help on the various animals that passed near the tree; but some passed without paying any heed, and others promised to help on their return. At last Wolverene came along, and they called to him. He said to them, “Yes, I can carry you down.” He climbed the tree and began to play with the girls. The elder girl said to her sister, “Keep him off until after he has carried us down.” She said to Wolverene, “You must carry us down first.” He carried the elder one down, and wanted to play with her, but she would not let him until he had carried down her sister. When he came to her, he wanted to do likewise; but she said, “You must carry me down first.” When he brought her down, he asked for his reward; and the sisters said, “We are hungry; you must get us meat first.” He brought the meat, and asked them again. They said, “Let us eat first.” When they had finished, he asked again; and they said, “We are thirsty; bring us water first.” Wolverene was now getting tired, but he brought the water. They said to him, “Take us up to the top of yonder steep bluff, and then we shall really give you what you want.” He took them there, and the women prepared a bed to sleep in. Wolverene wanted to sleep farthest from the steep bluff, but they made him take the place over the precipice. He lay down next to the younger sister, and immediately the elder one pushed him off. He fell over the cliff and was killed. Now the sisters left, and looked for the camp of their people. One night Bush-Tailed Rat entered their camp and killed and ate one of them. The other escaped and reached the people, who had given the women up for dead. The surviving sister told the people of her adventures and how the stars were fine-looking people.

Because of this story the Indians believe that it is dangerous to wish for the stars; for they may come and take you away, as they did the sisters in the story. Because Wolverene carried these women on his back, the wolverene at the present day can carry meat on his back.

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

The origin of copper

A chief’s daughter, while berry-picking, insults a grizzly bear and is subsequently taken by him as his wife. Living among the grizzly-bear people, she struggles with their customs. A grandmother mouse warns her of the danger, prompting her escape. Pursued by bears, she is rescued by a canoe that transports her to the sun. There, she marries the sun’s sons, who eliminate a cannibalistic threat for her. Eventually, she returns to her father’s village with her new family.

Source: 
Tlingit Myths and Texts 
by John R. Swanton 
[Smithsonian Institution] 
Bureau of American Ethnology 
Bulletin 39 
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The narrative includes interactions with grizzly-bear people and the sun’s sons, both of which are supernatural entities.

Journey to the Otherworld: The woman is taken to the realm of the grizzly-bear people and later ascends to the sun’s domain, both representing journeys to otherworldly places.

Trials and Tribulations: The protagonist faces multiple challenges, including captivity by the grizzly bears, the threat of a cannibal, and the struggle to return to her father’s home.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about the Tlingit people

The story was obtained at Sitka.
Another version is incorporated into the story of Raven

A chief lived in the middle of a very long town. His daughter was fond of picking berries. Once she went for berries with her father’s slaves, and while picking far up in the woods she stepped upon some grizzly-bear’s dung. “They always leave things under people’s feet, those wide anuses,” she said. When they wanted to go down her basket broke, and her father’s slaves picked up the berries and put them back for her. Very close to her father’s house it broke again.

Then one said to her, “Now pick them up yourself.” While she was putting them in a man came to her whirling a stick in his hand. “Let me marry you,” he said to her. Then he started off with her. He went up toward the woods with her and passed under two logs. These things which looked like logs were mountains.

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The people missed this woman. For that the people were called together, and they searched everywhere for her. It was the grizzly bear to which the high-caste woman had spoken angrily that married her. The grizzly-bear people kept going after salmon. After they had gone her husband went out after wet wood. She, however, always collected dry wood. When they came up from the salmon place they threw off their coats. They shook them. Something in these like grease would burn in the soaked wood. The woman’s dry wood, however, always went out. It was not long before they did something to the high-caste woman on account of it.

When they went out again, the woman saw smoke right under her foot. A grandmother mouse was coming out from under a little hill. It was that which was going to help her. “Come in, grandchild,” she said, “These are very dangerous animals you are among. The grizzly-bear people have carried you away.” She told her the truth. Then she gave her advice. “Over there is your father’s home.” So next morning when they were gone after salmon she started running in the, opposite direction. When they came home at midday the grizzly-bear people missed her. The woman’s dress had rotted up there. After she had crossed one mountain she glanced behind her. It looked dark with grizzly bears. When they gained on her she began crying for her life. She came out on the edge of a lake. In the middle of this big lake a canoe was floating wearing a dance hat. It said to her, “Run this way into the water.” Then she ran into the water toward it. She was pulled in, and it went up with her into the sun.

The sun’s sons had married a cannibal [Luqana’, probably equivalent to Kwakiutl Lo’koala]. Whomsoever they married never lasted long before they killed her. Now, however, they liked the one they had just married. To make way for her they killed the cannibal. They killed her over a Tsimshian town. They chopped her into very fine pieces. This is why there came to be so many cannibals there. They could see the Tsimshian town. When the sun got straight up over her father’s town they said, “Here is your father’s town.” Very soon they had a child. Their father’s canoe, a grizzly-bear canoe, stood at the end of this town. The canoe could hear. They loaded it with things. They put grease inside of it for their father-in-law. Then it walked away with them. After it had walked on for a long time it would stop suddenly. This was because it was hungry, and they would then break up a box of grease in front of the bow. They came in front of their father-in-law’s house. Then she recognized her father’s house, and went up in front of it. Then her brother came into the house and said, “My sister has come and is outside.” But his mother beat him because he claimed to see his sister who had been long dead. His mother went out. It was indeed true, and they were coming ashore. They did not see them (her husbands), however, for they were like streaks of moonlight. Now, after they had brought all their things up, one went out and said, “There is nothing there.” The wife said, “That moonlight down there is they. Tell them to come up.” So people went to tell them. They came up. Then the sunbeams lay alongside of the woman in streaks, and their little son in front of them was also like a sunbeam. After they were seated inside of the house they began to appear as if coming out of a fog. “Eat something, my daughter,” said the chief. Then a very young man ran to get water for them. But her husband took a fishhawk’s quill out, and put this into it. If it bent over on account of the wet the man had not behaved himself. After they had examined everyone she sent her little brother, and her little brother always brought water for them. When her brother went away she took her husband’s bucket for the water herself. But after she had been twice, a man near the water seized her hand. And, when she brought it into the house and set it close beside her husbands, they put the fishhawk’s quill into it. This time, after her hand had been caught, the quill bent over with slime. Then they started to getup to go outside, away from her. She would catch first one and then the other, but her hands passed right through them. Then they ceased to see them. Their canoe, however, ran about on the lake.

After that the sun’s children began to wish that filth would kill their son. This is why poverty always kills a little boy when his father dies. After her little child had begun to suffer very much they compelled him to go outside with his mother. She made a house with branches at the other end of the town. There she stayed with her little child. She continually bathed her little child inside of the house of branches, and he grew larger there. People kept throwing the leavings of food on top of their house. They always called him” This man living here.” They would laugh at him. Whenever the little boy ran out among the boys who were playing they said “Uh! Garbage-man.” Now he said to his mother, “Make a bow and arrows for me.” And, after she had made them, he went out shooting just at daybreak. He shot all kinds of things. When he was getting to be a man, he kept going up close by the lake.

After he had gone up there many times something came up quickly toward him. Its mouth was red. After it had done so twice, he asked his mother, “What is that, mother?” Then he prepared anew spear. “When it opens its mouth for you and puts its forefeet up on land run down to it. It is your father’s canoe.” So he went there and it opened its mouth for him. His mother had said, “Shoot it in the mouth,” and, when he had shot it, it was heard to say “Ga,” like a raven. It was as if its seats had been all cut off. It was a copper canoe in which were wide seats. The canoe was nothing but copper and broke entirely up. Throughout the night he carried it into his house to his mother. No person knew of it.

Now he began making a big house out of copper. He would pound out spears and bracelets under the branches. In those days there was no iron or copper. He also pounded out copper plates. Then he set them all round the inside of the house. When they threw garbage upon his house [they kept calling him] “Pounding-chief.” After he had finished the house there were plenty of copper plates which he kept pounding out. When they laughed at him and he ran outside they would say, “Uh! Garbage-man.” There was a chief’s daughter whom they would let no one marry. After people from all places had tried to get her he prepared himself. He dressed himself at night. He took a piece of twisted copper. He knew where the chief’s daughter slept. He poked the woman through a hole with this copper roll, and the woman caught hold of it. She smelt it. She did not know what the copper was, no person in the world having ever seen copper. Then he called to her saying, “Come outside,” and she went outside to him. “Go down to my house with me. With me you shall stay,” he said to her. She did not know whence the man came. The man that used to be called dirty was only going to the beach with her. Just before she touched the door it opened inward. The copper door shone in her face. Whence were all those coppers that stood around inside of the house? Then he married her in his house.

By and by the people began searching for that woman. They missed her for many days. Two days were passed in searching for her. Then her father said to a slave, “Search below here.” The slave searched there for her. When he had looked into the house the slave backed out. It began shining in his face. Then the woman’s husband from inside the house said to him, “Come in. Do not tell about my house,” he said. “Say Garbage-man has married her.” When he came into the house he told about it. He said, “Garbage-man has married her.” Then they started to rush out. Her mother cried, “My daughter!” Then they rushed to his door. They kicked into the house, under the house made of branches. “Dam” it sounded. It shone out into her face, and they started back from the house door. Where was their anger against him? Then she became ashamed. After they got home he sent for his father-in-law, and he put eight coppers on him because he had married his daughter. Then they threw the branch house away, letting the copper shine out. But his father had done this purposely to him in order to help him. So even now, when a man is poor, something comes to help him. This shows how valuable copper was at the place where this happened. Even lately a copper plate used to cost two slaves. It has since become an everlasting thing there (i.e., it, is now used there all the time).

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The brant wife

A man married a brant woman who later revealed her true nature and returned to her brant family, taking her husband with her. He joined their struggles, fought for them, and gained favor with her father. Eventually abandoned on a remote rock, he was rescued by a mystical bird, which brought him back near his village, completing a cycle of transformation and return.

Source: 
Tlingit Myths and Texts 
by John R. Swanton 
[Smithsonian Institution] 
Bureau of American Ethnology 
Bulletin 39 
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The man’s wife is revealed to be a brant (a type of goose), indicating her supernatural nature.

Transformation: The man experiences a transformation by joining the brant community, adapting to their way of life, and participating in their struggles.

Journey to the Otherworld: The man’s integration into the brant society and his eventual return to his village symbolize a journey into and out of a realm beyond ordinary human experience.

► From the same Region or People

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Wrangell, Alaska, in January-April 1904

A man at Gona’xo in the Laxayi’k (or Yakutat) country married a brant woman (qen). One day in spring this woman said to her husband, “Let us go outside and watch the flocks of geese passing. My father’s canoe will soon be coming along.”

Then they went out and saw a flock of brant coming. The brant seemed to stop over the woman a little while, and she called to them saying, “Have you anything for me?” Immediately some dried tset fell upon her lap.

Next day she again said to her husband, “I am sure that my father’s canoe will come along today. Let us go outside and sit there.” So they did. Then they saw the largest flock of brant they had yet observed, and the woman jumped up, saying, “There is my father’s canoe coming along.”

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When the flock got over the place where they were sitting, one of them made a great noise directly overhead, and her husband thought that must be his wife’s father. His wife also began making the brant noise in return, so that her husband became very much frightened. As soon as she had finished she flew up among the brant people.

Now her husband started off under the flock, and ran for a very long time until he was thoroughly tired out. Seeing that he was now so far behind that she could barely see him, his wife said to her father, “Father, let us camp here.” So her father had them encamp there on a flat place, and her husband saw it from a high hill. When he came up with them, he stood around on the flats and would not go near. By and by a man came out to him and said, “You better come in. We have a place prepared for you.” So he went in, and found his wife sitting on a mat in the house with room enough for him beside her. The brants looked to him just like human beings. Then they cooked for them, and afterward left the place, taking him with them. When they reached the place where they were to stay all summer, he saw that they worked very hard to get food in order to take it back.

Some time afterward the sand-hill cranes (dul) and the geese (tawa’k) made war on the brants and killed off many of the latter. At first the man stood and watched them without taking part, and at last his wife’s father, who was chief of the brants, said to his daughter, “Daughter, why is it that your husband will not help us? Doesn’t he see that my people have all been killed? Ask him to help me.” Then the man made war aprons, coats, and hats for the brants and for himself, and he made himself a club. He killed great numbers of sand-hill cranes and geese, while none of the brants were destroyed. After he had killed enough of the enemy to make up for the brants that had been destroyed, his father-in-law told his daughter to say to-him that he had killed enough. “If he kills any more,” he said, “they will want to kill more of my people.” So all stopped fighting, and they recommenced collecting food for the return journey. The girl’s father felt very good toward his son-in-law for saving their lives.

When fall came and the brants were ready to start back their chief said, “We will not go back the same way we came. We must go another way.” Then they started. It seemed to the man that they were going in canoes instead of flying. Late the first evening the chief said, “Now we will camp out here.” The place that he referred to was a large rock far out at sea, and they camped upon it. After they had eaten all went to sleep.

Next morning, however, although the man awoke early, he found himself lying out on the rock alone. Then he was very sad, and did not know what he should do. He thought, “How am I to get home from here without any canoe?” He remained out upon that rock for a long time and thought that he should never see his friends again. He remained there, in fact, all winter, living on food that the brants had left him. When spring came he was more anxious than ever to get home, so much so that he did not care to eat anything and went for several days without nourishment.

One morning he said to himself, “What is the use of getting up?” And he lay down again with his blankets over his head. After some time had passed, he heard something say to him very loudly, “Why are you lying here? What are you doing out here on this rock?” He threw his blanket off and looked around but saw nothing except a bird called gusyadu’li sitting near by. He lay down again, and again he heard the voice. He heard it for the third time. Every time the bird was sitting in the same place. When he again lay down he thought he must be crazy, but on keeping a lookout he saw the gusyadu’li run up toward him very fast, so he said to it quietly, “I have seen you.” Then the bird replied, “I have come to bring you luck. Get on my back and keep your face buried in the feathers on the back of my neck.” When he had done this, the bird started to fly off with him. It said, “Don’t look up. I do not want you to look up.” The farther it went the more it repeated this warning, so he tried hard to keep his face concealed. Finally the bird stopped, and he wondered where they were. “You can open your eyes now,” said the bird, and when he did so he saw that they were on a big pile of seaweed drifting around far out at sea. Then the bird told him to close his eyes again, and by the time it stopped with him once more he was very tired. Then the bird said again, “Now open your eyes.” He opened his eyes and recognized the place well as being close to his own village.

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