The grand-daughter and the beads

An old woman and her granddaughter lived together, fishing year-round. One day, the girl discovered beads at an abandoned village site, which her grandmother identified as belonging to the girl’s grandfather. After adorning her granddaughter with the beads, the grandmother instructed her to offer them to a man who approached, saying “U’kgo yu’go.” The man accepted the beads and, in return, provided them with a sled full of provisions, enriching their lives.

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

Ancestral Spirits: The discovery of the ornament from the ancestral village connects the girl and her grandmother to their forebears, highlighting the influence of ancestors on the present.

Sacred Objects: The ornament (beads) holds significant value, serving as a link to their heritage and playing a crucial role in the narrative.

Echoes of the Past: The remnants of the old village and the ancestral beads influence the present, demonstrating how past events and objects can shape current realities.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

There was an old woman who had a grandchild, a girl; and they lived together, and fished in front of their house, the year round. There they lived. They had a fine place. The girl grew to be quite large, and worked with her grandmother. She was old enough to work, and her grandmother was grateful. Now, there came a time when her grandmother said, “My grandchild, go and look down the river!” So she went down the river from the house. There she walked along the bank; and there she saw where houses had been, no one knows how long since. She went down where it appeared that a house had been. She took a little stick and went poking around with it. “What’s this?” thought she, and she was glad. She ran back to her grandmother. She ran into the house.

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“Grandma,” she said, “how pretty this is!” “Why, why!” she said. “Why, my grandchild!” she said, “that was where your grandfather’s village was long ago. It used to be his,” she said. Then she bathed her, and combed her hair, and dressed her in fine clothes, and that bright ornament hung upon her hair. “My grandchild,” she said, “go get some water.” So she took her pails and went to the water-hole. She dipped one full of water and the other half full, when she thought she heard something. She listened, and (it was) some one coming from below. She took a good look.

There was a big sled with dogs, — three of them. (The man) stopped in front of her and spoke, and said, “U’kgo yu’go.” But the girl did not understand him, and he went away, and she took up her pails and went up. She went in to her grandmother. “Grandma,” she said, “a man came to me with a big sled and dogs, and said, ‘U’kgo yu’go’ to me.” And her grandmother said, “Why, why! It is the beads only that he was saying that he wanted. My grandchild,” she said, “go take off the curtain. Let’s make the fire!” she said. So she went out and took off the curtain. She threw down the wood and made the fire, and her grandmother put on the pot, and they put their meal into it and cooked it; and the poor old woman said, “Come, my grandchild! that’s all, put on the curtain.” So she put on the curtain, and they ate their meal and went to bed. They woke up in the morning; and the grandmother said, “My grandchild, go and get some more water. Now, if you see a man, if he says ‘U’kgo yu’go’ to you, give him (the beads).” She went to the waterhole, and saw the man again. He came up to her, and his sled was full of things; and the man spoke, and said, “U’kgo yu’go.” She gave him (the beads), and he ran off. The girl ran up to her grandmother. “Grandma,” said she, “hurry!” And they took the sled up, and put the contents into the house, — oil and fat; and they became rich. She was glad, that poor old grandmother, because she was thankful. And there they lived.

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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

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

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.

Origin of Duci’ne

The Duci’ne originated from a boy of evil disposition who killed people. His mother was an Indian woman, and his father unknown. As he grew, he progressed from shooting small animals to eventually killing a dog, for which his mother punished him. After fatally shooting another boy during a game, he fled to the mountains, where he crafted numerous obsidian arrowheads, discarding those he deemed imperfect. The unfinished arrow and spearheads found scattered across the land are believed to be his discarded creations.

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

Transformation: The boy undergoes a significant change from a mischievous child to a wild, malevolent figure isolated from society.

Tragic Flaw: The boy’s inherent violent tendencies lead to his downfall and complete estrangement from his community.

Ancestral Spirits: The boy’s actions and transformation may reflect themes of ancestral influence or the consequences of defying cultural norms.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

The Duci’ne originated from a boy of evil disposition who killed people. His mother was an Indian woman, and his father unknown. When just a tiny boy, he made arrows. As he grew up, he made the arrows larger and put stone heads on them. He shot first at marks, and then at small animals, such as mice. Later he shot larger animals, and finally a dog. His mother thrashed him for this. After this he made stronger arrows. One day he was playing a shooting-game with other boys, and shot one of them. The people were angry, and blamed the mother for not correcting him and for allowing him to behave badly. The boy ran away, and his mother followed him. She held out her breasts to him, and entreated him to come back, saying, “Come, here are your breasts!” He shot her through the breasts. He became completely wild now, and never returned. He went to the mountains where obsidian is abundant, and made many arrow-heads.

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Whenever he made one which did not suit him, he threw it away. He spent all his spare time making arrow and spear heads. All the unfinished arrow and spear heads found here and there scattered over the country were made by him. They are the “heads” he discarded in his travels around the country and when hunting. He used no flakers of any kind. He flaked the arrow-heads with the palms of his hands, which were of bone.

The four ghost brothers; or, The origin of cremation

Four brothers set out on a canoe trip, promising to return in four days. Unbeknownst to them, they drowned and became spirits. Upon returning home, they found that the living couldn’t perceive them. Realizing their fate, they journeyed to a village of the dead. Desiring rebirth, they entered their sisters’ bodies, were reborn, and recounted their experiences. After dying again, they instructed their people to cremate them, leading to the practice of cremation.

► Themes of the story

Underworld Journey: The brothers venture into realms of the dead, exploring both an underground spirit world and a higher spirit land.

Ancestral Spirits: The brothers, after their deaths, continue to influence and communicate with the living, sharing knowledge about the afterlife.

Origin of Things: The narrative explains the origin of cremation practices within the Tahltan culture.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

Four brothers left in a canoe, intending to be back in four days. They never returned, and the people learned they had been drowned. The brothers themselves did not know that they were dead. Before the four days had expired, they returned home. They went into their houses, and talked with their wives and the people in the same manner as they would have done if alive; but the people did not seem to hear them. They shook their wives, but they did not appear to feel it. At night, when they came near the people, the latter dreamed of them, and in the morning they heard them tell their dreams. When they talked loud to the people, they noticed that the fire crackled and hissed. The eldest brother said, “There is something wrong with us.” They asked the people for food, but they paid no attention. The brothers said, “Let us leave!” They found a trail, which they followed, and reached a large village of dead people; but the brothers did not know that these people were dead, for they appeared natural in every way.

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They recognized there some people they had known and who had died. The eldest brother said, “We are dead, for we have found the place where these people are.” They talked with them, and the latter heard them and answered quite readily. The eldest brother said, “We can only converse with ghosts. Certainly, we are dead.” The village where these people lived was on the same level with the earth. The people inhabiting it were for the most part those whose bodies had been left on the ground unburned. They saw another trail leading underground. They followed it some little distance, and then returned. The eldest brother said, “Let us visit our people again!” They had four married sisters, and the eldest brother proposed that they should enter them. The eldest one entered the body of the eldest sister, and the youngest that of the youngest. The sisters became pregnant, for the souls of the brothers had entered them. In due course, and all on the same day, the sisters gave birth to four boys. The eldest brother was born first. The boys grew fast, and soon were able to talk. They told the people, “Now we have come back. Why did you not answer us when we came back from our trip?” The people said to them, “You were drowned.” The boys knew all the people, and could call them by name. They knew the women who were their wives, and spoke to them kindly. After a time they said, “We are going to leave you soon. We are going to explore the trail we saw leading underground to the spirit land. Burn us when we die.” They told the people all about the place they had visited, what the ghosts did, and whom they saw there. Shortly afterwards they died. The people burned their bodies, and the brothers went on the trail to the lower spirit-world. They saw some people there whom they had known on earth. They returned, and were born by their sisters in the same way as before. They grew rapidly; and when they became able to talk, they told the people about the ghost-land below the earth, and whom they saw there. They described it as a damp, dingy place, where people were starving. Now they said, “We shall soon depart again, and explore another trail that we saw leading above the earth. Burn our bodies as before. We shall come back to you again.” This time they followed a trail that led to the sky. They recognized some people there. The time arrived for the brothers to be born again, but they did not return. The people said, “They are lost, and cannot return.” At last the youngest sister gave birth to a boy. This was the youngest brother who had come back. When he was able to talk, he told the people all about the ghost-land in the sky. He said it was a good place, and the people were always happy. He said, “We saw there all the people killed in war. My brothers remained because it is such a nice place, and they asked me to come back and tell you about it. Tonight I shall die and go to join my brothers. I shall return no more. Burn my body as before. We have told you of all we have seen in the spirit-lands. When people die, burn them. People left on the ground or buried have a bad smell, and their ghosts smell also. The spirits of cremated people do not smell. They are purified by the fire.” Now the people know all about the spirit-lands, and since that time people have burned their dead.

Origin of the Death-Chant

Hunters passing through the Lava Beds at night heard an old woman urging someone to hurry, saying, “Nia’ma, the house is full now. We shall soon have no room. Hurry up!” They also heard many people singing a strange chant. All but one hunter fled in fear. The remaining hunter listened to the entire song and later taught it to his people. That night, all the men who had heard the song died, except for the one who had listened without fear. The community adopted this chant as a death-chant, one of four mourning songs still used today. The next morning, villagers found no trace of the singers, realizing the hunters had encountered ghosts.

► Themes of the story

Forbidden Knowledge: The lone hunter acquires a chant associated with death, knowledge that proves perilous.

Origin of Things: The hunters encounter what are believed to be ghosts singing the death-chant.

Ancestral Spirits: The chant is believed to originate from ancestral spirits, connecting the living with the deceased.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

Long ago some hunters were coming home from the hunt in the dark; and, as they passed the place now known as Lava Beds, they believed that they heard people talking and singing in a house. There seemed to be an old woman addressing some one else, and saying, “Nia’ma, the house is full now. We shall soon have no room. Hurry up!” Then they heard the voices of a great many people singing a strange chant. All the men were afraid and ran away, except one man, who listened until the song was finished, and thus learned it.

That night all the men who had heard the song died, except the man who was not afraid and who had heard the song through. He sang the song, and thus introduced it to the people, who adopted it, and used it afterwards as a death-chant. It is one of four mourning songs used at the present day.

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The next morning after the men who heard the song had died, a number of people went back to the place, but found not the slightest trace of people. They knew, therefore, that the men heard the ghosts speaking and singing.

Origin of the Feast for the Dead

In a coastal village near a glacier, a sole survivor of a deadly illness wished to honor his deceased community with a feast. After inviting animals and trees without success, he approached the Ice people from the glacier. They accepted his invitation, attended the feast, and expressed gratitude. This event established the tradition of feasts for the dead, where food is shared among the living and offerings are made to the deceased.

► Themes of the story

Origin of Things: The narrative explains the inception of the feast for the dead, detailing its customs and significance.

Underworld Journey: By inviting the Ice people, who can be interpreted as entities from a realm associated with the dead, the story touches upon interactions with beings from the afterlife.

Ancestral Spirits: The feast is a means to honor and connect with the spirits of the departed, acknowledging their continued presence and influence.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

A long time ago, somewhere near the sea, there was a large village of people not far from a glacier. The people became sick, and all died except one man. He hunted, and carried in much meat. He wanted to give a feast for the dead, but there was no one to attend it. He invited the ducks and other birds to the feast, but they never responded. He called the trees and stumps, but they also gave no heed. Then he went to the glacier and invited the Ice people. He went again to see if they were coming, and saw much down and feathers stretching in a straight line across the water from the glacier to his own house. He thought, “They will come by this route in the morning.”

Early next day they came out of the glacier, and embarked in their canoes. They arrived, and ate until they were full. Then they thanked the man, saying, “We are poor, lowly people, and you invited us to the feast. Thank you!”

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He answered, “I asked every one to the feast, but no one responded. Then I tried you, and I am glad you came. You have eaten now. My heart is at ease now regarding my deceased friends. I shall sleep well tonight. Thank you!” Before this, feasts for the dead were unknown. This was the first one. The Ice people now said, “Henceforth people must do this always. When a relative dies, they must make a feast for the other people to eat, and also hum some food in the fire, so that the dead people may also eat.” People have since done this until the present time.

The dead basket-maker

A widower cherished his late wife’s unfinished basket, keeping it above his bed as a symbol of grief. After remarrying, the basket mysteriously fell onto his head during a playful moment with his new wife. Despite efforts to remove it, the basket spoke, reproaching him. Freed just in time, he burned it, severing its haunting connection to his sorrow and guilt.

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

► Themes of the story

Ancestral Spirits: The deceased wife’s unfinished basket embodies her lingering presence, influencing events from beyond the grave.

Forbidden Knowledge: The husband’s attachment to the basket and his subsequent remarriage lead to unforeseen consequences, suggesting that some remnants of the past are best left undisturbed.

Transformation through Love: The husband’s journey from mourning to remarriage, and the supernatural intervention, highlight the complexities of moving forward while honoring past relationships.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

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

A woman at Klawak was just finishing a basket when she died. She had not yet cut off the tops. Then her husband took the basket and put it up under the roof over his bed. He thought a great deal of it because it was his wife’s last work. Sometimes he would take it down, press it against his heart and weep as he held it there. He wept all the time. After this man had been a widower a long time he married again. One evening, when he was sitting on the bed playing with his new wife, the basket fell right over his head. He tried to pull it off, and his wife laughed, not knowing why it had been up there. When he was unable to pull it away his wife also tried, but it stuck tight around his neck. He became frightened and worked very hard at it. Suddenly the basket said to him, “Yes, pull me off of your head. Why don’t you press me against your heart again?” it last if they had not cut the strings the basket would have choked him to death. Then he put it farther back and in the morning threw it into the fire.

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Raven (Part 21)

Abstract

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

► Themes of the story

Transformation: The community’s shift from venerating Raven to focusing on spirits signifies a transformation in spiritual beliefs and practices.

Ancestral Spirits: The increased emphasis on spirits and shamans highlights the community’s deepening connection to ancestral entities influencing their present lives.

Cultural Heroes: Raven, as a central figure in Tlingit mythology, represents a cultural hero whose stories have shaped societal norms and values.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

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

This is the last thing that happened in the Raven story. From this time on everything is about spirits (yek) over and over again. Very few people believed in Nas-ca’ki-yel. Most believed in the spirits.

From the time that these come into the story you hear little about Raven because people had so much more faith in spirits.

You notice that in every Tlingit town in Alaska there are shamans, and years ago, when a shaman died, there was always one right after him, and he was always of the same family.

It is through these that the Raven story has been getting less and less.

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The first war in the world

This narrative recounts ancient tales of conflict, resilience, and spiritual power among northern and southern tribes. Key events include Xaku’tc’s legendary battle with a devilfish, the exploits of skilled warriors like Murrelet and Little-head, and the intergenerational legacy of war and strength. It emphasizes the integration of shamanic influence, cultural traditions, and the unyielding drive for survival and dominance in shaping their histories.

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

► Themes of the story

Conflict with Nature: The protagonist, Xaku’tc, engages in a perilous battle with a formidable devilfish, highlighting the struggle between humans and natural forces.

Supernatural Beings: The narrative features the devilfish, a creature with extraordinary abilities, and explores the influence of spirits, particularly how Xaku’tc’s spirit imparts strength to others after his encounter.

Ancestral Spirits: After his death, Xaku’tc’s spirit becomes a source of power and guidance for his people, emphasizing the connection between the living and their ancestors.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

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

A man named Xaku’tc was very fond of hunting and hunted almost every day with his brother-in-law, bringing home seal and all sorts of game which he had speared. There was no money in those days.

It was winter. One morning when he went out he speared a porpoise near the place where a devilfish lived, and began to skin it there, letting its blood spread out over the water. He told his steersman to keep a sharp lookout for the devilfish. While they were moving along slowly skinning it, they saw the color of the devilfish coming toward them from under the water. It had its arms extended upward ready for action.

Xaku’tc had a big spear ready by his side, while his brother-in-law began to sharpen his knife and thought to do great things with it.

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When the devilfish came up out of the water he jumped into the midst of its arms along with his knife and was swallowed so quickly that he was able to do nothing; so his brother-in-law had to fight by himself. After he had fought with it for a long time he killed it, and it began to sink with him. The canoe stood up on one end before it went under, and he climbed up on the thwarts as high as he could go. At last the devilfish went right under with them, and finally floated up again at a place called Narrow point (Kulisa’o qa).

Some one must have witnessed this fight, for they cut the devilfish open to see if the hunter were there, and found him stowed away snugly inside of it. That was the man that people often talk about in these days as Xaku’tc [said to mean “shaggy,” referring to the thick, lumpy hair of the grizzly bear. The man was probably one of the Ka’gwantan.] He it was who killed the devilfish.

Afterward his spirit came to one of his friends. People now try to get strength from him because he killed this devilfish. In olden times, when one killed a great creature, his strength always came to another person. Then his strength came to a certain person, impelling him to go to war.

They used to put a light, thin-skinned coat on this person’s back to try his strength by endeavoring to pull it off, but they were not able to do so. They would pull this coat as far back as his shoulders, but, try as hard as they might, they could not get it farther. Then [the spirit in this shaman] told his name. He said, “I am Xaku’tc. I have been swallowed by a devilfish, and I come to you as a spirit (yek).” Many people came to see the shaman when he was possessed and to try him with the coat which no one could pull off. What do you think it was that held it on his back?

After they had tested all of his spirits they started south to war. They were always warring with the southern people. They and the southern people hated each other. When they went down with this shaman they always enslaved many women and sometimes destroyed a whole town, all on account of his strength.

There was a brave man among the southern people, called Qoga’, who liked to kill people from up this way. One time a little boy they had captured escaped from the fort where he was. He had a bow and arrows with him. The brave man discovered where he was, went after him, and pulled him out from under the log where he was hiding. But meanwhile the spirits in the canoes of the northern people had seen Qoga’. Then Qoga’ took the little boy down on the beach and said to him, “Shoot me in the eye.” He put an arrow in his bow and took such good aim that the arrow passed straight through it. The point of this arrow was made of the large mussel shell. The brave man fell just like a piece of wood thrown down. The little boy had killed him. Then all ran to the little boy and took off his head. The chiefs passed his dried scalp from one to another and wondered at what he had done. They named him ever after Little-head (Qaca’ku), and the man he killed was called One-Little-head-killed (Xuga’wadjaget). Even now they relate how Little-head killed the brave man. Then the northern people came around the fort and destroyed everybody there, some of those in the canoes being also killed.

After that the southern people started north to war. They had a shaman among them. On the way they came to a man named Murrelet (Tcit). When this man was young, he had been trained to run up steep cliffs by having a mountain-sheep’s hoof tied to his leg or neck, and being held up to the walls of the house and made to go through the motions of climbing. They said, “Is this the man they talk about so much who can run up any mountain?” This is what they said when they were chasing him. Then they caught him and took him into one of their canoes.

Now the war chief said to his friends, “Let us take him ashore to that cliff.” So they took him to a place called Bell point (Gao litu’) where part of the town of Huna is, to try him there. They said to him, “Murrelet, go up this cliff.” When he attempted it, however, he fell back into the canoe. All the people in the canoes laughed at him. They said, “Oh! you little thing. Why is it that they say you are the best runner up this way?” After he had fallen back the third time, he said, “This is not the way I am dressed when I go up a cliff. I always carry a stone ax, a staff, and a flint, and I always carry along a seal’s stomach full of grease.” They prepared these things for him and gave them to him. Then he started up, wearing his claw snowshoes, which must have been shod with points as strong as the iron ones people have now. He stepped up a little distance, shook himself, and looked down. Then he called like the murrelet and went up flying. The warriors were surprised and said, “Now give him some more things to put on his feet.” They talked about him in the canoes. They said, “Look! he is up on the very top of the mountain peeping at us.” Then he lit fires all along on top of the mountain. All the war canoes went along to another place where was a sandy beach.

Then they tied all the canoe ropes to the body of Murrelet’s steersman, intending to use him as an anchor. Murrelet heard him crying and ran down the mountain toward him. He turned the world over with his foes [meaning that he sent sleep on them to make them sleep harder]. As he came he made a noise like the murrelet. When he got near he told the man to cry very loudly. Probably this man was his brother. It is rather hard to say. Then he said, “I am going to cut the ropes now. Cry harder.” So he cut all of the ropes, and they ran off, while the war canoes floated away. Afterward, however, the warriors found where they had drifted to and recovered them.

Then they started for the fort toward which they had originally set out and captured it.

One high-caste woman they saved and carried south. They took good care of her on account of her birth. At the time when she was captured she was pregnant, and her child was born among the southern people. They also took good care of him; and while he was growing up his mother would take some of his blood and put it upon his nose to make him brave.

For a long time he was ignorant that they were slaves, until one day a young fellow kicked his mother in the nose so that it bled. Then they told him, but he said, “You people know that she is my mother. Why don’t you take good care of her even if she is a slave?” After that a spirit possessed him. It was sorrow that made him have this spirit. Then he ordered them to make a paddle for him, and they made him a big one. His spirit was so very powerful that he obtained enough blankets for his services to purchase his mother’s freedom. Afterward he got ready to come north with his father and mother, and they helped him to load his canoe. Before he started his father’s people asked him not to bring war down upon them. No one else went with them because his spirit was going to guide them.

When they were about to start they put matting over his mother, and, whenever they were going to encamp, they never went right ashore but always dropped anchor outside. How it happened they did not know, but on the way up his mother became pregnant and what was born from her had strength. This strength was what brought them up. During that journey the shaman never ate.

When they came to the beach his friends did not know at first who he was, but his mother related all that had happened. Then his friends came in and began to help him show his spirits. He was getting other spirits from the country of the people he was going to war against. From his wrist up to his elbow he made as many black spots as there were towns he intended to conquer, and, while all were helping him with his spirits, the spots one after another began to smoke. His father told him to remember the place where he had stayed and not destroy it. So, when the spots burned, the burning stopped at the one at his elbow which he simply cleaned away with his hand. This meant that he would extinguish the fire at that point and not fight there.

Then all of his friends prepared themselves and set out to war. They came straight up to a certain fort without attempting to hide, and the fort people shouted, “Come on, you Chilkat people.” They had no iron in those days, but were armed with mussel-shell knives and spears, and wore round wooden fighting hats. They destroyed all the men at this fort and enslaved the women and children. Afterward they stood opposite the fort, took off their war hats and began to scalp all they had killed. When they got off they put the scalps on sticks and tied them all around the canoe. They called this, “Shouting out for the scalped heads” (Kecayat-dus-hu’ktc). They felt very happy over the number of people they had killed and over the number of slaves they had captured. There were no white people here then, not even Russians. It was very close to the time when Raven made us. The people who were doing these things were Ka’gwantan. They had started to war from Luca’caki-an and Kaqanuwu’.

After that all the southern people started north to make war, coming by the outside passage. The first place they reached while rounding this island was Murrelet-point fort (Aoli-tci’tinu). One canoe started off to spy upon them and was chased ashore but was carried across a narrow strip of land and so got back. Therefore this place is called Things-taken-over (A’naxgalna’). Then they came right up to the fort, destroyed it, and captured the women. There must have been a hundred canoes coming to war. In those days they always used bows and arrows.

A certain woman captured here said, “There is another town up the inlet from us.” So they started up about evening and, when the tide was pretty well up, passed through a place where there is a small tide rip. They caught sight of the town far back inside of this and exclaimed, “There’s the town.” Then they landed just below it and started up into the forest in order to surround it. When it became very dark they began to make noises like birds up in the woods. In the morning they descended to fight, and the women and children began crying. They captured all. Meanwhile the tidal rapids began to roar as the tide fell.

One woman among the captives was very old. They asked her what time of tide to run the rapids, and she said to herself, “It is of no use for me to live, for all of my friends and brothers are gone. It is just as well to die as to be enslaved.” So she said to them, “At half tide.”

Then two canoes started down ahead in order to reach some forts said to lie in another direction. They rushed straight under and were seen no more. The old woman was drowned with them. So they made a mark with their blood at the place where these two canoe loads had been drowned to tell what had happened. It may be seen today and looks like yellowish paint.

Next day the remaining canoes started out when the tide was high and came to another fort next morning. While they were around behind this a woman came out. Then they seized her and ran a spear up into her body from beneath many times until she dropped dead without speaking. So this fort came to be called, Fort-where-they-stabbed-up-into-a-woman’s-privates (Kak-kagus-wudu’wata’qinu).

Then the people fought with clubs and bows and arrows until all in the fort were destroyed, and started on to another. When they made an attack in those days, they never approached in the daytime but toward morning when everybody was sleeping soundly. Both sides used wooden helmets and spears.

At this fort the women were always digging a big variety of clam (called gal), storing these clams in the fort for food. The fort was filled with them. So, when the assailants started up the cliff, one of the men inside struck him with a clam shell just under the war hat so that he bled profusely. He could not see on account of the blood. Then the man in the fort took an Indian ax and beat out his brains. Afterward all in the fort seized clam shells and struck their foes in the face with them so that they could not come up. They threw so fast that the canoes were all kept away; so that place is now called Where-clams-kept-out-the-foes (Xa’osixani-gal). For the same reason this was the only fort where any people were saved, and on the other hand many of the enemy were destroyed by the fort people.

Now they left this fort and came to another, landing on a beach near by, and between them and the fort was what they supposed to be a fresh water pond. Then one of them called Little-bear-man, because he had on a bear-skin coat, began to shoot at the fort with arrows. But the people in the fort shouted to him, “Do not be in such great haste. The tide runs out from the place where you are.” Then the bear man said, “The people here say that the tide runs out from this place, but [I know] that it is a fresh-water pond.” Presently the tide began to run out from it as they had told him, so he chopped some wood, made a fire and lay by it to wait. After the tide had ebbed they began to fight, destroyed everybody there, and burned the fort down. Close by the site of this fort is a place called Porpoise-belly (Tcitciu’k).

The warriors thought they were getting much the best of the people up this way, but really only a few were left to look after the forts, most being collected elsewhere.

After they had destroyed all the people in four forts they landed on a long sandy beach to cut off the scalps. When there was no time to scalp, the heads were carried away until there should be more leisure. Scalps and slaves were what people fought for, and they dried the scalps by rubbing them on hot stones or holding them near the fire. Then they again started north. This raid consumed the whole summer.

Southward of Huna was a fort on a high cliff, called Jealous-man fort (Caositi’yiqa-nuwu’). It was named from the man who encamped there who was so jealous of his wife that he would let no one else live near him. When the foes all stopped in front of him, and he could hear them talking, he began to quarrel with them, saying, “You big round heads, you want to destroy all of the people up this way.” While they were talking back at him one of their canoes struck a rock and split in two, and, after they had rescued the people in it, they began talking about this circumstance, saying, “If we wait any longer he will quarrel us over as well.” So they left him and went on north.

The next fort they attacked is called Huna-people’s fort (Hu’naqawu-nuwu’) and it stood just where they were going to turn south again. Here they had the greatest fight of all, and the fort people killed many of them. Finally they broke up all the canoes of these people and started south. At this time they were overloaded with the slaves they had taken, but they went in to every fort they passed near and broke up the canoes belonging to it. The last of these forts was called Fort-that-rapids-run-around (Datx-xatkanada’-nu). When they had destroyed all of the canoes there, they said, “Will you people bring any more wars upon us? You will not dare to fight us again.” They felt very happy, for they thought that they had destroyed all of the northern people, and that no more raids would be made upon them.

Most of the northern people, however, were encamped along the coast to the westward, and, when they heard what had happened, they came from Yakutat, Alsek river, and other places to Luca’caki-an. They talked together for a long time and finally decided upon a plan. All the men began to sharpen their stone axes, and, when that was finished, they came to a big tree they had already marked out and began to chop at it from all sides. This was the biggest tree ever known. While they worked, the women would come around it wailing and mourning for their dead friends. It took two days to chop this tree down, and, if anybody broke his stone ax, they felt very sorry for him and beat the drums as though some one were dead. Then they cut the tree in two and took a section off along the whole length where the upper side of the canoe was to be, and the head workman directed that it be burnt out inside with fire. So all the people assembled about it to work, and as fast as it was burnt they took sticks and knocked off the burnt part so as to burn deeper and to shape it properly when it had been burned enough. There was one heavy limb that they let stand, merely finishing about it. This work took them all winter. During the same time they bathed in the sea and whipped one another in order to be brave in the approaching war.

Toward spring they got inside of the canoe with their stone axes and began to smooth it by cutting out the burnt part. Then they began to give names to the canoe. It was finally called Spruce-canoe (Sit-yaku). The thing they left in the middle was the real thing they were going to kill people with. Finally they finished it by putting in seats.

Now they were only waiting for it to get warmer. In those days there were special war leaders, and in fighting they wore helmets and greaves made of common varieties of wood.

There was a shaman among these people named Qala’tk belonging to the Naste’di. Because they were going to war, all of his people would come about him to help him capture the souls of the enemy. One time he said to his clothes man, “Go out for food, and be brave. The head spirit is going to help you.” So the clothes man went out as directed and the spirit showed him the biggest halibut in the ocean. For the float to his line he used the largest sea-lion stomach, and, when he began to pull it up, it looked as though the whole ocean were flowing into its mouth. But the shaman told him to be courageous and hold on though the hook looked like nothing more than a small spot. It did not even move, for the strength of the spirits killed it, but it was so large that they had to tow it in below the town. Then all the people who were going to fight cut the halibut up and began to dry it. There was enough for all who were going to war and for all the women left at home. When it was dried they started to pack part away in the canoe. Then they pushed the canoe down on skids made of the bodies of two women whom they had captured from the southern people on a previous expedition and whom they now killed for the purpose. Meanwhile the southern people thought that they had destroyed all of those at the north and were scattered everywhere in camps, not taking the trouble to make forts.

Finally all the northern warriors got into the big canoe and they started south. It took probably ten days to get there. At the first camp they reached they killed all the men and put the women and children down on the sharpened limb alive. Of one woman who was saved they asked where the other people were, and she said that they were scattered everywhere in camps which she named. After they had destroyed the second camp they enslaved more women, whom they also put upon the sharpened limb. As they never took any off, the number on this increased continually. Then they asked the woman: “Didn’t you expect any war party to come down here?” She said, “No one expected another raid down here, so they built no forts.”

The big canoe went around everywhere, killing people, destroying property, and enslaving women. The women captured at each place told them where others were to be found, and so they continued from place to place. ‘They destroyed more of the southern people than were killed up this way. When they thought that they had killed everybody they started north, stopping at a certain place to scalp the bodies. Then they reached home, and everybody felt happy. They not only brought numbers of slaves but liberated those of their own people who had been taken south. Since that time people have been freer to camp where they please, and, although the northern and southern people fought against each other for a long time, more slaves were taken up this way, so the northern people did not esteem the southern people very highly. This is said to have been the very oldest war.

How the frogs honored the dead

When fearing attack, the Kiksa’di and Ka’gwantan sought refuge on Kanasqe’ (St. Lazaria Island), dividing themselves between its two tidal-separated parts. Amid their struggle for food, they attempted to drain a saltwater pond harboring a creature called Lin. After a Ka’gwantan chief’s death, a symbolic frog emerged and sacrificed itself in the fire during the funeral rites, leading to a vow of war and ceremonial offerings to honor the frog and the chief.

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

► Themes of the story

Sacrifice: The frog’s self-immolation during the chief’s funeral rites symbolizes a profound act of sacrifice, reflecting the deep respect and ritual significance attributed to such acts in the narrative.

Ancestral Spirits: The community’s ceremonial offerings to honor both the deceased chief and the frog highlight the importance of ancestral spirits and the rituals performed to honor them, emphasizing the connection between the living and the spiritual realm.

Supernatural Beings: The presence of the creature Lin in the saltwater pond and the symbolic appearance of the frog during the funeral rites introduce elements of the supernatural, indicating interactions with beings beyond the ordinary human experience.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

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

One time, when they were afraid of being attacked, all of the Kiksa’di and Ka’gwantan encamped on Kanasqe’ (St. Lazaria island). There are two parts to this island separated at high tide, and the Kiksa’di encamped upon one, while the Ka’gwantan lived upon the other. On the same island there is also a small salt water pond at the bottom of which was a creature called Lin, and, being pressed for food on account of their fear of the enemy, the allies often tried to bail out this pond when the tide left it, to get at the sea animal.

While the people were there, a chief of the Ka’gwantan died, and, after he had been in the house among his friends for eight days, one of his friends said to the Kiksa’di, “Take care of his dead body.” All the Ka’gwantan chiefs marry Kikca’ (Kiksa’di women).

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But the real frog tribe thought they were the ones who were summoned, because they are also Kikca’.

Then all the Kiksa’di made ready to go ashore to burn his dead body. They chopped much wood and made a fire, while all of the Kiksa’di and Ka’gwantan stood around it, and everyone felt badly. All at once a big frog, as long as the hand and wrist, jumped out from the place where the fire was and began making a noise. All looked at it. It had come out because the frogs were the ones to whom the Ka’gwantan had spoken. After that it jumped into the fire and burned up.

Then all the people tied themselves up (ga’xani) (i.e., tied their blankets around their waists, as they did when they were engaged in lifting the sun) out of respect to the chief. All felt very badly about the dead man, and one person said, “It will not be like draining out the Lin lake (Lin a’ya). Let us go to war.” So they captured slaves and killed them for the dead man, and, when they put food into the fire for him, they also named the frog that it might receive some as well.