The eagle-boy

A battered wife escapes her abusive husband using magical transformation, fleeing with her infant. After a series of supernatural encounters, she finds refuge with an Eagle-Father who transforms her child into a powerful eagle-man. The son ultimately avenges his mother by hunting humans for his supernatural family and dramatically killing his original father through a terrifying aerial pursuit.

Source
The Jessup North Pacific Expedition
edited by Franz Boas
Memoir of the American Museum
of Natural History – New York
Volume VIII
3. The Eskimo of Siberia
by Waldemar Bogoras
Leiden & New York, 1913

► Themes of the story

Transformation: The woman’s child is transformed into a powerful eagle-man by the Eagle-Father.

Revenge and Justice: The eagle-man avenges his mother by killing his biological father.

Magic and Enchantment: The woman uses magical transformations to escape her husband, and the Eagle-Father uses magic to transform her child.

► From the same Region or People

North Asia
- Yupik Lore

Learn more about the Yupik peoples

This tale was said, by the narrator, to come from the village Nu’yak, on the American shore.

Told by Nipe’wgi, an Asiatic Eskimo man, in the village of Uni’sak, at Indian Point, June, 1901.

There was a man of very bad temper. All the time he beat his wife. When he was coming back from sea-hunting, he would call aloud, “There, come out! Shake the snow off my clothes!” If she did not jump out in time and meet him halfway down, he would threaten her, “Oh, I will kill you!”

At last one day his wife resolved to flee. She took a bucket full of water and set it before herself. Into that bucket she put a small package of meat. The bucket turned into a sea; and the package of meat, into a boat. She put her little infant on her back, boarded the boat, and set off.

A current caught her and carried her toward the shore. She came ashore, and saw a large house. She stood before the entrance irresolute. In the house lived a man with his daughter. He was a widower, and had no wife. Then he said to his daughter, “Go and see what woman is standing there!” She went out, and said to the stranger, “My father bids you enter.” She entered, and they had a meal. The host said, “Let us sleep!”

► Continue reading…

They lay down. His membrum virile was a fathom long. In the night-time it moved, and struck her little child. The child cried. “Oh, the child is crying! I had better go out.” — “No, come back!” He wanted to copulate with her, but she staid throughout the night in the outer house.

The next morning he went hunting. Before leaving he said to the woman, “You may look at everything here; but in that corner there lies a white thing you must not look at. It is evil.” — “All right!” But as soon as he was gone, she thought, “Why did he forbid me to look at that white thing?” She looked at it. It was a woman’s corpse, torn and lacerated by a large membrum virile.

Oh, she fled, frightened! Soon he came home and gave pursuit. She took along her water-bucket and the package of meat. She put the bucket down. It turned into a lake. Then she threw down a tuft of her own hair, and it turned into high woods along the lake-shore. She climbed a tree and waited for her pursuer. After a while he came, all the time following her fresh tracks. Thus it happened that he saw her face in the water. She was sitting above, in the tree.

“Oh, you are there!” She nodded on her tree. The woman in the water nodded also. He could not understand his mistake. “Oh, I will catch you yet! Let me plunge down!” He plunged down, and struck his head against the bottom. It was hard wood, being the bucket. He came up to the surface, and stepped out of the water. Then he looked down again. The face was still there. “Oh, I could not reach you!” She shook her head. “Ah, indeed! But I will try once more, and this time I will tie a stone around my neck so as to have more weight.” He plunged down with a stone around his neck, and was nearly drowned. In the end he came ashore, and again he saw the face in the water. “Ah, indeed! I could not reach you by any means whatever.” She shook her head. “Oh, you beloved one!” Then she laughed aloud. He raised his head, and saw her on the tree. “Aha, you are here!” He tried to chop down the tree with his membrum virile, and in a short time cut it down; but the woman jumped over to another tree. The tree, in falling, hit the assailant, and he was killed.

The woman put her package upon the lake, and it turned again into a boat. She boarded the boat, and set off downstream. After a while she came to the shore, and saw another house; but she was afraid to enter there. In the house there lived a man with five daughters. He said to his daughters, “Go and look at that woman and at her child. If it is a girl, drive her away; but if it is a boy, let her enter.”

One of the daughters came out, and said to the woman, “The old man says, if your child is a little girl, then you must go away; but if it is a little boy, then you may enter.” — “Oh, I will not enter! You seem to be evil-minded. Indeed, my child is a boy; but I will not enter.” The girl went back without success. “She refuses to come!” — “Oh, you are too awkward! — Go you, now, and call her.” He sent another daughter; and she said, “The old man says if your little child is a boy, you may enter.” — “Oh, I will not enter!”

Finally the last daughter came out. “The old man sent me to take your boy into the house.” She snatched the child away from her, and carried it in. “Oh,” said the mother, “they have taken it by force! Now I must follow.” She entered, following the girl. A tall lad was sitting in the sleeping-room opposite the entrance. “Where is my child?” — “This is your child!” The old man stretched the child’s arms and legs by pulling them, and made him a grown-up man. “Oh, you are deceiving me! This is not my child. My child is quite small.” — “Indeed, it is your child. You may recognize him by a scar on his neck, caused by that membrum virile.” Then she recognized him. The next day the child went hunting, and killed a mouse. His new father was much pleased. The day after that he killed a hare. Then he killed polar foxes and wolves, and in due time even reindeer.

The eagle dress of his new father was hanging outside of the house, on a horizontal pole. It was crying with the voice of an eagle. The boy tried to put it on, but could not do it. The dress was so heavy, he fell down under its weight. The Eagle-Sisters laughed at his awkwardness. In the evening their father asked him, “How did you try to put on this dress? I presume you put your hands into the wings, and your feet into the feet?” — “Yes, I did so.” — “That was wrong. You should put your hands and feet together into the eagle’s feet, and let the wings hang loose.”

He did so, and the dress proved to be quite light. He put it on, and walked in the manner in which birds walk. Then he flapped the eagle-wings and flew up. He saw under himself a big mammoth (literally, a “master of mammoth’s bone”). He was as large as a house. His feet sank into the ground. He caught him, but could not lift him into the air. The mammoth was too heavy. So the mammoth fell down, and was sinking into the ground. He sank down to the shoulders, but the young man was still unable to free his talons. Then he called on the Eagle-Sisters for help. They came, and aided him to lift the mammoth again, and carried him to their father. The father was pleased. “Oh, oh!” he said, “you are strong. At your time of life I could not do that much.”

After that the young man flew about and brought to his father all kinds of game. One day he saw a large whale, and caught it, but again could not lift it. So he called his Eagle-Sisters, and they assisted him. At last the father and his daughters said to him, “We want to eat man’s flesh. We are not human. We are of a different nature, therefore we have a desire for human flesh.” — “And where shall I get it?” — “There is plenty of it in the world below.” — “All right!” said he. He flew down, and came to our world below. Men and women were walking along. He caught two, and carried them up. On the way he would let them drop, and then catch them again in mid-air. Thus he killed them and brought them home. He dropped them down to the ground near the house. “There is your meat!”

The Upper Beings ate of the human flesh; but his mother said, “Do not eat of it. We are not of their kind. And this is not your real father. Your father is human. He lives there on the earth. He beat me too much. That was the reason why I fled.” — “Then I will go and find him.” His father was paddling in a canoe. The Eagle-Boy descended, and perched on the gunwale of the canoe. “Oh, is it you?” His father recognized him. “Let us go home! I will take you to my home.” — “No, we are of a different kind from you. We live in the upper world. I shall take you to my home.” He took up with his talons the canoe, together with the crew, and carried it up. Then he would let it drop, and immediately overtake it and catch it again in mid-air. Thus he killed his father and brought him to his house. He dropped him down before his mother. “Here he is! He shall not beat you any more.”

That is all.

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The polygamist

A polygamist strikes his older wife during a dance, causing her to flee on an ice floe. Rescued by Sun-Man, she is given shelter and gifts. She returns home, creates a new dwelling through magical means, reunites with her poorly dressed daughters, and provides them with beautiful clothes, arousing her husband’s younger wife’s envy.

Source
The Jessup North Pacific Expedition
edited by Franz Boas
Memoir of the American Museum
of Natural History – New York
Volume VIII
1. Chukchee Mythology
by Waldemar Bogoras
Leiden & New York, 1910

► Themes of the story

Divine Intervention: The older wife is rescued by Sun-Man, a divine figure, who provides her with shelter and gifts.

Magic and Enchantment: She uses magical means to create a new dwelling and improve her situation.

Revenge and Justice: The older wife’s return and improved status serve as a form of justice against her husband’s earlier mistreatment.

► From the same Region or People

North Asia
- Chukchee Lore

Learn more about the Chukchee people

Told by Nuwa’t, a Reindeer Chukchee man, in the camp near the village Mi’s-qan, April, 1901

There lived a polygamist (li’milin). He had two wives. By the older wife he had two daughters; by the younger, no children at all. Still he loved the younger wife best. The elder one he did not love at all. One time, at a thanksgiving ceremonial, both women danced. The man with his drum was dancing too. He struck the older wife in the face. She grew angry and went away to the seashore. The ice-floe was separated from the shore by a narrow crack. She jumped over, although she had not even put on her upper garment. The ice was carried away far into the open sea, and at last reached another land.

She landed close to a rock, which was quite steep. All the time she was thinking, “Oh, I have left my two daughters behind me! I made them miserable orphans. From now on they will be badly dressed, clad in worn-out skins, wronged by everybody.” She saw a man upon the rock. He was very large and tall.

► Continue reading…

He was Sun-Man (Terkae’-la’ul). His shirt had a hood. The hood was drawn over his face, and the sleeves were drawn over his hands. Still he was full of light, and his head was encircled by a halo. She said to herself, “It seems, he wants to kill me. All right! Let him kill me! My life is a torment to me.” He answered from beneath his hood, “Why should I kill you? On the contrary, I pity you. Therefore I made you come to this land of mine, for you have not come by accident, and still less by your own will. I led you here unbeknown to you.” He took her hand and helped her up the rock. There she saw a large house. It was resplendent with light, and the sleeping-room was aglow with brightness. On both sides of the sleeping-room there were round vessels filled with food. Some contained boiled meat, others were full of tallow, others again were filled with fermented leaves, and some were empty. He said, “All these are sacrificial vessels. The people gave them to me, and some who wanted to cheat me gave me empty vessels. I took everything, as I never refuse a sacrifice.” They lived together. They brought forth a son, then two children more. After a time Sun-Man said, “Well, now, we are from different lands; and you are not homeless, you have your own native country. So go back to your country! Take your children along. On the way you shall not starve. I will procure food for you, also a shelter wherein to rest by night. So far I have made you secure.”

He cut small pieces from his outer tent, also from the sleeping-room, and from every bag of provisions. These pieces he handed over to her, and said, “Put them down into a mitten. Then you may go.” He made her descend along a sun-ray, because they were in the upper world. She thought it was a steep rock, but in reality it was a separate world. She came to the earth. Then she took those pieces out of the mitten and spat upon them. A house was created there, standing upon the shore, not worse than that of the Sun-Man, with bags full of meat, and with various kinds of food. She lived there. Two young girls were walking on the beach, gathering seaweed. “Oh, oh! What girls are those? Are they not daughters of mine? How poorly clad they are! How thinly dressed!” She called them in, and saw that they were really her daughters. “Oh, oh! I am not dead. I am your mother. I have come back to you!” She gave them pretty clothes of spotted fawn-skins. Then they went home, and she went along with them. Their step-mother and her husband were sitting in the sleeping-room. “Where is your seaweed?” The girls did not answer, as if hearing nothing. “Why do you not answer?” Then at last they flung the seaweed into the sleeping-room. Their step-mother sprang out. “Why do they fling things like that?” She saw their pretty clothes. “Where did they get such clothes? Let me follow them.” She followed them, and came to that house. She saw that it was very large, and filled with all kinds of provisions. Then she envied them that were having their meals in that house.

The end.

The Boy Who Became a Mink

An old woman teaches her grandson survival skills, gifting him a magical mink skin and protective charms. Disobeying her warning, he explores a forbidden bay, facing supernatural trials, including a vengeful shaman, dangerous creatures, and a monstrous whale. Overcoming each with courage and wit, he ultimately chooses a life of freedom as a mink, blending into the wild yet retaining his unique identity.

Source
Tales from Kodiak Island
collected by F.A. Golder
The Journal of American Folklore
Vol. 16, No. 61, Apr. – Jun., 1903

► Themes of the story

Forbidden Knowledge: Despite his grandmother’s warning, the boy’s curiosity leads him to explore the forbidden bay, uncovering hidden dangers and supernatural challenges.

Trials and Tribulations: Throughout his journey, he faces numerous challenges, including encounters with a vengeful shaman, dangerous creatures, and a monstrous whale, testing his courage and wit.

Magic and Enchantment: The story features magical elements, such as the enchanted mink skin and protective charms, which play crucial roles in the boy’s survival and transformation.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Aleutian Lore

Learn more about the Aleut people

These tales were obtained by the author at Unga Island, Alaska, during a three years’ residence. They were told in the Russian language by Mrs. Reed, Nicoli Medvednikoff, Corneil Panamaroff, all natives of the island of Kodiak where they had heard them, and translated some literally, others more freely. The natives of Kodiak speak Russian almost as freely as they do their mother tongue. They call themselves “Aleuts,” and wherever that word is used, it refers to them, and not to the real Aleuts to the west. The author has but lately returned from Alaska.

In a small barrabara, away from other barrabaras and other people, lived an old woman and her young grandson. While the boy was small, the grandmother supplied both with food and clothing by hunting and fishing. She also taught him how to hunt and fish; and when nearly full grown, she surprised him one morning by telling him that a one-hatch bidarka (which she had made unbeknown to him) was on the beach ready for him.

It was there, sure enough, equipped and ready for hunting. He was supremely happy; for he had obtained that which for years he had been looking forward to. Every morning he went out hunting and fishing, and in the evening returned loaded with fish and game. In a little while he became very skilful in the handling of the bidarka, and daily ventured farther and farther out to sea.

His grandmother called him one morning, and said to him: “Son, you may go anywhere, except into yonder bay, and you will be safe; if you ever go there, you will never return to me. Take this mink skin, put it into your bidarka; this bag containing four tiny bows and arrows keep about your person. Should you ever be in trouble, turn to them, and they will help you.” He promised never to venture inside the bay, accepted the gifts, and disposed of them as he was told.

► Continue reading…

In those days, when this boy lived, there were no winds at all; the waters were always smooth and calm. One could go long distances from shore, and not be in danger of the winds and the waves.

Not many days after the promise to his grandmother, the boy, while pursuing a seal, went much farther from shore than one would dare go now, and when he finally stopped paddling, after killing the seal, he found himself at the mouth of the bay.

The interior of the bay looked so inviting and alluring that he laughed at his grandmother’s fears, and steered for the beautiful island in the middle of the bay. He beached his bidarka, took the mink skin, and started for the summit of a hill where he noticed a barrabara. As he began to ascend, large rocks came rolling down, blocking his way and nearly crushing him. The farther up he went the more difficult and dangerous it became. In order to save himself he jumped into a hole. The rocks fell over the hole, covered and blocked it.

He tried vainly to get out; the rocks were too heavy to be pushed off, and the openings too small to crawl through. While thinking over the situation, the mink skin occurred to him. Seizing it, he commenced chewing and stretching it until he pulled it over his head. As he did that, he changed into a mink. By scratching and squeezing, leaping and dodging, he escaped from his prison, and reached the summit, where he was surprised to see that all the rocks came from the barrabara.

Taking off the mink skin and becoming a boy again, he went into the barrabara. On the floor sat a very large woman making mats. When she saw him, she screamed in a loud and angry voice :

“Who told you to come here !”

Reaching behind her, she pulled out a long, sharp spear and threw it at him. Before the spear reached him, he changed himself into a mink; the spear went over his head, sticking into the wall. Quickly assuming his boyish shape, he grabbed the spear, and called to her: “Change and save yourself if you can !” and hurled it at her, cutting her in two.

A loud report and earthquake followed his action. The barrabara trembled, tumbled in, and he was again a prisoner. His mink skin came into good use; by scratching and dodging he managed to crawl out and run down to the shore, and, after pulling off the skin, pushed the bidarka out and started homeward.

He had not gone very far when he heard some one calling, and on looking around saw people on the shore motioning to him. An old man greeted him as he landed, and taking him by the hand, led him into a barrabara where sat several girls. Pointing to one of them, he said : “You can have her for a wife.”

This made him very happy, and glad he did not obey his grandmother. A dish of seal meat was placed before him, and after eating, they all lay down to sleep. The following morning the old man asked him to go to the woods, and bring wood for sled runners. In his position of prospective son-in-law he could not refuse any request of his prospective father-in-law, so he went.

A gruesome sight met his gaze on entering the woods. Human bones and skeletons were scattered everywhere; and he began to fear lest another trap was laid for him. He went about his work, however, and the woods soon rang with the reports of his axe.

A very frightful and horrible noise coming from the interior of the woods made him stop. The nearer it came the more terrible it sounded. “It must be a wild beast coming to eat me up,” he thought.

Soon a very ferocious beast appeared and came running towards him. The boy looked for his mink skin; it was not about him, for he had left it in the bidarka; but still he had his bows and arrows. Quickly pulling them out of the bag, he sent one tiny arrow into the side of the monster, knocking him over; and when another arrow pierced the other side, he ceased kicking. Approaching him to withdraw the arrows, the boy found him dead.

On his return to the barrabara, after finishing his work, the old man looked surprised and uneasy — the old man was a shaman, and had been in the habit of sending strangers into the woods to be killed by the monster, and then eating them —and asked the boy :—

“Did you see or hear anything strange in the woods ?”

“No, I did not,” the boy replied.

The morning of the second day, while the boy was eating breakfast, the old shaman from outside called to him :

“The girls want you to come out and swim with them !”

To refuse would have been unmanly, so he went to the beach, undressed himself, taking, however, the mink skin; for he suspected trouble, and swam after the girls, who were some distance from him. As he advanced, they retreated; and when almost up to them, a big whale appeared between them, and before he knew what to do, he was in the whale’s mouth. In there, the boy put on the mink skin, and when the whale appeared on the surface, the boy escaped through the blow-hole, and swam for the shore.

When the shaman saw him, he was vexed and troubled, saying to himself : “He is the first one that I could not overcome, but I will.”

That evening he had again a supper of seal meat; his bride sat where he could see her, but he dared not talk to her.

Early next morning the old man called him to have another swim with the girls. On the beach was a large whale, and the girls were climbing on his tail. When they were all on, he switched his tail, sending them through the air some distance into the sea.

The girls dared the boy do likewise. Stripping himself, and unnoticed by them —they were quite a distance from him — he took a tiny arrow in each hand. Instead of at once climbing on the tail, he approached the head of the whale. Sticking the arrows into the head, he asked the girls : —

“Am I to get on here ?”

“No, further down,” they answered.

He stuck the arrows into the whale, as he moved down towards the tail, repeating the same question and receiving the same answer. When he finally stood on the tail, it did not move; for the whale was dead. The girls, after waiting some time, swam to the shore to report to the shaman, who returned with them only to find the whale lifeless. Furious was the shaman; and in his heart he swore he would yet eat the boy.

The following morning the old man asked the boy whether he had any relatives, mother or grandmother, whom he would like to go and see before he settled down with them.

“I have a grandmother,” said the boy, and went off that day.

Paddling first on one side of the bidarka, and then on the other, he was making good progress, when all of a sudden the mink skin startled him by calling to him : “Look out, you are in danger !” He looked ahead; there was nothing dangerous there, so he paddled on. Again the mink skin called to him : “Look out, you are in danger !” Ahead everything was safe; but as he looked behind, he was almost overcome with fear; for a huge wave, high as a mountain, was coming his way, and would soon overtake and overwhelm him. As quickly as he could, he shot one of his arrows into the wave, breaking it, and he was once more safe.

Towards evening he steered for the shore, in order to eat and rest there, and when near the shore, a large sea monster appeared and swallowed bim, bidarka and all. He pulled out and put on the mink skin, and when an opportunity offered itself, he escaped through the monster’s gills, and swam to the shore.

His grandmother, who was also a shaman, had been watching the grandson’s doings, though far away, punished the monster by sending two large ravens to peck his eyes out.

Being on shore, and without a bidarka, the boy started to walk home. He did not take off the mink skin, and so was still a mink. On the way he came to a large lake, abounding in fish; there he stopped, fed on the fish he caught, and in a short time became acquainted with the minks of the neighborhood. This easy life pleased him so well that he decided to remain there; and there (in the neighborhood of Kodiak) he is at present. The shamans, only, can tell him apart from the other minks.