The devil punishing a liar

Impatient to see the world beyond their den, two young cubs repeatedly ask their mother if summer has arrived, but she deceives them to keep them safe. When they discover green leaves in her mouth they escape at dawn to bask in the warmth. However, overhearing their curse that the devil would kill her, they witness the devil’s retribution and flee in horror, orphaned and frightened.

Source:
Ethnology of the Ungava District,
Hudson Bay Territory
by Lucien M. Turner
Smithsonian Institution
Bureau of American Ethnology
Annual Report 11, 1889-1890
Washington, 1894

► Themes of the story

Forbidden Knowledge: The mother deliberately withholds the truth of summer from her cubs, preventing them from knowing what lies beyond the den.

Family Dynamics: The story centers on the relationship between the protective mother bear and her inquisitive cubs.

Divine Punishment: The devil exacts vengeance for the cubs’ curse, enacting a higher power’s retribution on the mother.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Naskapi Lore

Learn more about the Naskapi people

A bear (mackwh) had two young cubs which she did not want to let know that summer had come, but kept them in the den and would not let them go out. The young ones continually inquired if the summer had come, and repeated the question every time the mother returned from the outside. She invariably answered, “No.” Some days after she fell asleep, when she had returned from one of her trips, and while sleeping her mouth opened wide.

The young ones said to each other: “Surely the summer is come, for there are green leaves in our mother’s mouth.” The mother had told her children how beautiful was the summer time, how green the trees, how juicy the plants, and how sweet the berries.

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So the cubs, impatient, while longing for summer that they might enjoy what was outside of their den, knew by the leaves in their mother’s mouth that she had deceived them. The older cub told the younger that they would slip out at the top of the den and go out while their mother was yet sleeping. They crept out and found the weather so fine and the surroundings so pleasant that they wandered some distance off by the time she wakened from her sleep. She ran out and called loudly for her children, seemingly surprised, and exclaimed: “My sons, the summer has come; the summer has come.” The cubs hid when they heard their mother’s voice. She called to them until nightfall. The older cub said to his brother: “I wish the devil (A-qan’) would hear her and kill her for telling us the summer had not come, and keeping us in the house so long when it was already pleasant outside.”

The mother bear soon screamed to her sons: “The devil has heard me and is killing me.”

The cubs heard the devil killing their mother with a stone, pounding her on the head.

They became frightened and ran away.

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Wolverene and Wolf

Wolverene and Wolf are brothers-in-law who hunt together. Facing scarce game, they discover an inaccessible cache of dried meat. Ignoring Wolf’s warnings, Wolverene attempts to steal from the cache, falls, and suffers fatal injuries. Before dying, he vows that his kind will continue stealing from human stores, explaining why wolverenes are notorious thieves.

Source:
Kaska Tales
by James A. Teit
The American Folklore Society
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.30, No.118, pp. 427-473
October-December, 1917

► Themes of the story

Trickster: Wolverene exhibits cunning behavior by attempting to steal meat from a cache, embodying the trickster archetype.

Divine Punishment: Wolverene’s actions lead to his demise, suggesting a form of retribution for his transgressions.

Mythical Creatures: The narrative features anthropomorphic animals, with Wolverene and Wolf taking on human-like roles.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Kaska Lore

Learn more about the Kaska people

Wolverene and Wolf were brothers-in-law and lived together. Wolf had no wife, while Wolverene had a large family. They hunted in company, Wolf traversing the high mountains, and Wolverene following the timber-line below him. Game was very scarce. By and by the deep snow prohibited their hunting on the high grounds, and they had to hunt lower down in the woods, where game was still less abundant. One day they came on a cache of dried meat made by some people (Indians) in a bad precipitous place near a waterfall, and beyond their reach. Wolverene was very anxious to get at the cache, and thought by jumping against it he might knock it down.

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Wolf would not attempt it, and declared that if Wolverene jumped, he would not reach the cache, and would simply fall down on the steep, smooth ice below, and perhaps kill himself. Wolf declared he was going home, and, just as he was leaving, Wolverene made the jump. He fell short of the cache, landed on the steep ice, and was precipitated to the bottom, breaking his arms and legs. Wolf lifted him up; but he could not get him out of there, nor set his broken limbs. Soon afterwards some people came along to get meat from the cache, and found Wolverene lying there with his arms and legs broken. They knew he had been trying to steal, so they clubbed and killed him. As he was dying, he said to the people, “No matter if you kill me, I shall steal from your caches just the same. There are many of us.” This is why the wolverene is now such a thief, and breaks into people’s caches and steals their meat. Wolf returned to camp, and reared Wolverene’s family.

The fog-man

Two sisters, scolded by their mother for consuming scarce food, flee to the mountains and encounter Fog-Man. He replaces his malevolent wives, Porcupine and Beaver, with the sisters, turning the former into animals. Fog-Man’s hunting skills provide abundance, but after a dispute, he conceals his meat cache under a mountain. Later, he reveals it, teaching the people to store food, though his mother-in-law’s gluttony leads to her demise.

Source:
Kaska Tales
by James A. Teit
The American Folklore Society
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.30, No.118, pp. 427-473
October-December, 1917

► Themes of the story

Divine Punishment: Fog-Man transforms his two malicious wives, Porcupine and Beaver, into their respective animal forms as punishment for their malevolent behavior.

Conflict with Nature: The human characters face challenges in securing food, highlighting their struggle against natural scarcity.

Cunning and Deception: Fog-Man conceals his meat cache beneath a mountain to prevent access by those who quarreled with him, demonstrating strategic cunning.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Kaska Lore

Learn more about the Kaska people

A man and his wife were out hunting. They had two daughters who staid in camp. There was little to eat; and the girls, being hungry, ate about half of the back-fat that remained in the camp. Their mother was angry when she returned and found that they had eaten so much fat.

She said to them, “Go up in the mountains and marry Fog-Man. He is a good hunter, and always has plenty of fat.” The girls ran away from home, and, going up in the mountains, came to the place where the Fog people draw water. They met a woman there who was the mother of Fog-Man. The girls told her their story, and she said she would tell her son.

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Fog-Man had two wives, Porcupine and Beaver. They were bad women. They ate people, and they were always angry and cross. As soon as Fog-Man learned of the girls from his mother, without saying anything, he arose and hit Porcupine with his axe, and drove her from the house. He said, “Go up to the timber-line among the balsam and become a porcupine. People will eat you.” Then he hit Beaver with a stick, and drove her, too, from the house. He said, “Go down to the river and become a beaver. People will eat you also.” He brought the girls in, and now had two good wives. He hunted and put up a great quantity of meat of caribou, sheep, etc., and fat groundhog. He made a very big cache of meat in the mountains. Then he went to visit his parents-in-law, taking his wives with him, and plenty of meat. He staid a long time with his wives’ people; and while he remained there, the people always had plenty to eat, for Fog-Man was a good hunter. His chief food was sheep’s horns, which he called fat, and cut just like back-fat.

Each of his wives bore him a son. One day some of the people quarrelled with him, and he left them. On his way home he put a mountain on the top of his meat-cache, so that the people could not get at it. They could find no game, and were starving. They went to the cache to get meat, but were unable to remove the mountain which covered it. The woman (viz., mother-in-law) sent Fog-Man’s sons to look for their father. She said to them, “When you see your father’s tracks and follow them, paint the soles of your feet with red paint, and never look back.” They did as directed, and found their father. Many Fog people were living there. When they went in, they gave the lads sheep’s horns to eat.

When Fog-Man heard that the people were starving, he was sorry. He went to the cache and took the mountain off the top. The people now had plenty to eat. Fog-Man’s mother-in-law ate so much fat, that she became too full, and, when reaching over to take some more, she broke in two. After this, people used caches and put up meat in caches. Fog-Man taught them. This is why the Indians now cache their meat and make caches.

The hunting fetish

A hunter, weakened by starvation, struggled as moose consistently evaded him. He possessed a small moose figurine, believed to be part of his own flesh, gifted by a moose to bring good luck. Despite using this charm, the moose remained elusive. In despair, he buried the figurine in the snow and succumbed to hunger. It’s believed he offended the moose, leading to his demise.

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

Divine Punishment: The man’s death is a consequence of angering the moose, suggesting retribution from a higher power.

Sacred Objects: The moose figurine serves as a powerful artifact with mystical significance in hunting.

Conflict with Nature: The man’s struggle against natural forces, represented by the elusive moose, leads to his starvation.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Dane-zaa Lore

Learn more about the Dane-zaa people

A man was starving and it seemed he could not live. He was dying of hunger because the moose detected his presence before he could get up to them. They knew he was a powerful man. He was so weak he could not walk very far.

He came where there were some moose but before he could shoot them they rushed off. He had a little moose, an image, that used to sit on him. He pulled that out and waved it in front of the moose, but they took no notice of it and continued to run off. He put the little moose under the snow and himself died immediately.

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The little moose was the same as his own flesh. They say he was using it to hunt with at the time when people were hunting with arrows. Because a moose liked the man it took out its own little one and put it in the man’s body and that gave him good luck. He must have angered the moose and because of that he died of hunger. They say that was the way it happened. [The last paragraph was obtained in response to a question as to the meaning of the story.]

The magical trees

In ancient times, Chipewyan parents would leave their children at home, using medicine to summon large trees to feed the fire. As the medicine weakened, the branches sometimes harmed the children. On one occasion, a returning mother found her baby’s belly torn and the tree covered in blood. Enraged, she beat the tree, and since then, trees no longer come by themselves.

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

Magic and Enchantment: The trees, animated through medicinal practices, exhibit supernatural characteristics by moving and feeding the fire autonomously.

Conflict with Nature: The unintended consequences of the trees harming children highlight a struggle between humans and the natural elements they’ve attempted to control.

Divine Punishment: The injury inflicted upon the children can be interpreted as a form of retribution for humans overstepping natural boundaries through their medicinal practices.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Chipewyan Lore

Learn more about the Chipewyan people

Long ago men and women going off together would sometimes leave their little ones alone at home with a small fire and, by medicine, could send in large trees to feed the fire. But when the medicine got weak, the branches would sometimes hurt the children. Once a woman, returning home, found a baby’s belly torn and the tree covered with blood. She was furious, and began beating the tree. Since then the trees can no more be made to come in by themselves.

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The Sun and the Moon

In a village shrouded in darkness, a woman refuses all suitors. One night, she discovers her secret visitor is her own brother. Overcome with anger and shame, she cuts off her breasts, places them in a bowl of ice cream, and presents it to him, declaring that sickness will now afflict mankind. She then transforms into the sun, and her brother, in remorse, becomes the moon

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

Creation: The tale explains the origins of the sun and the moon.

Forbidden Knowledge: The sister’s discovery of her brother’s actions reveals hidden truths with significant consequences.

Divine Punishment: The sister’s declaration that “with mankind shall there be sickness” introduces a form of retribution linked to their actions.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

There was once a large village where there lived a family of children, — four boys and their younger sister, making five. Now, the girl did not want to get married. Many strangers wanted her, and came to visit her, as well as the people of her own village; but she was unwilling to marry. At length the women and men of the village took partners. At that time darkness was over all the earth; there was no sun or moon there.

And there that woman lived, and strangers (came) no (more), and the people of the village took no notice of her. She walks outside, but they never look at her, since others are their wives. So then, one night, some one scratched her head while she slept.

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“There are no strangers, who is it that is doing this?” she thought: yet she spoke with him. Daily that man who had come in to her began to do the same thing. He became as a husband to her. “Who is it that is doing this?” she thought. “All the village people have their wives, except my brother; he has none, and when there are no strangers, I will tie a feather to his hair; and when they leave the kashime, I will look for whoever has his hair tied,” she thought. “Come,” said she, “go into the kashime and get some sleep! I am sleepy too,” said she, his hair having been tied (to the feather). So the man went to the kashime; and she lay awake, thinking. Soon it became light, and she went out and stood in the door of their house.

So it came the time when we come out; and then she watched the men as they came out, but there was nothing in their hair. Then her brother leaped out. She looked, and there was the feather. It became dark with her, and her face was suffused with blood; then she became hot with anger.

And when it was day, she brought in her fine parka, the clean one, the best she had. Deer-fat too, and berries, she brought in. Neither did she say anything, though her mother spoke to her; and at the time that she made the fire she bathed herself.

Then, dressed in her fine parka and moccasins, she puts ice-cream into this bowl of her brother’s, and takes a dressing-knife, and, (reaching down) within (her parka), cuts off her breasts. Then next she puts them upon the ice-cream; and in (each) she sticks an awl, and takes them into the kashime. When there, she straightens herself up. There sits her brother at the back of the room, opposite the door. She placed (the bowl) by him.

“It was you, then, that did it,” she said. “I supposed that it was some one else that did this thing. Now, with mankind shall there be sickness,” said she. Then she went out; and there yonder she went, and the sun rose; and her brother too put on his parka and his moccasins also, but only one of them, in his hurry, thinking, “It may be that my sister has escaped from me.” Then he too went away, and became the moon.

The Creation (3)

The story discusses Koyukon beliefs about creation and morality. It describes a time when only water and mountains existed, followed by the creation of living beings and the first humans. When these humans committed wrongdoings, their food was taken away as punishment. The narrative emphasizes that divine beings observe human actions and that moral transgressions lead to divine retribution, often through the loss of sustenance.

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

Creation: The narrative explains how the world and life began.

Divine Punishment: The first humans faced consequences (loss of food) for their wrongdoing.

Origin of Things: The story provides explanations for natural phenomena and human existence.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Koyukon Lore

Learn more about Koyukon people

From the same village on the Chageluk, 1910. Isaac Fisher’s uncle, now the oldest man, gives this account.

He did not know of the name “Our Father” being taught before the missionaries came. The children were taught that if they did anything wrong, some one who lives above would see it. Eating out of doors in winter was doing wrong. He believes that when the people get to doing very wrong, God punishes them by taking away their food. Then they return to the right way. He says that there spring up right-minded men who lead the people in the right paths.

As to the origin of the world, he says that at first there was nothing but water about here, except the mountains. Living things were made next, and afterwards a man and a woman were made. Food was provided for them. When they did wrong, their food was taken away.

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As to the belief in the state of the dead, it seems to rest upon a story, which they accept as true, of a woman who was met by a spirit who supposed that she was also dead, and who took her to the abode of the spirits. The spirit is supposed to stop, on the way to its final abode, at different places where flies, mosquitoes, and other insects live.

Another account of the creation of men says that one who is above made a string of mud men reaching from the earth to the sky, and animated them.

The man with the toothed penis

An old man possessed a prehensile, toothed penis that could extend great distances, burrow underground, and gnaw through obstacles. He used it to feed on sleeping women without impregnating them. One night, a vigilant girl caught and severed the appendage. The man confessed his actions, stating he would die without it, and passed away, explaining why men today lack such features.

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

Cunning and Deception: The old man secretly uses his unique ability to prey upon unsuspecting women, deceiving the community about his actions.

Divine Punishment: Upon discovery, the community’s decision to let the old man die without restoring his organ’s severed part can be seen as a form of retribution for his transgressions.

Transformation: The narrative explains a change in human anatomy, suggesting that if the old man’s organ had been restored, men today would possess small teeth there; its absence accounts for the current human form.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

An old man had a penis that could reach a long distance. The end of it was provided with teeth which chewed like mice. It could cross water like a snake, and go under ground like mice and moles. When it met any obstructions, such as the roots of trees, it gnawed through them and went on. The man could distend or project it at will. When he thought he was observed, he drew it back, and it assumed ordinary proportions. It would attack women when they were asleep. They were not rendered pregnant, as the penis simply fed on them. When they awoke, they felt sick, but the feeling soon wore off. Once two young girls were sleeping together. The elder girl woke up feeling sick, and thought she had felt something touching her. She found that her breeches had been gnawed as if by mice. She put on breeches of thicker skin and watched. The penis came and began to chew them. She seized it and held on.

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The old man tried to pull it back, but he could not do so. The girl called for her knife, which was made of an animal’s rib. It would not cut. She asked for a sharper knife. The men came and cut off the end of the penis. The girl told them her story, and said that she thought the penis must belong to the old man who slept at the end of the lodge, for he was moving about. The next morning the old man was sick. He told the people that he was going to die. He said, “I am very sick and am going to die. I cannot eat any food, for I have lost my teeth. I don’t mind telling you everything, for you have found me out. Women’s privates are my food. If you give me back the piece that you have cut off, I may live some years longer, but I do not care very much.” The people let the old man die. If they had given him back the end of his penis, then men at the present day would have had small teeth there; but, as they withheld it, it has its present form now.

Tle’ntlendo’k

In a village, two young men secretly visited supernatural women at night—one a water-woman, the other a smoke-woman. Curiosity led each to discover the other’s liaison, resulting in mutual deception. Enraged by the betrayal, the water-woman killed all the villagers by plucking out their eyes, except a new mother who fended off the attack. She became a wanderer named Tle’ntlendo’k, believed to grant wishes to those who encounter her.

► Themes of the story

Love and Betrayal: The men’s secret liaisons and subsequent deceptions lead to betrayal and dire consequences.

Divine Punishment: The water-woman’s retribution against the villagers for the men’s actions exemplifies this theme.

Transformation: The surviving woman transforms into Tle’ntlendo’k, a wandering figure believed to possess wish-granting abilities.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

There were many people living at one place. Among them were two young men who always slept together. When the people were asleep, one man would get up and go away to sleep with a water-woman. Afterwards the other man would get up and go to sleep with a smoke-woman (the smoke from the camp-fire always changed into a woman at night). [Some people think this woman is the same as the marmot-woman or mother (see “The Man who became a Marmot”), but most people do not agree with this opinion.] The man who lived with the smoke-woman wondered where his comrade went. He watched him, and followed him to the lake where he heard him whistle. Something then came up out of the water, and the man jumped in and disappeared. The next night he arose first, went to the lake, and did as his comrade had done. He went down under the water to the water-woman’s house.

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When the other man came down to the lake and whistled, he received no reply. After waiting a while, he went back and found his comrade with Smoke-Woman. [It is said by some people that he returned and slept with Smoke-Woman himself. When the man who had gone with Water-Woman returned, he found him sleeping with Smoke-Woman, and both women found out that they had been deceived.] Water-Woman did not discover that another man was with her until he left her. That night, when the people were all asleep, Water-Woman, who was very angry, went to the houses of the people and plucked out the eyes of the two men. Then she went on and plucked out the eyes of the rest of the people, killing them all, A woman was camped outside in a shelter by herself, as she had given birth to a baby the night before. She did not feel well, and could not sleep. She often felt a hand passing before her eyes, and she always struck it away. This continued all night, and stopped only with daylight. In the morning she wondered why the people slept so long. She called to her husband, who slept near by in another lodge, but received no answer. After a while she discovered that all the people were dead, and that their eyes had been plucked out. She took her baby and journeyed towards the east. She became a wanderer, and known as tle’ntlendo’k Some people have seen her, and others dream of her. Some who have seen her claim that she is very good-looking and has long finger-nails of copper. She goes about carrying her baby. It is considered lucky to see or dream of her, and it is said that she grants people their wishes. One man asked her for riches and got them. He was not satisfied. He asked for more and more. He said, “Give me riches until I burst.” He became wealthier and wealthier, and one day he burst and died.

The woman and Otter-Man

A widow with two sons meets a mysterious man who becomes her secret lover, hiding in her pack during the day. Suspicious, her sons discover and kill the man, who is revealed to be Otter-Man. They trick their mother into eating his cooked flesh. Realizing the deception, she transforms into an otter and chases them. The sons create obstacles to impede her pursuit, ultimately leading to her demise. This tale explains the otter’s appearance and its spiritual influence on women.

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The narrative features Otter-Man, a mystical entity who engages with the human world.

Divine Punishment: The woman’s transformation into an otter and her eventual demise can be interpreted as retribution for her concealed actions.

Family Dynamics: The interactions between the mother and her sons, especially concerning trust and betrayal, play a central role in the story.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tahltan Lore

Learn more about Tahltan people

A widow had two sons. The lads hunted, and their mother always carried in the meat for them. One day when she was on her way to get meat, she met a strange man, who asked her if she had a husband. She answered, “No, my husband is dead, but I have two grown-up sons.” He asked if she had a camp and where it was, also where she was going. She told him she was going to carry in caribou-meat, and directed him where her camp was. “Well,” he said, “I shall come to your camp tonight and see you, but you must hide me.” The woman cooked for her sons every night. After they had eaten and gone to sleep, the man came. He told the woman that he would marry her, but that she must conceal him. He did not want her sons to see him. He slept with her all night, and in the morning she tied him up in her pack-sack and hung it up outside. The following night she took in her pack-sack. Her sons thought it strange that their mother always hung up her pack-sack outside, when formerly she was not wont to do so.

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They also remarked that her pack-sack was always particularly well lashed. One night they happened to hear talking. It was not their mother talking in her sleep, for there were two voices. The next night they watched. After the fire had gone out, their mother brought in her pack and unlashed it. Then they heard whispering and talking. In the morning she lashed the pack again and hung it up outside. Now the boys went hunting, and purposely killed caribou a long way off. They cut up only about half of the carcass, leaving considerable work for their mother to do. Then they covered the meat to a great depth in the snow. This was done to delay her in bringing home the first load of meat. In the morning they said, “Mother, go and bring in a load of the caribou-meat. We are tired today and want to rest.” When she had gone, they took down the pack, and found Otter-Man inside. They killed him, and put his flesh before the fire to cook. They stuffed their mother’s pack-bag, lashed it, and hung it up in the same place as before. When their mother arrived, they said to her, “Mother, you must be hungry. We killed a big bear and a little cub, but we took home only the cub. We have cooked it for you, and now it is ready to eat.” The woman was hungry, and at once began to eat. The men put on their snowshoes, saying, “There was a crust on the snow this morning, which makes walking noisy. We are going to hunt this evening, as the snow is better.” When they were outside, they shouted, “We know of a woman who is eating her husband!” The woman ran to her pack, and found it stuffed. She became angry, and changed into an otter. She ran fast and slid as otters do. She nearly caught up with her sons, who threw part of the inside of a caribou behind them. It became a canyon, which she had to cross. This retarded her. She caught up again; and they threw another part of the inside of the caribou, which became a mountain. Still she followed them. Again they threw another part, and it became water. They threw the fourth part, and it became fire. She ran into it and was burned. [Some people say that the otter could not run fast enough; and gave up the chase.] Because the otter was burned, he now has short brown hair; and because the otter had connection with the woman, otter spirits now enter women and make them very sick.