Origin of the screech owl

A woman in Sitka, known for her secretive method of gathering herring, mistreated her mother-in-law by burning her hand with a hot rock. When discovered by her husband and the villagers, her selfish behavior led to her transformation into a screech owl, an enduring cautionary figure. This tale serves as a moral lesson about selfishness, family respect, and the consequences of one’s actions.

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 woman’s change into a screech owl symbolizes the physical manifestation of her moral failings.

Moral Lessons: The story imparts teachings on the repercussions of selfish behavior and disrespect within familial relationships.

Divine Punishment: The woman’s transformation can be seen as a form of retribution for her transgressions.

► 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

There was a certain woman at Sitka living with her husband and her husband’s mother. One evening she got hemlock branches, made strings out of red-cedar bark, tied them together, and put them around herself. Then she went out to a flat rock, still called Herring rock, where herring are very abundant, just as the tide was coming over it, and, when the fish collected in the branches, she threw them up on the beach. Every day during the herring season she did the same thing, and after she reached the house she put her apron carefully away until next time. One day her old mother-in-law heard her cooking the herring and said, “What is that you are cooking?” “Oh!” she answered, “a few clams that I have collected.” “Will you give me some?” said the old woman, for she was hungry, but when she reached out her hand for it, her daughter-in-law dropped a hot rock into it and burnt her.

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When her son came home that evening the old woman told him what had happened. She said, “She was cooking something. I know that it did not smell like clams. When I asked her for some she gave me a hot rock and burnt my hand. I wonder where she got that fish, for I am sure that it was some sort of fish. Immediately after you leave she is off. I don’t know what she does.”

When the man heard that, he and his brother who had been hunting with him started out at once before his wife saw them. The y pretended that they were again going hunting, but they returned immediately to a place where they could watch the village. From there they saw the woman put on her apron of hemlock boughs, go out to the rock, and come home with the herring. As soon as she had gone in they went out themselves and got a canoe load of the fish. Then the woman’s husband went up to the house and said to his wife, “I have a load of herring down there.” So she ran down to the canoe and saw that it was loaded with them. She began shouting up to them, “Bring me down my basket,” for she wanted to carry up the fish in it. The people heard her, but they felt ill-disposed toward her on account of the way she had treated her mother-in-law, so they paid no attention. She kept on shouting louder and louder, and presently her voice became strange. She shouted, “Hade’ wudika’t, wudika’t, wudika’t.” (”This way with the basket (kat)”) She also began hooting like an owl.

As she kept on making this noise her voice seemed to go farther away from the village. The people noticed it but paid no attention. After she had asked for the basket right behind the village, she sounded still more like an owl, and finally she ceased to ask for the basket, and merely hooted (hm, hm). She had become the screech owl. She left them altogether.

Nowadays, when a young girl is very selfish, people say to her, Ah! when you get married, you will put a hot rock into your mother-in-law’s hand, and for punishment you will become an owl.”

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Origin of the le’naxi’daq

A boy from Auk learns of a mysterious woman in a nearby lake and, after seeing her, abducts one of her children. The child retaliates by blinding and killing the entire village except a sick woman, who narrowly survives. Later, a man named Heavy Wings encounters the woman, receives riches after returning her child, and gains a magical wound that enriches his family.

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

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The narrative features a mysterious woman residing in a lake and her extraordinary child, highlighting interactions with otherworldly entities.

Divine Punishment: The abduction of the woman’s child leads to a catastrophic retribution, where the child blinds and kills the villagers, illustrating the consequences of transgressing against supernatural forces.

Transformation: The tale concludes with Heavy Wings encountering the woman, returning her child, and receiving riches along with a magical wound, symbolizing a transformative experience that brings prosperity to his family.

► 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 boy at Auk (A’ku) heard that a woman lived in the lake back of his village. He heard this so often that he was very anxious to see her. One day, therefore, he went up to the lake and watched there all day, but he did not see anything. Next day he did the same thing again, and late in the afternoon he thought that he would sit down in the high grass. The sun was shining on the lake, making it look very pretty.

After some time the youth noticed ripples on the water, and, jumping up to look, saw a beautiful woman come up and begin playing around in it. After her came up her two babies. Then the man waded out into the lake, caught one of the babies, rolled it up in his skin coat, and carried it home. All that night he had to watch the child very closely, for she kept trying to get away, but at last he became so sleepy that he rolled the child up once more and fell asleep.

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Now the child got up, dug out the eyes of everybody in that house, beginning with the man who had captured her, and went from house to house throughout the entire village doing the same thing.

There was a sick woman in that place for whom they had made a small house back of her own, and, when this child came in to her, she tried to make out whose it was. She said to herself that she thought she knew every child in the village, yet she did not recognize this one. The child had the people’s eyes rolled up in some leaves. As it sat close to the fire eating them the woman thought, “What is that child eating?” She would throw them into the fire and then take them out and eat them. Finally the woman sat up, looked to see what the child was devouring, and discovered they were human eyes. After she was through with what she had the child would go out again after more. The woman watched her closely.

Now the sick woman felt very sleepy but she did not dare to sleep for, every time she began to doze off, she felt the child coming toward her face. She had a little child beside her. Finally the sick woman determined that she would stay awake, so she placed her walking stick very close to her, and, as soon as the child came too close, she would strike it and make it run away. This continued until daylight when the child disappeared.

Now the woman was surprised to hear no noises about the town and wondered what was wrong. She thought she would go out to look. First she went to her own house and saw that all the people there were dead, with their eyes gouged out, and she saw the same thing in all the other houses. Then the woman felt very sad. She threw her marten-skin robes about herself, took a copper plate on each side, placed her baby on her back and started off. She is the le’naxi’daq, which a person sees when he is going to become very wealthy. (The le’naxi’daq is therefore one of the lene’di.)

One time after this a man of the Wolf clan named Heavy Wings (Kitcida’lq) was out hunting and heard a child cry somewhere in the woods. He ran toward the sound very rapidly, but, although the child’s voice seemed to be very close to him, he could not see what caused it. Then he stopped by the side of a creek, tore his clothes off, and bathed in the cold water, rubbing himself down with sand. Afterward he felt very light and, although the voice had gotten some distance away, he reached it, and saw a woman with an infant on her back. He pulled the child off and started to run away with it, but he did not escape before the woman had given him a severe scratch upon his back with her long copper finger nails. By and by he came to a tree that hung out over the edge of a high cliff and ran out to the end of it with the child in his arms. Then the woman begged very hard for her baby saying, “Give me my baby.” As she spoke she put her hand inside of her blanket and handed him a copper. When he still refused to give her the child she handed him another. Then he gave the child back, and she said, “That scratch I made on your back will be a long time in healing. If you give a scab from it to any one of your people who is poor, he will become very rich. Do not give it to anybody but your very near relations.”

And so in fact it turned out. The sore did not heal for along time, not even after he had become very rich. Everything that he put his hand to prospered, and the relations to whom he had given scabs became the richest ones next to him.

The woman taken away by the frog people

A town-chief’s daughter insults frogs by mocking their humanity. That night, she marries a mysterious man who leads her to a hidden frog community beneath a lake. After her disappearance, her family discovers her among the frogs. Attempts to retrieve her fail until they drain the lake. Though rescued, her humanity is corrupted by the frog life, and she dies shortly after. Her tribe inherits frog-related traditions.

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

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The narrative involves interactions with frog people, who possess human-like qualities and live beneath a lake, indicating a supernatural element.

Transformation: The chief’s daughter undergoes a transformation, both in her environment—moving from her human community to the frog people’s realm—and in her behavior, adopting frog-like characteristics upon her return.

Divine Punishment: The woman’s initial mockery of the frogs leads to her abduction and eventual demise, suggesting a form of retribution for her disrespect toward other beings.

► 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

There was a large town in the Yakutat country not very far back of which lay a big lake very full of frogs. In the middle of the lake was a swampy patch on which many frogs used to sit.

One day the town-chief’s daughter talked badly to the frogs. She took one up and made fun of it, saying, “There are so many of these creatures, I wonder if they do things like human beings. I wonder if men and women cohabit among them.”

When she went out of doors that night, a young man came to her and said, “May I marry you?” She had rejected very many men, but she wanted to marry this one right away. Pointing toward the lake he said, “My father’s house is right up here,” and the girl replied, “How fine it looks!”

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When they went up to it, it seemed as though a door was opened for them, but in reality the edge of the lake had been raised. They walked under. So many young people were there that she did not think of home again.

Meanwhile her friends missed her and hunted for her everywhere. Finally they gave her up, and her father had the drums beaten for a death feast. They cut their hair and blackened their faces.

Next spring a man who was about to go hunting came to the lake to bathe himself with urine. When he was done, he threw the urine among a number of frogs sitting there and they jumped into the water. When he was bathing next day he saw all the frogs sitting together in the middle of the lake with the missing woman among them. He dressed as quickly as possible, ran home to the girl’s father, and said, “I saw your daughter sitting in the middle of the pond in company with a lot of frogs.” So her father and mother went up that evening with a number of other people, saw, and recognized her.

After that they took all kinds of things to make the frog tribe feel good so that they would let the woman return to her parents, but in vain. By and by her father determined upon a plan and called all of his friends together. Then he told them to dig trenches out from the lake in order to drain it. From the lake the frog chief could see how the people had determined, and he told his tribe all about it. The frog people call the mud around a lake their laid-up food.

After the people had worked away for some time, the trench was completed and the lake began draining away fast. The frogs asked the woman to tell her people to have pity on them and not destroy all, but the people killed none because they wanted only the girl. Then the water flowed out, carrying numbers of frogs which scattered in every direction. All the frog tribe then talked poorly about themselves, and the frog chief, who had talked of letting her go before, now had her dressed up and their own odor, which they called “sweet perfumery,” was put upon her. After a while she came down the trench half out of water with her frog husband beside her. They pulled her out and let the frog go.

When anyone spoke to this woman, she made a popping noise “Hu,” such as a frog makes, but after some time she came to her senses. She explained, “It was the Kikca’ (i.e., Kiksa’di women) that floated down with me,” meaning that all the frog women and men had drifted away. The woman could not eat at all, though they tried everything. After a while they hung her over a pole, and the black mud she had eaten when she was among the frogs came out of her, but, as soon as it was all out, she died. Because this woman was taken away by the frog tribe at that place, the frogs there can understand human beings very well when they talk to them. It was a Kiksa’di woman who was taken off by the frogs, and so those people can almost understand them. They also have songs from the frogs, frog personal names, and the frog emblem. All the people know about them.

The unsuccessful hunters

Two hunting companions face supernatural events after injuring a sea-lion chief’s son. One drowns, while the other survives, aided by a puffin spirit. He heals the sea-lion chief’s son and is gifted safe passage home in a magical stomach. Another group’s hunting misstep angers a sea spirit, leading to judgment but eventual forgiveness. Both stories highlight the consequences of disrespecting nature and supernatural intercession.

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 hunters’ disrespectful actions toward the sea lion, a creature of the natural world, lead to dire consequences, highlighting the perils of disregarding nature’s sanctity.

Supernatural Beings: The narrative features interactions with spiritual entities, such as the sea-lion chief and the puffin spirit, emphasizing the influence of the supernatural in human affairs.

Divine Punishment: The hunters face retribution for their transgressions against the natural and spiritual order, illustrating the theme of higher powers enforcing moral conduct.

► 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

Two persons very fond of hunting were in the habit of washing in urine, as was usual in old times when one wanted something very much. Then they went to a sea-lion rock, and one of them threw his spear at a sea lion but the point broke off the handle. The animal was the sea-lion-chief’s son. Afterwards that man drowned, but his companion reached the sea-lion rock in safety. He looked about for his friend, but could not see him, so he went up on top of the rock, lay down, and, pulling the grass over himself, fell asleep. While he was asleep and dreaming, some one came to him and said, “I come to help you.” He awoke, but there was nothing visible except nesting birds flying about the island. Then he again fell asleep, and again he heard some one come to him and say, “I come to help you. The place you have drifted upon is a house. When you hear the noise of a shaman’s beating sticks, go straight to the door of the place from which it comes.”

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Soon he heard the noise of the sticks, as the man had forewarned him, just a little below the place where he was lying. He stepped forward quietly, and lo! he came to the door of a fine, large house. Inside of this he saw those who were beating the sticks and a man lying sick “with pneumonia,” out of whom the string of the spear hung. Then he crept in quietly, hiding behind the people, and said within himself, “If it were I, I would push that spear in a little farther, twist it to one side and pull it out.” Upon this everybody said, “Make way for him. This shaman says he can take the spear out by twisting it and then pulling out.” He said to himself, “I guess I can do it,” so he let them have their way. Then he came out in the middle of the house, pulled his blanket about himself, used his hand like a rattle and ran around the fire just like a shaman. When he went to the spear and moved it a little, the sick man cried out. After that he let it alone for a while. He wished very much that they would give him in payment a large animal stomach which was hanging on a post. So the man’s father said, “Pay it to him.”

Now he tied his blanket tightly about himself and said, “Bring in some water.” Then he ran around the sick man again, and, when he came to where the spear was, he summoned all his strength, pushed it in a little, turned it round slightly and pulled it out. At once he pushed it into the water in the customary manner and blew eagle down upon it, when all of the white matter came out of the wound and the sick man got his breath. After that he hid the spear quickly from the eyes of the people.

When he went out, the man who had first come to his assistance came again. This was the puffin (xik). It said, “Take that big stomach, get inside, and go home in it. After you get inside do not think of this place again.” He did as the puffin had directed, but, when he was within a short distance of the shore, he thought of the place where he had been and immediately floated back to the island. The second time the skin carried him right ashore. Then he got out, went home to his friends and reported everything that had happened.

Another canoe also set out to hunt in much the same way. After the people had gone on for a very long time unsuccessfully, they came upon a great seal standing out of the water, and one of the hunters speared it. It was nothing but an old log drifting about which had appeared to him like a seal. That night they anchored their canoe in front of a steep cliff not far from this place and prepared to spend the night there. By and by they heard a skate flopping along on the water near by, whereupon the steersman took his spear and struck it on one side of the belly. Then the skate swam right down into the ocean.

This skate was a slave of the Gonaqade’t who lived under that same cliff, and when the Gonaqade’t heard him groaning under the housesteps where he always stayed, he said to one of his other slaves, “Get up and find what he is groaning about.” Then the skate said, “There is a canoe outside here. The people in that canoe have done something to me.”

Then the Gonaqade’t awoke all his slaves’ nephews and said, “Bring that canoe in here.”

Presently the man in the bow of the canoe awoke and looked about. Their canoe was on top of the inside partitions of a house. He took something and poked his steersman quietly to awaken him, for he saw that something was wrong.

Early in the morning the Gonaqade’t awoke and said to his nephews, “Make a big fire.” Then he exclaimed angrily, “It is of no use to bother poor slaves. Why did they want to kill that slave?”

Meanwhile the friends of these people were searching for them everywhere.

Then the chief told them to come forward, saying to them, “You will now be judged.” One could not see the part of the house near the door, it was so crowded with the nephews and friends of the Gonaqade’t (i.e., all kinds of fishes and marine animals) dressed in every style. They said to them, “To what tribe do you belong?” and the bowman replied, “We are of the Katagwa’di family.” Then the chief said, “If one is going to visit a person, he should enter his house in a polite manner and not destroy anybody. Let them wash their hands. Give them food and dress them up well. I am a Katagwa’di myself, so you are my friends.” Then they fixed them up well, dressing them and combing their hair. But at home the people were beating drums, because they thought these men were dead. Then the chief said to them, “When you build a house, name it Rock House (Ta hit). It is a good thing that we use each other’s emblems.” Afterward the Gonaqade’t people loaded their canoe, combed their hair with cottonwood boughs so that it smelt good, and let them go home. And when they first reached home they were dressed so finely that the people did not know them. The chief said to his friends, “A great living thing saved us. He gave us a thing to go by which shall be our emblem, namely, that whenever we build a house we shall call it Rock House.”

Kats

Kats, a Ka’gwantan hunter from Sitka, married a female bear who sheltered him after a hunt. Living with her, he fathered cubs and discovered bears shed their skins indoors to appear human. Returning to his people, he secretly provided for his bear family. However, breaking his wife’s warnings, he touched his child, prompting his bear family to kill him. Their offspring caused chaos before being eradicated by the Sitka people. This tale explains the taboo against eating grizzly bear meat.

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

► Themes of the story

Forbidden Love: Kats’s union with a bear defies natural and societal norms, highlighting the complexities and consequences of such relationships.

Transformation: The story explores physical and metaphorical changes, as bears shed their skins to become human-like indoors, and Kats transitions between human and animal worlds.

Divine Punishment: Kats’s disregard for his bear wife’s warnings leads to his demise, illustrating retribution from higher powers for transgressions.

► 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

Kats belonged to the Ka’gwantan and lived at Sitka. One day he went hunting with dogs, and, while his dogs ran on after a male bear, this bear’s wife took him into her den, concealed him from her husband, and married him. He had several children by her. Indoors the bears take off their skin coats and are just like human beings.

By and by he wanted to go back to his people, but before he started she told him not to smile at or touch his Indian wife or take up either of his children.

After his return, he would go out for seal, sea lions, and other animals which he carried up into an inlet where his bear wife was awaiting him.

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Then the cubs would come down, pull the canoe ashore violently, take out the game and throw it from one to another up to their mother. On account of the roughness of these cubs it came to be a saying in Sitka, “If you think you are brave, be steersman for Kats.”

One day Kats pitied one of his children and took it up. The next time he went up the inlet, however, the cubs seized him and threw him from one to another up to their mother, and so killed him. Then they scattered all over the world and are said to have been killed in various places.

What is thought to have been the last of these was killed at White Stone Narrows. When some people were encamped there a girl spoke angrily about Kats’s child, and it came upon them, killing all except a few who escaped in their canoes, and this woman, whom it carried off alive, making her groan with pain. One man tried to kill it but did not cut farther than its hair. Finally all the Indians together killed it with their spears and knives. [Because a human being married among the grizzly bears, people will not eat grizzly-bear meat]

The fire ball

In the village of Kin-i’-gun, a mistreated orphan reported a fiery apparition that led to a terrifying encounter with a skeleton-like tunghak, which killed the villagers who followed it. A fisherman later faced the tunghak but escaped using enchanted items that turned into protective dogs. Guided by a mysterious black man and a magical woman, he received an amulet, became a shaman, but ultimately vanished seeking the woman.

Source:
The Eskimo about Bering Strait
by Edward William Nelson
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Eighteenth Annual Report
Washington, 1900

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The appearance of the fiery apparition and the skeleton-like tunghak highlights interactions with otherworldly entities.

Divine Punishment: The villagers’ mistreatment of the orphan leads to their demise, suggesting retribution from higher powers for their transgressions.

Transformation: The fisherman’s enchanted items turning into protective dogs symbolize physical changes aiding in his escape from the tunghak.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about Inuit peoples

from Sledge Island

In the village of Kin-i’-gun (Cape Prince of Wales), very long ago, there lived a poor orphan boy who had no one to care for him and was treated badly by everyone, being made to rim here and there at the bidding of the villagers. One evening he was told to go out of the kashim and see how the weather was. He had no skin boots, and being winter, he did not wish to go, but he was driven out. Very soon he came back and said there was no change in the weather. After this the men kept sending him out on the same errand until at last he came back and told them that he had seen a great ball of fire like the moon coming over the hill not far away. The people laughed at him and made him go out again, when he saw that the tire had come nearer until it was quite close. Then the orphan ran inside telling what he had seen and hid himself because he was frightened.

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Soon after this the people in the kashim saw a fiery figure dancing on the gut-skin covering over the roof hole, and directly after a human skeleton came crawling into the room through the passageway, creeping on its knees and elbows. When it came into the room the skeleton made a motion toward the people, causing all of them to fall upon their knees and elbows in the same position taken by the skeleton. Then turning about it crawled out as it had come, followed by the people, who were forced to go after it. Outside the skeleton crept away from the village, followed by all the men, and in a short time everyone of them was dead and the skeleton had vanished. Some of the villagers had been absent when the skeleton, or tunghak, came, and when they returned they found dead people lying on the ground all about. Entering the kashim they found the orphan boy, who told them how the people had been killed. After this they followed the tracks of the tunghak; through the snow and were led up the side of the mountain until they came to a very ancient grave, where the tracks ended.

In a few days the brother of one of the men who had been killed went fishing upon the sea ice far from the village. He stayed late, and it became dark while he was still a long way from home. As he was walking along the tunghak suddenly appeared before him and began to cross back and forth in his path. The young man tried to pass it and escape, but could not, as the tunghak kept in front of him, do what he might. As he could think of nothing else, he suddenly caught a fish out of his basket and threw it at the tunghak. When he threw the fish it was frozen hard, but as it was thrown and came near the tunghak, it turned back suddenly, passing over the young man’s shoulders, and fell into his basket again, where it began to flap about, having become alive.

Then the fisherman pulled off one of his dogskin mittens and threw it. As it fell near the tunghak the mitten changed into a dog, which ran growling and snarling about the apparition, distracting its attention so that the young man was able to dart by and run as fast as he could toward the village. When he had gone part of the way he was again stopped by the tunghak, and at the same time a voice from overhead said, “Untie his feet; they are bound with cord;” but he was too badly frightened to obey. He then threw his other mitten, and it, too, changed into a dog, delaying the tunghak as the first one had done.

The young man ran off as fast as he could, and fell exhausted near the kashim door as the tunghak came up. The latter passed very near without seeing him and went into the house, but finding no one there, came out and went away. The young man then got up and went home, but did not dare to tell his mother what he had seen. The following day he went fishing again, and on his way came to a man lying in the path whose face and hands were black. When he drew near, the black man told him to get on his back and close his eyes. He obeyed, and in a short time was told to open his eyes. When the young man did this he saw just before him a house and near it a fine young woman. She spoke to him, saying, “Why did you not do as I told you the other night when the tunghak pursued you?” and he replied that he had been afraid to do it. The woman then gave him a magic stone as an amulet to protect him from the tunghat in the future, and the black man again took him on his back, and when he opened his eyes he was at home.

After this the young man claimed to be a shaman, but he thought continually of the beautiful young woman he had seen, so that he did not have much power. At last his father said to him, “You are no shaman; you will make me ashamed of you; go somewhere else.” The next morning the young man left the village at daybreak, and was never heard of again.

The jealous man

A jealous man forbade his two lovers from interacting with others, leading them to flee. They found refuge near a whale carcass but were discovered after the man consulted a conjurer. He captured one woman and blinded the other to control her. While staying at the site, he profited by trapping animals attracted to the carcass before returning to his camp.

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

► Themes of the story

Forbidden Love: The man’s jealousy leads him to impose strict restrictions on his two lovers, forbidding them from interacting with others.

Cunning and Deception: The women, weary of the man’s control, deceive him by fleeing along the coast to escape his oppressive behavior.

Divine Punishment: The man’s actions result in dire consequences for the women, including capture and blindness, reflecting a form of retribution for their defiance.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about Inuit peoples

A man fell in love with two women and was so jealous of them that he would not permit them to look upon others, much less speak to them. The women finally wearied of the restrictions placed upon them and resolved to desert the man. They fled along the coast until they were faint from hunger.

At length they came upon the body of a whale cast on the shore. Here they determined to dwell for a time. The man sought for the women in every possible place with no success. A conjurer was consulted, and after much deliberation, he told the deserted man to journey to a place where he would find the carcass of a whale and to secrete himself in the vicinity and watch for the women.

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He started out accordingly and before long had the pleasure of seeing the two women. They detected the man hastening toward them and tried to secrete themselves until he should get by. He seized one of them, however, and bound her with thongs. The other was less disposed to submit, and the man put out her eyes to deprive her of the privilege of looking at any man. They remained about that locality for some time, and various animals of the land came to the carcass to feast upon the remains. The man caught a great number of foxes and other valuable furs and after a time returned to the camp whence he came.

The woman and the spirit of the singing house

A woman, eager to encounter a spirit despite Inuit warnings, entered the singing house in darkness. She summoned the spirit, questioning its form piece by piece. The spirit replied, revealing its presence. When she touched its head—boneless and hairless—she collapsed, lifeless. The tale underscores the peril of confronting the unknown and heeding cultural warnings.

Source:
The Central Eskimo
by Franz Boas
[Bureau of American Ethnology]
Sixth Annual Report
Washington, 1888

► Themes of the story

Forbidden Knowledge: The woman’s determination to encounter the spirit, despite warnings, illustrates the peril of seeking hidden truths.

Supernatural Beings: The narrative centers on an encounter with a spirit, highlighting interactions between humans and otherworldly entities.

Divine Punishment: The woman’s disregard for cultural warnings leads to her demise, suggesting retribution from higher powers for her transgression.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about Inuit peoples

Once upon a time a woman entered the singing house when it was quite dark. For a long time she had wished to see the spirit of the house, and though the Inuit had warned her of the impending danger she had insisted upon her undertaking.

She summoned the spirit, saying, “If you are in the house, come here.” As she could not see him, she cried, “No spirit is here; he will not come.” But the spirit, though yet invisible, said, “Here I am; there I am.” Then the woman asked. “Where are your feet; where are your shins; where are your thighs; where are your hips; where are your loins?”

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Every time the spirit answered, “Here they are; there they are.” And she asked further, “Where is your belly?” “Here it is.” answered the spirit. “Where is your breast; where are your shoulders; where is your neck; where is your head?” “Here it is; there it is;” but in touching the head the woman all of a sudden fell dead. It had no bones and no hair.

Irdlirvirisissong

Irdlirvirisissong, a celestial figure, lives in the sky and visits her cousin Aningan. Known for her upturned nose and a plate for her dogs, she awaits the deceased to feed her dogs their entrails. She spares those who don’t laugh at her eerie dance and song. Aningan warns visitors not to laugh, as laughter signals their demise, ensuring their intestines become dog food.

Source:
Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo
by Alfred L. Kroeber
[The American Folklore Society]
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.12, No.46, pp.166-182
July-September, 1899

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: Irdlirvirisissong is a celestial entity residing in the sky, interacting with humans and otherworldly figures like her cousin Aningan.

Divine Punishment: She enforces a strict code, punishing those who laugh during her eerie dance by feeding their entrails to her dogs, highlighting the consequences of disrespecting sacred rituals.

Underworld Journey: The narrative involves encounters with the deceased, as Irdlirvirisissong awaits souls to determine their fate, reflecting themes of life after death and the journey into the unknown.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Erdlaveersissok in Greenland;
Ululiernang in Baffin Land;
in Angmagsalik she is the sun’s mother (Jupiter)

Irdlirvirisissong has a house in the sky, and sometimes visits her cousin, Aningan. Her nose is turned up on the sides, and she carries a plate called qengmerping for her dogs, of whom she has a number. She waits for people who die, so that when they come she can feed her dogs on their intestines.

She dances about, saying, “Qimitiaka nexessaqtaqpaka” (“I look for food for my dear dogs”). If the people laugh, she cuts them open, and gives their entrails to the clogs. Otherwise they are spared. Aningan warns the people not to laugh.

When an angakok comes up to visit Aningan, he turns his head aside so that his laughter may not be seen. If he begins to laugh, Aqoq says, “Qongujukpouq” (“He laughs”). Irdlirvirisissong goes driving with her dogs.

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Naulaxssaqton

A seal-hunter near Igluluaxssuin cursed noisy children playing in a rock cleft, which then closed and trapped them. Despite efforts to rescue them, the children perished, receiving only water through a small opening. The grieving fathers vowed revenge, pursuing the hunter. Fleeing on foot, he ascended into the sky and transformed into the star Naulaxssaqton, marking his eternal escape.

Source:
Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo
by Alfred L. Kroeber
[The American Folklore Society]
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.12, No.46, pp.166-182
July-September, 1899

► Themes of the story

Divine Punishment: The seal-hunter’s curse upon the noisy children leads to their tragic entrapment and death, suggesting a supernatural retribution for their disturbance.

Transformation: As the hunter flees from the vengeful fathers, he ascends into the sky and becomes the star Naulaxssaqton, symbolizing a metamorphosis from human to celestial being.

Tragic Flaw: The hunter’s impatience and quickness to curse the children result in unintended consequences, highlighting how personal shortcomings can lead to tragedy.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

A seal-hunter was watching for a seal at its blow-hole near Igluluaxssuin. He was not far from the land, and on shore some children were playing at a cliff, in a large crack in the rocks. The seal-hunter, fearing their noise would frighten his seal, said to them, “Make less noise.” They did not hear him and continued. Then he called out, “Close on them, you up there,” and the cleft closed up, imprisoning the children. The people tried to chop through the rock, to get at the children, but could not rescue them, nor even make a hole large enough to pass food down. They did, however, succeed in making a small hole, through which they heard the children crying for water. They poured water down through this hole until the children starved to death.

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The place is still to be seen in Akpalearqssuk, though the hole is now altogether closed up.

The fathers of the dead children then said of the hunter, “We will kill him.” They prepared and made ready, putting on their boots, and left, going after him with dogs and sleighs. The hunter fled, running on foot, they pursuing him. As he ran he gradually rose from the ground, and finally reached the sky, where he was turned into a star. This is the star Naulaxssaqton.