his raven's blanket. He took the dancing blanket that hung before him.
Behold! it was not a shaman's blanket. It was only the lichens on a
tree. Now he saw it was only lichens. He sat down and wept. He took
his old raven's blanket and tied it together. Then once more he went
on, weeping with hunger.
RAVEN AND THE GULLS
_Tsimshian_
Raven did another thing. He induced the olachen to come to Nass River.
He said to them, "Go up on both sides of the river." They did so. Then
Raven's canoe was quite full of fish. He had not used his rake, but
the whole shoal of olachen jumped into his canoe.
Then he camped at Crab-apple place. He clapped on the top of the
stone. Then very slippery became the top of that stone that the
olachen should not be lost. He put olachen on spits to roast them.
Raven called, "Little Gull!"
Then many gulls came. They ate all the olachen of Raven. They said,
"_Qana, qana, qana, qana!_" They talked much while they ate all the
olachen of Raven.
Then Raven was sad. Therefore he took the gulls and threw them into
the fireplace. So the tips of their wings have been black, ever since
that day.
THE LAND OTTER
_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)
Raven said to Land Otter, "You will live in the water just as well as
on land."
Raven and Land Otter were good friends, so they went halibut-fishing
together. Land Otter was a good fisherman. Raven said to Land Otter,
"You will always have your house on a point where there are breezes
from all sides. Whenever a canoe with people capsizes, you will save
the people and make them your friends." That is how the Land Otter Man
was created: because Raven told this to Land Otter.
If people who are taken away by Land Otters are brought back by their
friends, they become shamans. It was through the Land Otters that
shamans were first known. Shamans, by means of Land Otter spirits, can
see each other, even though others cannot.
RAVEN AND COOT
_Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)
A long time ago, Raven wanted all the birds to look well, so he
painted them. Raven painted Coot last. Then Coot began to paint Raven,
who wanted many bright colors. So Coot painted Raven with bright
colors with one hand, but in the other hand he hid charcoal. When
Raven looked away, Coot quickly blackened all the bright colors with
charcoal. Then Raven was angry and he chased Coot. But Coot ran too
quickly, so Raven threw white mud at him,--white mud which spattered
over Coot. Therefore Coot had white spots on his head and back. But
Coot flew away and left Raven all black.
[Illustration: Eskimo Boys]
[Illustration: "Marmot put out the tip of his nose"
_Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]
RAVEN AND MARMOT
_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)
Once Raven was flying over a reef near the seashore, near seabirds
that were perched on the rocks. Seabirds cried to him, "Oh, you
offal-eater! Oh, you carrion-eater! Oh, you black one!" Raven turned
and flew far away crying, "_Qaq! qaq! qaq!_" He flew far away across
the great water until he came to a mountain on the other side.
Raven saw just in front of him the hole of Marmot. Then Raven stood by
the door watching, until Marmot came home, bringing food. But Marmot
could not enter his hole because Raven stood in the way. Marmot asked
Raven to stand to one side. Raven said, "No. They called me
'carrion-eater.' Now I will show them I am not. I will eat you."
Marmot said, "All right; but I have heard that you are a very fine
dancer. Now, if you will dance, I will sing. Then you can eat me, but
let me see you dance before you eat me."
Raven agreed to dance. Then Marmot sang,
"Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, how well you dance!
Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, how well you dance!"
Raven danced. Then they stopped to rest.
Marmot said, "I like your dancing. Now I will sing again, so shut your
eyes and dance your best."
So Raven shut his eyes and danced clumsily around. Marmot sang,
"Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, what a graceful dancer!
Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, what a fool you are!"
Because Marmot, with a quick run, had darted between Raven's legs and
was safe in his hole.
When Marmot was safe in his hole, he put out the tip of his nose and
mocked Raven. He said, "_Chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik!_ You
are the greatest fool I ever saw. What a comical figure you cut when
dancing! I could hardly keep from laughing. Just look at me--see how
fat I am. Don't you wish you could eat me?"
Raven, in a rage, flew far away.
THE BRINGING OF THE LIGHT BY RAVEN
_Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)
In the first days, the sun and moon were in the sky. Then the sun and
moon were taken away and people had only the light of the stars. Even
the magic of the shamans failed to bring back the light.
Now there was an orphan boy in the village who sat with the humble
people over the entrance way of the kashim. He was despised by every
one. When the magic of the shamans failed to bring back the sun and
moon into the sky the boy mocked them. He said, "What fine shamans you
must be. You cannot bring back the light, but I can." Then the shamans
were angry and beat that boy and drove him out of the kashim. Now this
boy was like any other boy until he put on a raven coat he had. Then
he became Raven.
Now the boy went to his aunt's house. He told her the shamans had
failed to bring back the light, and they had beaten him when he mocked
them. The boy said, "Where are the sun and moon?"
The aunt said, "I do not know."
The boy said, "I am sure you know. Look what a finely sewed coat you
wear. You could not sew it that way if you did not know where the
light is."
Thus they argued.
Then the aunt said, "If you wish to find the light, go far to the
south. Go on snowshoes. You will know the place when you get there."
The boy put on his snowshoes and set off toward the south. Many days
he travelled and the darkness was always the same. When he had gone a
very long way he saw far in front of him a ray of light. Then the boy
hurried on. As he went farther the light showed again, plainer than
before. Then it vanished for a time. Thus it kept appearing and
vanishing.
At last the boy came to a large hill. One side was brightly lighted;
the other side was black as night. Close to the hill was a hut. A man
was shovelling snow from in front of it. The man tossed the snow high
in the air; then the light could not be seen until the snow fell. Then
the man tossed the snow again. So the light kept appearing and
disappearing. Close to the house was a large ball of fire.
The boy stopped and began to plan how to steal the ball of light.
Then the boy walked up to the man. He said, "Why do you throw up the
snow? It hides the light from our village."
[Illustration: Ice Hummocks on Bering Sea
_Photograph by B. B. Dobbs_]
[Illustration: Snow Shovel, Pick, Rake, and Maul
_From photograph loaned by the Smithsonian Institution_]
The man said, "I am not hiding the light. I am cleaning away the
snow. Who are you? Where did you come from?"
The boy said, "It is so dark at our village I do not want to stay
there. I came here to live with you."
"All the time?" asked the man.
"Yes," said the boy.
The man said, "All right. Come into the house with me." Then he
dropped his shovel on the ground. He stooped down to lead the way
through the underground passage into the house. He let the curtain
fall in front of the door as he passed, because he thought the boy was
close beside him.
Then the boy caught up the ball of light. He put it in the turned-up
flap of his fur coat. Then he picked up the shovel and ran away toward
the north. He ran until his feet were tired. Then he put on his raven
coat and flew away. He flew rapidly to the north. Raven could hear the
man shriek behind him. The man was pursuing him. But Raven flew
faster. Then the man cried, "Keep the light; but give me my shovel."
Raven said, "No, you cannot have your shovel. You made our village
dark." So Raven flew faster.
Now as Raven flew, he broke off a little piece of the light. This made
day. Then he went on a long time in darkness, until he broke off
another piece of light. Thus it was day again. So as Raven flew to
the village he broke off the pieces of light. When Raven reached the
kashim of his own village he threw away the last piece. He went into
the kashim and said to the shamans, "I have brought back the light. It
will be light and then dark, so as to make day and night."
After this Raven went out upon the ice because his home was on the
seacoast. Then a great wind arose, and the ice drifted with him across
the sea to the land on the other side.
Thus Raven brought back the light. It is night and day, as he said it
would be. But sometimes the nights are very long because Raven
travelled a long way without throwing away a piece of the light.
DAYLIGHT ON THE NASS RIVER
_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)
When Raven had grown quite large he walked down the bank of the Nass
River one day, until he heard the noise people were making in the
darkness as they fished for olachen. Now all the people in the world
lived at one place on the Nass River. They had heard that
Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass had something called "daylight." They were
afraid of it and talked about it a great deal.
Raven shouted to the fishermen, "Why do you make so much noise? If you
make so much noise I will bring the daylight here."
Eight canoe-loads of people were fishing there. They said, "You are
not Nas-ca-ki-yel. You are not Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass. How can you
have the daylight?" They kept on making much noise.
Then Raven opened the box and daylight shot over the world like
lightning. They made still more noise. So Raven opened the box wide
and there was daylight everywhere.
Then the people were frightened. Some ran into the woods and some
jumped into the water. Those that had clothes of fur seal skins jumped
into the water; they became seals. Those which had clothing of bear
skins, marten skins, and wolf skins, ran into the woods and turned
into grizzly bears, martens, and wolves.
[Illustration: Eskimo in Waterproof Coat made of Walrus Intestines
_Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell_]
[Illustration: "Raven said to Grouse, 'You know that Sea-lion is
your grandchild'"]
THE NAMING OF THE BIRDS
_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)
Now Raven went around among the birds, teaching them. He said to
Grouse, "You are to live in a place where it is wintry. You will
always live in a place high up so you will have plenty of breezes."
Then Raven gave Grouse four white pebbles. He said, "You will never
starve so long as you have these four pebbles."
Raven also said to Grouse, "You know that Sea-lion is your grandchild.
You must get four more pebbles and give them to him." That is why the
sea-lion has four large pebbles. It throws these at hunters. If one
strikes a person, it kills him. From this story it is known that
Grouse and Sea-lion understand each other.
Raven said to Ptarmigan, "You will be the maker of snowshoes. You will
know how to travel in snow." It was from these birds that the
Athapascans learned how to make snowshoes, and how to put the lacings
on.
Raven came next to Wild Canary, that lives all the year around in the
Tlingit country. He said, "You will be head among the very small
birds. You are not to live on the same food as human beings. Keep away
from them."
Then Raven said to Robin, "You will make people happy by your whistle.
You will be a good whistler."
Then Raven said to Kun, the Flicker, "You will be chief among the
birds of your size. You will not be found in all places. You will
seldom be seen."
Raven said to Lugan, a bird that lives far out on the ocean, "You will
seldom be seen near shore. You will live on lonely rocks, far out on
the ocean."
When Raven came to Snipes, he said, "You will always go in flocks. You
will never go out alone." Therefore we always see snipes in flocks.
Raven said to Asq-aca-tci, a small bird with yellow-green plumage,
"You will always go in flocks. You will always be on the tree tops.
That is where your food is."
Raven said to a very small bird, Kotlai, the size of a butterfly, "You
will be liked. You will be seen only to give good luck. People will
hear your voice, but seldom see you."
Then to Blue-jay Raven said, "You will have very fine clothes. You
will be a good talker. People will take colors from your clothes."
[Illustration: Figurehead on Indian Canoe]
[Illustration: "Raven said to Crow, 'You will make lots of noise.
You will be great talkers'"]
Then Raven said to Xunkaha, "You will never be seen unless the
north wind is going to blow." That is what the name Xunkaha means.
To Crow, Raven said, "You will make lots of noise. You will be great
talkers." That is why, when you hear one crow, you hear a lot of
others right afterward.
Raven said to Gusyiadul, "You will be seen only when warm weather is
coming. Never come near except when warm weather is coming."
To Humming-bird Raven said, "People will enjoy seeing you. If a person
sees you once, he will want to see you again."
Raven said to Eagle, "You will be very powerful and above all birds.
Your eyesight will be very good. It will be easy for you to get what
you want." Then Raven put talons on the eagle and said they would be
useful to him.
Thus Raven taught all the birds.
THE ORIGIN OF THE WINDS
_Tlingit_
Now Raven went off to a certain place and created West Wind. Raven
said to it, "You shall be my son's daughter. No matter how hard you
blow, you shall hurt nobody."
Raven also made South Wind. When South Wind climbs on top of a rock it
never ceases to blow.
Raven made North Wind and on top of a mountain he made a house for it
with ice hanging down the sides. Then he went in and said to North
Wind, "Your back is white." That is why mountains are white with snow.
[Illustration: "Raven said to North Wind, 'Your back is white'" (On
the Road to Fairbanks)]
[Illustration: Old Russian Blockhouse, at Sitka
_Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]
DURATION OF LIFE
_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)
Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass tried to make human beings, at the same
time, out of a rock and out of a leaf. But he created human beings out
of the leaf first. Then Raven showed a leaf to people. He said, "You
see this leaf. You are to be like it. When it falls off the branch and
rots there is nothing left of it."
That is why there is death in the world. If men had come from the hard
rocks there would be no death. Years ago, when people were getting
old, they would say, "It is unlucky that we did not come from the
rock. We are made from leaves; therefore we must die."
GHOST TOWN
_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)
Once Raven came to a large town which was deserted. Every one seemed
to have died. Raven entered the largest house, but he felt some one
continually pushing him away. Yet he saw no one there. It was a ghost
house. The place was called Ghost Town.
Raven then loaded a canoe with provisions from the empty houses and
started to paddle away. He did not notice that a long rope was
fastened to the stern of the canoe and to a tree on the shore. When
Raven had paddled the length of the rope, the canoe was pulled right
back to the beach. All the provisions were carried back to the houses.
Yet Raven could see no one. Then a ghost dropped a large stone on
Raven's foot. This made him very lame.
HOW RAVEN STOLE THE LAKE
_Haida_ (_Queen Charlotte Islands_)
After Raven had made the crows black because they had eaten his
salmon--crows had always been white before that, they say--he met some
people with feathers on their heads and gambling-stick bags on their
backs. They said, "What is the matter?"
Raven said, "Oh, my father and mother are dead."
Then they started home with him. These were the Beavers, they say.
They were going out to gamble, but turned back on account of him.
The next morning they put their gambling-stick bags upon their backs
and started off again. Raven flew around behind a screen. Lo, a lake
lay there! In a creek flowing from it was a fish trap. The fish trap
was so full of salmon it looked as if some one were shaking it. There
were plenty of salmon in it and in the lake were very small canoes
passing each other. Several points of land were red with cranberries.
Raven pulled out the fish trap, folded it together, and laid it down
at the edge of the lake. Then he rolled it up with the lake and
house, put them under his arm, and pulled himself up into a tree that
stood close by. They were not heavy for his arm. He had rolled the
lake up just as though it were a blanket. Raven sat in the tree
half-way up.
After a while some one came. His house and the lake were not there.
After he had looked about him for some time, he looked up. Lo, there
sat Raven with their property!
Then the Beavers went quickly to that tree. They began cutting it with
their teeth. When it began to fall, Raven went to another one. When
that began to fall, he went to another. After the Beavers had cut down
many trees in this way, they gave it up. They then travelled about for
a long time, they say. After a long time, they found a lake and
settled down on it.
Then after Raven had travelled around for a while with the lake, he
came to a large open place. He unrolled the lake there. There it lay.
He did not let the fish trap or the house go. He kept them to teach
the Seaward (mainland) people and the Shoreward (Queen Charlotte
Islands) people, they say.
[Illustration: "Raven unrolled the lake there. There it lay"]
[Illustration: "The man-spirit was inside the Skana"]
THE KILLER WHALE
_Haida_
A long time ago, a canoe-load of Indians were out seal-hunting. The
weather was calm and the sea was smooth. Then a killer whale kept near
the canoe and the young men threw stones at it. They hit the fin of
the killer whale with several stones. Then the whale went to the
beach. Soon the men in the canoe saw a smoke rising from the beach.
They went to see who was there. When they reached the shore, there was
not the Skana, the killer whale, but a man cooking some food.
The man said, "Why did you throw stones at my canoe? You have broken
it. Now go get cedar withes in the woods and mend it."
So the men mended the broken canoe. When they had finished, the man
said, "Turn your backs to the water. Cover your heads with your fur
robes. Don't look until I call you." They all did as he told them.
They heard the canoe grate on the beach as it was hauled down into the
water. Then the man said, "Look now."
They looked and there was the canoe in the water. But when the canoe
came to the second breaker, it went under. When it came to the
surface, behold!--there was no canoe. There was a Skana--a killer
whale. The man-spirit was inside the Skana.
ORIGIN OF THE CHILKAT BLANKET[3]
_Tsimshian_
[3] Although the patterns of the Chilkat blankets vary, nearly
all of them show, in symbolic weaving, the bear with his heart
between his eyes, Gonaqadet the sea spirit, the boy, and the
father of the chief's daughter. In some of them also, the raven
and the thunderbird figure. Only the Indians can really
interpret the various weavings, and their interpretations vary.
In the days of the animal people, long, long ago, all the animals were
divided into different tribes. In those days also, animals could take
off their furry skins; then they looked just like people.
Now in those days long ago, a group of women once went out to search
for wild celery in the early spring. They found it growing here and
there, and spent all day gathering it. Then they tied it in bundles
and started home with it on their backs.
Now among these women was the daughter of a chief. She picked twigs as
she followed in the trail in the evening light, and then slipped into
the footprints of a brown bear. The jolt loosened her pack. She
stopped to readjust her bundle of celery. She said sharp words about
bears. Then she hastened on to rejoin her companions who were already
lost in the dusk.
Suddenly the chief's daughter heard footsteps behind her. A handsome
young man joined her. Soon he asked her to be his wife. The chief's
daughter consented, so she went home with him. They walked far, far
into the woods until they came to Bear village. Then the chief's
daughter knew that her lover belonged to the Bear tribe.
After a while the chief's daughter became unhappy. She wanted to go
back to her father's home, but the Bear tribe watched her so she could
not escape.
One day chief's daughter reached the shore. Out on the water she saw a
fisherman in a boat, and she called to him to rescue her. The
fisherman touched his canoe with his killing club and in one bound it
sprang to the shore, just as the Bear and some of his tribe appeared.
The fisherman began to fight Bear, but he could not kill him. Then the
chief's daughter told him to strike Bear between the eyes, because his
heart was there. So Bear was killed.
The fisherman took the chief's daughter in his canoe. But behold!--he
was no fisherman at all. It was Gonaqadet, the spirit of the sea. So
the woman married Gonaqadet, who was very kind to her.
[Illustration: A Chilkat Blanket]
[Illustration: Alaskan Baskets
_Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell_]
After a long while, the chief's daughter became unhappy again. She
wanted her son to be trained by her people, as the custom was. Then
Gonaqadet permitted her to return to earth with the boy, but he
made her promise that she would weave him a blanket telling of her
life and his courtship. So the woman returned to earth from the sea.
Then she wove for Gonaqadet the blanket. This was the first Chilkat
blanket.
Now one day Yel, the Raven, wandering along the seashore, entered a
great cavern under the sea. There he found Gonaqadet, wearing a
beautiful Chilkat blanket. Gonaqadet welcomed Raven, and offered him
food. He placed food before him in two long carved platters. After
Raven had feasted, Gonaqadet taught him many dances and gave him a
copy of the blanket pattern. Then Raven taught the people how to weave
the blankets, but he taught the Tsimshian tribe first. Afterward the
Chilkats learned how to weave them.
ORIGIN OF LAND AND PEOPLE
_Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)
In the beginning there was water over all the earth. There were no
people. It was very cold. The water was covered with ice, and the ice
pieces ground together, making long ridges and hummocks.
Then a man came from the other side of the great water and stopped on
the ice hills. He took for his wife a wolf. Then their children grew
up. Each pair spoke a different language from that of their parents,
or from that of their brothers and sisters. So each pair went out in a
different direction and built houses on the ice hills. Then the snow
melted and ran down the hillsides. It scooped out ravines and river
beds and made the earth. Thus the earth was made and the people. That
is why so many different languages are spoken.
[Illustration: Keystone Canyon]
[Illustration: The "S" Glacier
_Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]
CREATION OF THE WORLD
_Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)
A long time ago, water flowed all over the world. There was one family
and they made a big raft. Then they put animals on the raft.
Now there was no land but all water, so the people wanted to make a
world. The man tied a cord around a beaver and sent him down to find
the bottom of the water. But the beaver got only half-way and drowned.
Then the man tied a string around a muskrat and sent him down. Muskrat
drowned, but he reached the bottom and got a little mud on his hands.
Then the man took the mud out of the muskrat's hands into his palm. He
let it dry and then crumbled it to dust. Then he blew the dust out of
his palm all over the waters. This made the world.
ORIGIN OF MANKIND
_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)
Long, long ago, a man and a woman came down from the sky and landed on
one of the Diomede Islands. They lived there a long while, but they
had no children. At last one day the man took some walrus ivory, and
from this he carved five dolls, just like people. Then he took some
wood and made from it five more dolls. Then, one night, when all were
finished, he set them off to one side, all ten in a row. The next
morning the dolls had become people. The ivory dolls became men,
therefore they are brave and hardy; but the wooden dolls became women,
therefore they are soft and timid. From these ten dolls came all the
people of the Diomede Islands.
THE FIRST WOMAN
_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)
Long, long ago there were many men living in the northland, but there
was no woman among them. Far away in the southland lived one woman. At
last one of the young men in the northland travelled south to the home
of the woman and married her. He thought, "I have a wife, while the
son of the headsman has none."