Transcriber's Note

The cover image was created by the transcriber for the convenience of the reader, and it is placed in the public domain.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS
OF ALASKA

SELECTED AND EDITED BY
KATHARINE BERRY JUDSON
Author of “Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest,” and
“Montana, ‘The Land of Shining Mountains’”

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1911

Copyright
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1911
———
Published September, 1911

W. F. Hall Printing Company
Chicago

Tlingit Indians in Dancing Costume

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. Especially of Washington and Oregon. With 50 full-page illustrations. Small 4to.

$1.50 net.

MONTANA: “The Land of Shining Mountains.” Illustrated. Indexed. Square 8vo.

75 cents net.

A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers

PREFACE

LONG ago, even before the days of the animal people, the world was only a great ocean wherein was no land nor any living thing except a great Bird. The Bird, after a long, long time, flew down to the surface of the water and dipped his great black wings into the flood. The earth arose out of the waters. So began the creation. While the land was still soft, the first man burst from the pod of the beach pea and looked out upon the endless plain behind him and the gray salt sea before him. He was the only man. Then Raven appeared to him and the creation of other beings began. Raven made also animals for food and clothing. Later, because the earth plain was so bare, he planted trees and shrubs and grass and set the green things to growing.

With creation by a Great Spirit, there came dangers from evil spirits. Such spirits carried away the sun and moon, and hung them to the rafters of the dome-shaped Alaskan huts. The world became cold and cheerless, and in the Land of Darkness white skins became blackened by contact with the darkness. So it became necessary to search for the sun and hang it again in the dome-shaped sky above them. Darkness in the Land of Long Night was the cause, through magic, of the bitter winds of winter—winds which came down from the North, bringing with them ice and cold and snow. This was the work of some Great Spirit which had loosened the side of the gray cloud-tent under which they lived, letting in the bitter winds of another world. Spirits blow the mists over the cold north sea so that canoes lose sight of their home-land. Spirits also drive the ice floes, with their fishermen, far over the horizon of ocean, into the still colder North. Spirits govern the run of the salmon, the catching of whales, and all the life of the people of the North who wage such a terrific struggle for existence.

So there must needs be those who have power over the evil spirits, those who by incantations and charms of magic, by ceremonial dancing in symbolic dress, can control the designs of those who work ever against these children of the North. Thus there arose the shamans with all their ceremonies.

The myths in this volume are authentic. The original collections were made by government ethnologists, by whose permission this compilation is made. And no effort has been made, in the telling of them, to change them from the terse directness of the natives. The language of all Indian tribes is very simple, and to the extent that an effort is made to put myths and legends into more polished form, to that extent is their authenticity impaired.

Only the quaintest and purest of the myths have been selected. Many Alaskan myths are very long and tiresome, rambling from one subject to another, besides revealing low moral conditions. These have been omitted, as have also those which deal with the intermarriage of men and birds, and men and animals. Such myths are better left among government documents where they can be readily consulted by those making a special study of the subject. They are hardly suitable for any collection intended for general reading. The leading myth of the North, however, the Raven Myth, is given with a fair degree of completeness. It would not be possible, nor would it be wise, to attempt a compilation of all the fragments of this extensive myth.

Especial thanks are due to Dr. Franz Boas for the Tsetsaut and Tsimshian myths, to John R. Swanton for the Tlingit myths, to Edward Russell Nelson for the Eskimo myths, to Ferdinand Schnitter, and to others. Thanks are also due for courtesies in securing photographs to Mr. B. B. Dobbs and particularly to Mr. Clarence L. Andrews, both of whom have spent many years in Alaska.

K. B. J.

University of Washington,
Seattle, Washington
July, 1911.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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ILLUSTRATIONS

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MYTHS AND LEGENDS
OF ALASKA

THE RAVEN MYTH

Eskimo (Bering Straits)

IT was in the time when there were no people on the earth plain. The first man for four days lay coiled up in the pod of the beach pea. On the fifth day he stretched out his feet and burst the pod. He fell to the ground and when he stood up he was a full-grown man. Man looked all around him and then at himself. He moved his hands and arms, his neck and legs. When he looked back he saw, still hanging to the vine, the pod of the beach pea, with a hole in the lower end out of which he had dropped. When he looked about him again, he saw that he was getting farther from his starting place. The ground seemed to move up and down under his feet, and it was very soft. After a while he had a strange feeling in his stomach, so he stooped down to drink some water from a small pool at his feet. Then he felt better.

When Man looked up again he saw coming toward him, with a fluttering motion, something dark. He watched the dark thing until it stopped just in front of him. It was Raven.

As soon as Raven stopped, he raised one of his wings and pushed up his beak, as though it were a mask, to the top of his head. Thus Raven changed at once into a man. Raven stared hard at Man, moving from side to side to see him better.

Raven said, “What are you? Where did you come from? I have never seen anything like you.”

Raven still stared at Man, surprised to find this new thing so much like himself. He made Man walk around a little, while he perked his head from side to side to see him better. Then Raven said again, in astonishment, “Where did you come from? I have never seen anything like you before.”

Man said, “I came from the pea pod.” He pointed to the plant from which he came.

“Ah, I made that vine,” said Raven. “But I did not know that anything like you would come from it. Come with me to the high ground over there; it is thicker and harder. This ground I made later and it is soft and thin.”

So Man and Raven walked to the higher ground which was firm and hard. Raven asked Man if he had eaten anything. Man said he had taken some of the soft stuff from one of the pools.

“Ah, you drank some water,” said Raven. “Now wait for me here.”

Raven drew down his beak, as though it were a mask, over his face. He at once became a bird and flew far up into the sky—far out of sight. Man waited until the fourth day. Then Raven returned bringing four berries in his claws. He pushed up his beak and so became a man again. Then he gave to Man two salmon berries and two heath berries, saying, “Here is something I made for you to eat. I wish them to be plentiful on the earth. Eat them.”

Man put the berries into his mouth, one after the other, and ate them. Then he felt better. Then Raven left Man near a small creek while he went to the edge of the water. He took two pieces of clay at the water’s edge, and shaped them like a pair of mountain sheep. He held them in his hand until they were dry, and then he called Man to come and see them. Man said they were pretty, so Raven told him to close his eyes. Man closed his eyes tightly. Then Raven pulled down his beak-mask, and waved his wings four times over the pieces of clay. At once they bounded away as full-grown mountain sheep. Raven told Man to look.

Man was so much pleased that Raven said, “If these animals are plentiful, perhaps people will try to kill them.”

Man said, “Yes.”

Then Raven said, “Well, it will be better for them to live among the steep rocks so every one cannot kill them. There only shall they be found.”

Raven took two more pieces of clay and shaped them like tame reindeer. He held them in his hand until they were partly dry, then told Man to look at them. Raven again drew down his beak-mask and waved his wings four times over them. Thus they became alive, but as they were only dry in spots while Raven held them, therefore they remained brown and white, with mottled coat. Raven told Man these tame reindeer would be very few in number.

Again Raven took two pieces of clay and shaped them like the caribou or wild reindeer. But he held them in his hands only a little while so that only the bellies of the reindeer became dry and white. Then Raven drew down his beak-mask, and waved his wings over them, and they bounded away. But because only their bellies were dry and white while Raven held them, therefore the wild reindeer is brown except its white belly.

Raven said to Man, “These animals will be very common. People will kill many of them.”

Photograph by B. B. Dobbs

Reindeer on the Tundra

“Raven taught them how to build houses of driftwood and bushes, covered with earth”

Thus Raven began to create the animals.

Raven said one day to Man, “You are lonely by yourself. I will make you a companion.” He went to some white clay at a spot distant from the clay of which he had made animals, and made of the clay a figure almost like Man. Raven kept looking at Man while he shaped the figure. Then he took fine water grass from the creek and fastened it on the back of the head for hair. When the clay was shaped, Raven drew down his beak-mask and waved his wings over it. The clay became a beautiful girl. The girl was white and fair because Raven let the clay dry entirely before he waved his wings over it.

Raven took the girl to Man. “There is a companion for you,” he said.

Now in the days of the first people on the earth plain, there were no mountains far or near. No rain ever fell and there were no winds. The sun shone always very brightly.

Then Raven showed the first people on the earth plain how to sleep warmly in the dry moss when they were tired. Raven himself drew down his beak-mask and went to sleep like a bird.

When Raven awakened, he went back to the creek. Here he made two sticklebacks, two graylings, and two blackfish. When these were swimming about in the water, he called Man to see them. Man raised his hand in surprise and the sticklebacks darted away. Raven told him the graylings would be found in clear mountain streams, while the sticklebacks would live along the coast, and that both would be good for food.

Raven next made the shrewmouse. He said, “The shrewmouse will not be good for food. It will prevent the earth plain from looking bare and cheerless.”

In this way Raven was busy several days, making birds and fishes and animals. He showed each of them to Man and explained what they were good for. Then Raven flew into the sky, far, far away, and was gone four days. When he came back he brought a salmon to Man.

But Raven noticed that the ponds and lakes were silent and lonely, so he made water bugs to flit upon the surface of the water. He also made the beaver and the muskrat to live around the borders of the ponds. Raven told Man that the beavers would live along the streams and build strong houses, so Man must build a strong house also. Raven said the beavers would be very cunning and only good hunters could catch them. He also told Man how to catch the muskrat and how to use its skin for clothing.

Raven also made flies and mosquitoes and other insects to make the earth plain more cheerful. At first mosquitoes were like flies; they did not bite. One day Man killed a deer. After he had cut it up and placed the fat on a bush, he fell asleep. When he awoke he found the mosquitoes had eaten all of it. Then Man was very angry and scolded the mosquitoes. He said, “Never eat meat again. Eat men.” Before that mosquitoes never bit people.

When the first baby came on the earth plain, Raven rubbed it all over with white clay. He told Man it would grow into a man like himself. The next morning the baby was a big boy. He ran around pulling up grass and flowers that Raven had planted. By the third day the baby was a full-grown man.

Then another baby was born on the earth plain. She was rubbed over with the white clay. The next day the baby was a big girl, walking around. On the third day she was a full-grown woman.

Now Raven began to be afraid that men would kill all the creatures he had made. He was afraid they would kill them for food and clothing. Therefore Raven went to a creek nearby. He took white clay and shaped it like a bear. Then he waved his wings over it, and the clay became a bear. But Raven jumped very quickly to one side when the bear became alive because it looked fiercely around and growled. Then Raven showed the bear to Man and told him to be careful. He said the bear was very fierce and would tear him to pieces if he disturbed it.

Then Raven made the seals, and taught Man how to catch them. He also taught Man how to make strong lines from sealskin, and snares for the deer.

Then Raven went away to the place of the pea vine.

When he reached the pea vine he found three other men had just fallen from the same pod that Man had fallen from. These men were looking about them in wonder. Raven led them away from the pea vine, but in a different direction from the first man. He brought them close to the sea. Raven stayed with these three men a long time. He taught them how to take wood from the bushes and small trees he planted in hollows and sheltered places, and to make a fire drill, and also a bow. He made many more plants and birds which like the seacoast, but he did not make so many as in the land where Man lived. He taught these men how to make bows and arrows, spears and nets, and how to use them; and also how to capture the seals, which were now plentiful in the sea. Then he taught them how to make kayaks, and how to build houses of drift logs and of bushes, covered with earth. Then he made wives for these men, and went back to Man.

Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell

“The next morning the baby was a big boy”

Courtesy “Alaska-Yukon Magazine”

“The clay became a beautiful girl”

When Raven reached the land where Man lived, he thought the earth plain still looked bare. So, while the others slept, Raven planted birch and spruce and cottonwood trees to grow in the low places. Then he woke up the people, who were pleased with the trees.

Then Raven taught Man how to make fire with the fire drill, and to place the spark of tinder in a bunch of dry grass and to wave it about until it blazed, and then to put dry wood upon it. He showed them how to roast fish on a stick, and how to make fish traps of splints and willow bark, and how to dry salmon for winter use.

Where Man lived there was now a large village because the people did everything as Raven told them, and therefore all the babies grew up in three days. One day Raven came back and sat down by Man by the creek and they talked of many things. Man asked Raven about the skyland. Man wanted to see the skyland which Raven had made. Therefore Raven took Man to the land in the sky.

Man found that the skyland was a very beautiful country, and that it had a much better climate than his land. But the people who lived there were very small. Their heads did not reach to Man’s hips. The people wore fur clothing, with beautiful patterns, such as people on earth now wear, because Man showed his people how to make them. In the lakes were strange animals which would have killed Man if he had tried to drink of the water. In a dry lake bed, thickly covered with tall grass, Man saw a wonderful animal resting upon the tips of the grasses. It had a long head and six legs. It had fine, thick hair, and on the back of the head were two thick, short horns which bent forward and then curved back at the tips. Raven told Man it took many people to kill this animal.

Then they came to a round hole in the sky and around the edge of the hole was short grass, glowing like fire. Raven said, “This is the star called the moon-dog.” Some of the grass had been pulled up. Raven said he had taken some to start the first fire on earth.

Then Raven said to Man, “Shut your eyes. I will take you to another country.” Man climbed upon Raven’s back and they dropped down through the star hole. They floated a long, long time through the air, then they floated through something else. When they stopped Raven saw he was at the bottom of the sea. Man could breathe there, but it seemed foggy. Raven said that was the appearance of the water. Then Raven said, “I want to make some new animals here; but you must not walk about. You lie down and if you get tired, turn over on the other side.”

Man went to sleep lying on one side, and slept a long while. When he waked up, he wanted to turn over, but he could not. Then Man thought, “I wish I could turn over,” and at once he turned. As he turned, he was surprised to see that his body was covered with long, white hairs; and his fingers were long claws. Then he went to sleep again. This he did three times more. Then when he woke up, Raven stood by him. Raven said, “I have changed you into a white bear. How do you like it?” Man could not make a sound until Raven waved his wings over him. Then he said he did not like it; if he was a bear he would have to live on the sea, while his son lived on land; so Man should feel badly. Then Raven struck the white skin with his wings and it fell off. So Man became himself again. But Raven took the empty bearskin, and placed one of his own tail feathers inside it for a spine. Then he waved his wing over it, and a white bear arose. Ever since then white bears have been found on the frozen sea.

Raven said, “How many times did you turn over?”

Man said, “Four.”

Raven said, “You slept just four years.”

Then Raven made other animals. He made the a-mi-kuk, a large, slimy animal, with thick skin, and with four long, wide-spreading arms. This is a fierce animal and lives in the sea. It wraps its four long arms around a man or a kayak and drags it under the water. A man cannot escape it. If he climbs out of his kayak on the ice, the a-mi-kuk will dart underneath and break the ice. If Man runs away on shore, the a-mi-kuk pursues him by burrowing through the earth. No man can escape from it when once it pursues him.

Then Raven showed Man the walrus, and the dog walrus, with head and teeth like a dog. It always swam with large herds of walrus and with a stroke of its tail could kill a man. He showed him whales and the grampus. Raven told Man that only good hunters could kill a whale, but when one was killed an entire village could feast on it. He showed him also the sea fox, which is so fierce it kills men; and the sea otter, which is like the land otter but has finer fur, tipped with white, and other fishes and animals as they rose to the surface of the water.

Then Raven said, “Close your eyes. Hold fast to me.”

Then Man found himself on the shore near his home. The village was very large. His wife was very old and his son was an old man. The people gave him place of honor in the kashim, and made him their headsman. So Man taught the young men many things.

Now Man wanted again to see the skyland, so Raven and Man went up among the dwarf people and lived there a long time. But on earth the village grew very large; the men killed many animals.

From photograph loaned by the Smithsonian Institution

Ivory Pipe Stems

From drawing loaned by the Smithsonian Institution

Kayak Man Casting a Bird Spear

Now in those days, the sun shone always very brightly. No rain ever fell and no winds blew.

Man and Raven were angry because the people killed many animals. They took a long line and a grass basket, one night, and caught ten reindeer which they put into the basket. Now in those days reindeer had sharp teeth, like dogs. The next night Raven took the reindeer and let them down on the earth close to Man’s village. Raven said, “Break down the first house you see and kill the people. Men are becoming too many.” The reindeer did as Raven commanded. They stamped on the house and broke it down. They ate up the people with their sharp, wolf-like teeth. The next night, Raven let the reindeer down; again they broke down a house and ate up the people with their sharp teeth.

The village people were much frightened. The third night they covered the third house with a mixture of deer fat and berries. On the third night when the reindeer began to tear down the third house, their mouths were filled with the fat and sour berries. Then the reindeer ran away, shaking their heads so violently that all their long, sharp teeth fell out. Ever since then reindeer have had small teeth and cannot harm people.

After the reindeer ran away, Raven and Man returned to the skyland. Man said, “If the people do not stop killing so many animals, they will kill everything you have made. It would be better to take the sun away from them. Then it will be dark and people will die.”

Raven said, “That is right. You stay here. I will go and take away the sun.”

So Raven went away and took the sun out of the sky. He put it in a skin bag and carried it far away, to a distant part of the skyland. Then it became dark on earth.

The people on earth were frightened when the sun vanished. They offered Raven presents of food and furs if he would bring back the sun. Raven said, “No.” After a while Raven felt sorry for them, so he let them have a little light. He held up the sun in one hand for two days so people could hunt and secure food. Then he put the sun in the skin bag again and the earth was dark. Then, after a long time, when the people made him many gifts, he would let them have a little light again.

Now Raven had a brother living in the village. He was sorry for the earth people. So Raven’s brother thought a long time. Then he died. The people put him in a grave box and had a burial feast. Then they left the grave box. At once Raven’s brother slipped out of the box and went away from the village. He hid his raven mask and coat in a tree. Soon Raven’s wife came for water. When she took up a dipperful to drink, Raven’s brother, by magic, became a small leaf. He fell into the water and Raven’s wife swallowed him. . . . .

When Raven-Boy was born he grew very rapidly. He was running about when he was only a few days old. He cried for the sun which was in the skin bag, hanging on the rafters. Raven was fond of the boy so he let him play with the sun; yet he was afraid Raven-Boy would lose the sun, so he watched him. When Raven-Boy began to play out of doors, he cried and begged for the sun. Raven said, “No.” Then Raven-Boy cried more than ever. At last Raven gave him the sun in the house. Raven-Boy played with it a long while. When no one was looking, he ran quickly out of the house. He ran to the tree, put on his raven mask and coat, and flew far away with the sun in the skin bag. When Raven-Boy was far up in the sky, he heard Raven call, “Do not hide the sun. Let it out of the bag. Do not keep it always dark.” Raven thought the boy had stolen it for himself.

Raven-Boy flew to the place where the sun belonged. He tore off the skin covering and put the sun in its place. Then he saw a broad path leading far away. He followed it to the side of a hole fringed with short, bright grass. He remembered that Raven had said, “Do not keep it always dark,” therefore he made the sky turn, with all the stars and the sun. Thus it is now sometimes dark and sometimes light.

Raven-Boy picked some of the short, bright grass by the edge of the sky hole and stuck it into the sky. This is the morning star.

Raven-Boy went down to the earth. The people were glad to see him. They said, “What has become of Man who went into the skyland with Raven?” Now this was the first time that Raven-Boy had heard of Man. He started to fly up into the sky, but he could get only a small distance above the earth. When he found he could not get back to the sky, Raven-Boy wandered to the second village, where lived the men who had come from the pod of the beach pea. Raven-Boy there married a wife and he had many children. But the children could not fly to the sky. They had lost the magic power. Therefore the ravens now flutter over the tundras like other birds.

THE FLOOD

Tlingit (Wrangell)

LONG, long ago, in the days of the animal people, Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass became angry. He said, “Let rain pour down all over the world. Let people die of starvation.” At once it became so stormy people could not get food, so they began to starve. Their canoes were also broken up, their houses fell in upon them, and they suffered very much. Then Nas-ca-ki-yel, Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass, asked for his jointed dance hat. When he put it on water began pouring out of the top of it. It is from Raven that the Indians obtained this kind of a hat.

When the water rose to the house floor, Raven and his mother climbed upon the lowest retaining timber. This house we are speaking of, although it looked like a house to them, was really part of the world. It had eight rows of retaining timbers.

When Raven and his mother climbed to a higher timber, the people of the world were climbing into the hills. Then Raven and his mother climbed to the fourth timber; by that time the water was half-way up the mountains. When the house was nearly full of water, Raven’s mother got into the skin of a cax. To this very day Tlingits do not eat the cax because it was Raven’s mother. Then Raven got into the skin of a white bird with copper-colored bill. Now the cax is a diver and stayed upon the surface of the water. But Raven flew to the very highest cloud and hung there by his bill. But his tail was in the water.

After Raven had hung in the cloud for days and days—nobody knows how long—he pulled his bill out and prayed to fall on a piece of kelp. He thought the water had gone down. When Raven fell upon the kelp and flew away he found the waters just half-way down the mountains.

Raven flew around until he met a shark, which had been swimming around with a long stick. Raven took the stick and climbed down it as a ladder to the bottom of the ocean. But Raven had set Eagle to watch the tide.

Raven wandered around the bottom of the ocean until he came to an old woman. He said to her, “How cold I am after eating those sea urchins.” He repeated this over and over again.

Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell

Eskimo Woman from Cape Prince of Wales

Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell

Fur Parkas Worn by Eskimo Women

At last the woman said, “What low tide is this Raven talking about?”[1] Raven did not answer. The woman kept repeating, “What low tide are you talking about?”

[1] In these Northern myths, questions and answers have no relation to each other. Such speeches are regarded as magic sayings.

Then Raven became angry. He said, “I will stick these sea urchins into you if you don’t keep quiet.” At last he did so.

Then the woman began singing, “Don’t, Raven! The tide will go down if you don’t stop.”

But the water was receding, as Raven had told it to, in his magic words. Raven asked Eagle, who was watching the tide, “How far down is the tide now?”

“The tide is as far down as half a man.”

“How far down is the tide?” he asked again.

“The tide is very low,” said Eagle.

Then the old woman started her magic song again.

Raven said, “Let it get dry all around the world.”

After a while, Eagle said, “The tide is very low now. You can hardly see any water.”

Raven said, “Let it get still drier.”

At last everything was dry. This is the lowest tide there ever was. All the salmon, and whales, and seals lay on the sands because the water was so low. Then the people killed them for food. They had enough food to last them a long time.

When the tide began to rise again, the people were frightened. They feared there would be another flood, so they carried their food back a long distance.

Afterward Raven returned to Nass River and found that people there had not changed their ways. They were dancing and feasting. They asked Raven to join them.

THE ORIGIN OF THE TIDES

Tsetsaut

A LONG time ago, a man wandered down the Nass River. Wherever he camped, he made rocks of curious shapes. Now his name was Qa, the Raven. The Tlingit call him Yel.

Qa wandered all over the world. At last he travelled westward. Now at that time the sea was always high.

In the middle of the world Qa discovered a rock in the sea. He built a house under the rock. Then he made a hole through it and through the earth and fitted a lid to it. Raven put a man in charge of the hole. Twice a day he opens the lid and twice each day he closes it. When the hole is open the water rushes down through it into the depths; then it is ebb tide. When he closes the lid, the water rises again; then it is flood tide.

Once upon a time, Tael, a Tlingit chief, while hunting sea otters was carried out to Qa’s rock by the tide. The current was so strong he could not escape. When Tael was drawn toward the rock, he saw a few small trees growing on it. Tael threw his canoe line over one of the trees. Thus he escaped being carried down by the water into the hole under the rock. After some time he heard a noise. The man was putting the lid on the hole. Then the water began to rise. Tael paddled rapidly away. He paddled away until the tide began to ebb again. Then he fastened his canoe to a large stone nearby, and waited until flood tide came again. Thus Tael escaped.

Reflection of Mountain Peaks

“So the smoke-hole spirits held Raven until the smoke blackened his white coat”

HOW THE RIVERS WERE FORMED

Tlingit (Wrangell)

PETREL was the first person created by Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass. He was keeper of the fresh water. No one else might touch it. Now the spring he owned was on a rocky island called Dekino, Fort-far-out, where the well may still be seen. Raven stole a great mouthful of water, but as he flew over the country drops spilled out of his beak. These drops made the rivers: the Nass, Skeena, Stikine, and Chilkat. Raven said, “The water that I drop down upon the earth, here and there, will whirl all the time. There will be plenty of water, but it will not flood the world.”

Now before this time, Raven was pure white. But when he stole the water from Petrel he tried to fly out of the smoke hole. Petrel cried, “Spirits of the smoke hole, hold him fast.” So the smoke-hole spirits held Raven until the smoke blackened his white coat.

THE ORIGIN OF FIRE

Tlingit

LONG ago, in the days of the animal people, Raven saw a fire far out at sea. He tied a piece of pitch to Chicken Hawk’s bill. He said, “Go out to the fire, touch it with the pitchwood, and bring it back.” Chicken Hawk did so. The fire stuck to the pitchwood and he brought it back to Raven. Then Raven put the fire into the rock and into the red cedar. Then he said, “Thus shall you get your fire—from this rock and from this red cedar.” The tribes did as he told them.

DURATION OF WINTER

Tlingit (Wrangell)

ONCE Raven went to Ground-hog’s house for the winter. Now Ground-hogs go into their holes in September. At home they live like people. People to them are animals.

So Raven spent the winter with Ground-hog and became very tired of it. But he could not get out. Ground-hog enjoyed himself, but Raven acted like a prisoner. Raven kept shouting, “Winter comes on. Winter comes on.” Raven thought that Ground-hog had power to shorten the winter.

Now at that time, Ground-hog had to stay in his hole for six months; at that time, Ground-hog had six toes, one for each month of winter. Then Raven pulled one toe off each foot, so that the winter would be shorter. That is why the Ground-hog now has but five toes.

RAVEN’S FEAST

Tlingit

RAVEN’S mother died, so he gave a great feast, but first he went to the Ground-hog people to get food. Now the Ground-hog people know when slides descend from the mountains, and they know that spring is then near at hand, so they throw all of their winter food out of their burrows. Raven wanted them to do this. He said, “There is going to be a world snowslide.” Ground-hog chief answered, “Well, nobody in this town knows about it.”

In the spring when the snowslides did come, the Ground-hogs threw out all their green herbs, and their roots from their burrows.

Therefore Raven said to the people, “I am going to have a feast. I am going to invite the whole world.” Raven was going to invite every one because he had heard that the Gonaqadet had a Chilkat blanket and a Chilkat hat and he wanted to see them.[2] First he invited the Gonaqadet and afterward the other chiefs of all the tribes in the world. At the right time they came.

[2] See myth, “Origin of the Chilkat Blanket.”

Pine Falls, Atlin

Photograph by C. L. Andrews

Elk Falls

When the Gonaqadet came in he had on his Chilkat hat with many crowns and his Chilkat blanket, but he was surrounded by a fog. Inside of the house, however, the fog melted away.

Because Raven had this feast, people now have to have feasts. Because Raven had this burial feast, when a man is going to have a burial feast he has a many-crowned hat carved on the top of the dead man’s grave post.

CREATION OF THE PORCUPINE

Tlingit

RAVEN went into the woods and set out to make porcupines. For quills he took pieces of yellow cedar bark. These he set all the way up and down the porcupine’s back so that bears would be afraid of it. That is why bears never eat porcupines. Raven said to the porcupine, “Whenever any one comes near you, throw your tail about.” That is why people are afraid to go near a porcupine.

Porcupine

“Raven showed the people how to make canoes out of skins”

HOW RAVEN TAUGHT THE CHILKATS

Tlingit (Wrangell)

RAVEN taught the Chilkats that there were Athapascan Indians. He went back into their country. So the Chilkat people to this day make their money by going there. Raven also taught the Chilkats how to make secret storehouses outside of their villages, and he taught them how to put salmon into the storehouses and keep them frozen over winter. That is how the Chilkats got their name, from toil, “storehouse,” and xat, “salmon.”

Raven also showed the Chilkats the first seeds of Indian tobacco and taught them how to plant it. After the tobacco was grown, he dried it and pounded it up with burned clam shells. The Chilkats made a great deal of money by trading tobacco with the Athapascans.

Afterward Raven went beyond Copper River to Yukatat. There he showed the people how to make canoes out of skins.

RAVEN’S MARRIAGE

Eskimo (Bering Straits)

AFTER Raven had lived alone a long while, he decided to get married. It was late in the fall and the birds were flying southward. So Raven flew away in the path of the geese and birds on their way to summerland. Raven stopped directly in the path.

Soon Raven saw a young goose coming near. He looked down at his feet and called, “Who will marry me? I am a very nice man.” The goose flew on.

Soon a black brant passed. Raven looked down at his feet and called, “Who will marry me? I am a very nice man.” The black brant flew on. Raven looked after her. He said, “What kind of people are these? They do not even stop to listen.”

A duck came near. Raven hid his face and called, “Who will marry me? I am a very nice man.” The duck looked toward him, then flew on. Raven said, “Ah, I came very near it then. I shall succeed this time.”

Soon a whole family of white-front geese came along. There were the parents, four brothers, and a sister. Raven called out, “Who wants to marry me? I am a fine hunter. I am young and handsome.” The geese alighted just beyond him. Raven thought, “Now I will get a wife.”

Raven saw near him a pretty white stone with a hole in it. He picked it up, strung it on a long grass stem, and hung it about his neck. Then he pushed up his beak so that it slid to the top of his head like a mask; so he became a dark-colored young man. Then he walked up to the geese. Each of the geese pushed up its bill in the same manner; they became nice looking people. Raven liked the girl; he gave her the stone, thus choosing her for his wife, and she hung it about her own neck. Then all pushed down their bills again and became birds. So they flew south toward the summerland.

The geese flapped their wings heavily and flew slowly. Raven, on outspread wing, glided on ahead. The geese looked after him, saying, “How light and graceful he is!”

When Raven became tired he said, “We had better stop early and look for a place to sleep.” Soon they were all asleep.

The next morning the geese were awake early. They wanted to be off. Raven was sound asleep. Father Goose wakened him. He said, “We must make haste. It will snow here soon. We cannot wait.”

So the geese flapped their wings and flew slowly and heavily along. Raven led the others with outspread wings. He was always above or ahead of the others. They said, “See how light and graceful he is!”

Thus they travelled until they came to the seashore. They feasted upon the berries on the bushes around it. Soon they were asleep.

Early the next morning the geese made ready to go without breakfast. Raven was hungry but the geese would not wait. As they flapped their wings and started, Father Goose said, “We will stop once on the way to rest; then our next flight will bring us to the other shore.” Raven began to be afraid, but he was ashamed to say so.

The geese flapped their wings slowly and flew steadily, heavily along. Raven, with outspread wings, glided ahead. After a long time Raven began to fall behind. His wings ached. The geese flew steadily on. Raven flapped heavily along, then glided on his outstretched wings. But he grew more and more tired. He fell farther and farther behind. At last the geese looked back. Father Goose said, “He must be tired. I thought he was light and active. We will wait.”

Shoup’s Glacier, Valdez

Birdseye View of Valdez

The geese settled close together in the water. Raven flew slowly up, gasping for breath. He sank down upon their backs. When Raven had his breath again, he put his hand on his breast. He said, “I have an arrow here from an old war. It pains me greatly. That is why I fell behind.”

After resting, the geese rose from the water. They flapped slowly along. Raven flew with them. After a while, Raven began to fall behind. He grew more and more tired. At last the geese looked back. Father Goose said, “He must be tired. We will wait.” So the geese sank down together in the water, while Raven flew slowly up to them and sank down upon their backs.

Raven said, “I have an arrowhead which pierced my heart in an old war. That is why I fell behind.” Raven’s wife put her hand on his breast. She could feel it beating like a hammer; she said she could not feel an arrowhead.

So the geese rose again from the water. They flapped slowly along. But Raven’s wings were very tired. Before long he fell behind again. Again the geese waited for him.

Then the Geese Brothers began to talk among themselves. They said, “We do not believe he has an arrowhead in his heart. How could he live?”

Now this last time when they rested, they could see the far-off shore. Father Goose said to Raven, “We will not wait for you again. We will not rest again until we reach the shore.”

So the geese rose from the water and flapped slowly along. Raven’s wings seemed very heavy. The geese flew nearer and nearer the shore; but Raven flew nearer and nearer the waves. As he came close to the water he shrieked to his wife, “Leave me the white stone. Throw the white stone back to me.” It was a magic stone. Thus Raven cried. Then he sank down into the water, but the geese had reached the land.

Raven tried to rise from the water. His wings would not spread. Raven drifted back and forth with the waves. The white caps of the surf buried him. Only once in a while could he get his beak above the water to breathe. Then a great wave cast him on the shore. Then he struggled up the beach. He reached some bushes where he pushed up his beak. Thus he became a small, dark-colored man. Then he took off his raven coat and mask. He hung them on a bush to dry. Raven made a fire drill out of dry wood and made a fire. Thus he dried himself.

RAVEN AND THE SEALS

Tsimshian

AS Raven travelled along, he came to a house where a man lived near the edge of the water. Raven said to him, “I will be your friend.”

The man said, “That is good.”

Now the beach in front of the house was full of seals. Raven ate them all during two nights. He ate all the seals in front of the house. Then he was hungry again.

Raven killed the man. Then he used his canoe and harpoon. Raven used those. He speared four seals. Then he returned to the shore. He took the seals out of the canoe and began cutting wood. Then he built a fire and placed stones in it in order to heat them. Afterward he put the seals on a pile of hot stones. He cooked the four seals and covered them with skunk cabbage leaves.

Raven then raised the cover and took out a seal. He ate it. Then he stretched out his hand and took another seal.

Now there was Stump sitting nearby. Raven held the seal in his hands and said to the stump, “Don’t you envy me, Stump?” Then he went into the woods. At once Stump arose and sat down on the hole in which the seals were steaming. The seals were right under Stump. Then Raven returned, carrying leaves of skunk cabbage. When he saw Stump sitting on his seals, he cried. He was much troubled because he was hungry. Then he took a stick and dug the ground. He cried all the time he was digging. He found a little bit of meat and ate that. But he could not do anything. He cried all the time because he was so hungry.

From drawing loaned by the Smithsonian Institution

Masks

From drawing loaned by the Smithsonian Institution

Dolls

RAVEN AND PITCH

Tsimshian

RAVEN went travelling through the woods until he came to the house of Little Pitch. Little Pitch was rich, and invited him in. When Raven had eaten enough, he slept. When he awakened, he said they would go to catch halibut.

Little Pitch was willing, but said, “It is not good for me to be out after sunrise. I must return while it is still chilly. I shall have enough by that time.”

Raven said, “I shall do whatever you say, Chief.”

Little Pitch said, “Well!”

Then they started for the fishing place. They fished all night. When the sun rose Little Pitch wanted to go ashore.

Raven said, “I enjoy the fishing. Lie down in the bow of the canoe and cover yourself with a mat.”

Little Pitch did so. After a while Raven called, “Little Pitch!”

He answered, “Heh!”

After a while Raven called again, “Little Pitch!”

He answered again in a loud voice.

Again after some time, Raven called again, “Little Pitch!”

Then Little Pitch’s answer was very weak because the sun was getting warm.

Now Raven hauled up his line and paddled home. He pretended to paddle hard, but he only put his paddles into the water edgewise. Again he called, “Little Pitch!”

“Heh!” Little Pitch replied, but his voice was very weak. The sun was getting still hotter. Then Raven knew that Little Pitch was melting.

Behold! Pitch came out and ran over the halibut in the boat. Therefore the halibut is black on one side.

Then Raven took the pitch and mended his boat with it.

RAVEN’S DANCING BLANKET

Tsimshian

ONE day Raven put on the shaman’s blanket of his grandfather. Then he went away; he strayed off. He was very poor and he tore his dancing blanket. Then he caught ravens. He used anything to kill the ravens. Then he took the skins of the ravens and tied them together. Then he walked about in them, dressed very well.

Now he saw a good shaman’s blanket like the one he had before. He tore 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.