This girl has a dog and the dog turns into a human person at night. Eventually she gets pregnant and when her parents find out it was from the "dog" they are deeply embarrassed and kill her dog? and leave her for dead. It's not a great situation, though I can understand their disapproval. It's a secret that he was a man... ???? I think?
Crow felt bad for her and told her that she would be able to find fire if she would go to a certain place when she her crackling. She, Crow, put coals in between two clam shells for her to find. She soon gave birth to five pups and she had to support them herself. She would forage on the beach to find food. She noticed when they left home that she heard singing and soon realized that they were turning into their human form. She scolded them for this. I don't know why this is bad. She brought shame to her people in this way, so they must be doing the same.
As the kids grew up, they stayed in human form. They began to be skilled hunters and became great at whale hunting. When their mother came to visit, they gave her plenty to eat, but none to take with her. They wanted her to come back and stay. She wanted to stay with them. Crow noticed this as well and when she returned home, the girl told Crow to pretend like they had died. Crow did not do that and brought back whale meat for her kids. She told the villagers that they had whale meat. Crow's kid choked on the meat and coughed some up, so the villager's believed her and went to see the whales. They were supposedly impressed by this because the story ends with the kids becoming chief of that village and supplying them with whales, making sure they never ran out of food.
This story is from the Quinault people. This is a picture of a few baskets by Edward S. Curtis
No comments:
Post a Comment