Tlingit legend of the Raven pulling shoreward the salmon
from the middle of the ocean.
At the earth's creation there was no light; but Raven, by means of trickery,
brought light into the world. Then he stole water from his best friend
on the Hazy Islands. As he flew away with a mouthful of water, his friend
gave him chase. Wherever Raven dropped a big drop of water, it became
a big river or a large lake. The smaller drops became smaller lakes, creeks
and streams.
But alas, there were no salmon in the inlets, rivers or creeks. The salmon,
herrings, ooligans, and other fishes were kept in a house in the middle
of the Pacific Ocean. These salmon and other fishes were able to spawn
right in the ocean, so they never came into the bays or inlets. Only the
rich chiefs were able to go out to the ocean in their big canoes to get
some of the salmon for food. The poorer people were not able to go out
so they just watched the rich eating the fine salmon.
The Raven, in his adventurous travels, soon heard of the salmon in the
middle of the ocean. He gave a lot of thought to just how he could get
the salmon and other fish to the bays and inlets. Soon the Raven heard
of another mythical being, Xanaax.atwaayaa, who possessed an octopus-tentacle
staff with supernatural powers.
The Raven thought, with such powers in a staff, he could latch it to
the salmon's house and pull it shoreward. The Raven decided to show his
friend the supernatural power of his bow and arrow, which he wished to
trade for his friend's staff. He asked Xanaax.atwaayaa to watch a mountain
goat far off on the high mountain. When he fired the arrow, it kept on
travelling towards the mountain goat, for the arrow was in reality a magpie.
The magpie flew behind the mountain goat on the face of a cliff and scared
it, and it fell off. "Did you see how my arrow hit its mark?"
cried Raven. His friend was so impressed that he agreed to the trade.
With the staff, the Raven and his nephew, the Crow, made their way towards
the Alsek River near Yakutat. At the entrance of the Alsek River, he latched
his octopus-tentacle staff to the salmon house. Here the Raven struggled
with all his might, pulling and tugging, so he could get the salmon into
the bays and inlets.
His nephew, the Crow, urged the Raven to sing a song about his friend
Xanaax.atwaayaa. When the Raven started singing about the mythical being,
Xanaax.atwaayaa, he easily pulled all the salmon into the bays and inlets
so they could go up the rivers, creeks and streams to spawn.
To this day, the tracks of the Raven are at the entrance of the Alsek
River where he struggled to pull in all the salmon. Story provided by
the late Henry Davis, Former Director of the Native Studies Program, Sheldon
Jackson College.
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