The Last of the Thunderbirds:
The Last of the
Thunderbirds
Between Russian Mission and Ohogamiut
there is a big mountain. On top of the mountain there is a pile of
rocks the Yupiks called "the nest."
A long time ago there were huge birds known as
Thunderbirds. They were large enough to carry caribou and
humans.
In those days people used to wear their parkas
Inside out with the fur on the inside. One dug a woman was wearing
her parka with the fur on the outside while she was down on the
ice when a Thunderbird picked her up and took her to her nest and
fed her to her babies. When her husband came back from hunting,
the villagers told him what had happened. He was very upset and
prepared to go to the top of the mountain to get her back. He took
his bow and arrows with him and went up to the nest.
When he got up to the nest, the woman's husband
looked inside and saw the baby Thunderbirds. They looked just like
wrinkled old men. He also saw what was left of his wife among the
baby Thunderbirds.. When he climbed inside the nest to kill them,
he saw all kinds of other bones too. While he was busy killing the
young birds he heard the cry of an adult Thunderbird returning to
the nest. When the Thunderbird got close, the man shot at it with
his bow and arrows. But it kept attacking. It was a long fight but
finally the bird flew away and was never seen again. This was the
last of the Thunderbirds ever seen these parts.
Told By:
Nick Isaac
Interviewed By:
Palassa Sergie
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This collection of student work is from Frank Keim's classes. He wants to share these works for others to use as an example of culturally-based curriculum and documentation. These documents have been OCR-scanned and are available for educational use only.