At one time there were no lakes. There were creeks and rivers, but no lakes. Raven wanted to make lakes, so he made a depression in the ground for to collect the water and a new lake began to form. Then he put fish in the new lake. After a time he returned to see […]
Tag: Canada
Folklore, how Raven made Pelican steal fire for a good cause
Only the Rock people had fire, and they guarded it jealously. Raven decided that all people should have fire, and he went to see the Rock people. Knowing he was a transformer and fooler of people, they drove him away. To make themselves more secure from Raven, they made a wide stretch of water all […]
Folklore, how Raven colored the birds
Raven called great feast for all the birds. He painted each one a different way, all birds, the hawks, the owls, the eagles, the jays, great and small. He painted Robin red on the breast, Bluejay blue, and a knot on his head. He tied up Ruffed-Grouse’s hair in a knot. He painted Bald-Headed Eagle […]
Folkore, the birth of the Raven
This story tells how the Raven came to birth. It is a Tahltan tribe story, an Indian tribe living in Britsh Columbia and Canada. A number of people were living together near the sea. Among them was a man, gifted with magic power, who did not live with his wife. He did not allow any […]
Bird stories, House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
Canadian Eskimo’s say that in the long ago, before it had all been quite settled whether the human creatures on this earth of ours were to remain in human form or to take the form of birds and animals, or whether the birds and animals were to be changed into human creatures, a group of […]
Bird stories, Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
The Kwakiutl coastal Indians of British Columbia say the birds did not select their own costumes, but that one of their ancestors painted all the birds he found at a certain place. When he reached the cormorant his colors were exhausted and he had only charcoal left, hence the cormorant is wholly black. A favorite […]