Art, Prehistoric; Folk literature -- History and criticism
Other tales are so developed that they form a complex, novelistic plot.
The creation legends of the Polynesians are of this character. Even
among those tribes that enjoy the brief, etiological anecdote, tales
occur that contain the elements of an epic poem. The bare outlines of a
family story of the Kwakiutl may serve as an example: The Thunderbird
and his wife live in heaven, they descend to our earth and become the
ancestors of a family. The Transformer meets them and in a series of
contests the two prove to be of equal power. Finally the transformer
puts frogs into the stomach of the Thunderbird-ancestor who takes
them out again and deposits them on a rock. The sons of one of his
friends go and then the frogs enter their stomachs, but they are cured
by the Thunderbird-ancestor. In return he receives a magic canoe.
The tale goes on to relate the birth, magic growth, and exploits of
his four children. His wife is ravished by a spirit and gives birth
to a boy who is washed in the slime of a double-headed serpent. Thus
his skin becomes stone. The tale continues with a long series of
warlike exploits of this son. Finally he woos a princess for one of
his brothers. On a visit to her home the son of this princess is made
fun of by the children in the village of her father. This results in
a war in which the village of her father is destroyed. One of the
wives of her father escapes and gives birth to a boy. The second wife
of her father is enslaved by Stone-Body, the young man whose skin had
been transformed into stone. She gives birth to a boy and by a ruse
succeeds in making her escape with her son. The two brothers grow up
and, in a series of adventures and exploits, both obtain supernatural
power. They meet and travel towards the village of their father,
killing and transforming on the way dangerous monsters. Meanwhile
Stone-Body has obtained a ceremonial from a southern tribe and goes
to Feather-Mountain in the north to obtain bird’s down, needed for
this dance. On his way back he meets the ancestors of another tribe
and they have a contest of magical powers. In this he is overcome and
killed with his whole crew. In the main story this incident is omitted.
He goes on and the two brothers, the daughters of the escaped woman
overturn his canoe and kill him. On a visit to her father the woman
married to Stone-Body’s brother sees the head of Stone-Body and her
child reports this after their return. Then her husband’s people set
out to take revenge but all are killed by the two brothers, who give a
feast in their house and maltreat their guests.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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