The Myths of the North American IndiansSpence, Lewis
History
The Myths of the North American Indians
Spence, Lewis
Indian mythology -- North America; Indians of North America -- Folklore
His mother bade him farewell, sadly, yet with the proud knowledge that
she had nurtured a divinity. But her sorrow increased when her husband
intimated that it was time for him to depart as well. Her supernatural
son and husband, however, left her a portion of their power. For when
she sits by the inlet and loosens her robe the wind scurries down
between the banks and the waves are ruffled with tempest; and the more
she loosens the garment the greater is the storm. They call her in the
Indian tongue Fine-weather-woman. But she dwells mostly in the winds,
and when the cold morning airs draw up from the sea landward she makes
an offering of feathers to her glorious son. The feathers are flakes
of snow, and they serve to remind him that the world is weary for a
glimpse of his golden face.
Master-Carpenter and Southeast
A Haida myth relates how Master-carpenter, a supernatural being, went
to war with South-east (the south-east wind) at Sqa-i, the town lying
farthest south on the Queen Charlotte Islands. The south-east wind is
particularly rude and boisterous on that coast, and it {317} was with
the intention of punishing him for his violence that Master-carpenter
challenged him. First of all, however, he set about building a canoe
for himself. The first one he made split, and he was obliged to throw
it away. The second also split, notwithstanding the fact that he had
made it stouter than the other. Another and another he built, making
each one stronger than the last, but every attempt ended in failure,
and at last, exceedingly vexed at his unskilfulness, he was on the
point of giving the task up. He would have done so, indeed, but for
the intervention of Greatest Fool. Hitherto Master-carpenter had been
trying to form two canoes from one log by means of wedges. Greatest
Fool stood watching him for a time, amused at his clumsiness, and
finally showed him that he ought to use bent wedges. And though he was
perhaps the last person from whom Master-carpenter might expect to
learn anything, the unsuccessful builder of canoes adopted the
suggestion, with the happiest results. When at length he was satisfied
that he had made a good canoe he let it down into the water, and sailed
off in search of South-east.
[Illustration: "He seized hold of the hair"]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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