All about history book of myths and legends. ( PDFDrive )

RAVEN REBORN

With Raven inside her body, the sky chief’s daughter became

pregnant. When Raven was born as a human child, he had

thick black hair and a beak-like nose, and cried harshly like

a bird. Soon the infant began to crawl around. The sky chief

enjoyed playing with his grandson all day, indulgently giving

in to all of his demands. Raven discovered in the course of his

explorations that the chief guarded a pile of boxes in the

corner carefully. One day, he tried to play with the boxes,

and cried insistently when they were taken away. The chief

caved in to his demands and gave him the smallest one. When

Raven saw the stars inside the box, he took them out and

began playing with them happily. Then, before the old man

could stop him, he threw them out through the smoke hole

of the house, and the stars lodged in the sky.

Afterwards, Raven began crying yet again, and

so the chief gave him the second box to calm

him down. This box contained the moon,

and Raven gleefully bounced it about like a

ball for a while, until it too flew out through

the smoke hole and into the sky. Finally, still

unaware of the real identity of Raven, the

chief gave the wailing child the largest box

in the set, which contained the sun. This

time, Raven transformed back into a bird,

took the sun in his beak, and flew up into

the sky. The world finally became flooded

with bright daylight, but the sky chief and

his daughter never saw the child again.

THE MYTH

In the beginning, the world

was shrouded in complete darkness. This was because all

the light in the world was hoarded by the sky chief, who

guarded it carefully and kept it concealed within a series

of boxes piled in a corner of the house. The old chief was

very selfish and did not wish to let the light out. Because

of this, the other people in the world could not hunt or fish

properly in the dark, and had to grope around for their food.

They soon became accustomed to finding their way about

using their sense of touch, reaching out for familiar trees

as they walked by, and following the ruts left in the ground

by those who had passed by earlier. They managed to go

about their daily activities well enough, but one particular

creature, Raven, was upset with the perpetual darkness.

He wanted to be able to find food easily, and was tired of

blundering about in the dark, looking for things.

RAVEN’S TRICK

When Raven learned that the light was hidden in

the sky chief’s house, he hatched a plan to gain

access to the house. He decided to be reborn

into the chief’s family. He knew that the

chief’s beautiful daughter walked regularly

to a spring to fetch water. One day, when

Raven heard her approaching the spring,

he transformed himself into a pine needle

and then let the breeze blow him towards

the young woman. He floated into the pail

of water she had filled and was carrying

home. Halfway home she stopped to rest

and took a sip of the water. Raven, in the

form of the pine needle, slipped down

her throat inconspicuously.

Sun mask

The act of bringing the sun and its

warmth to cold northern regions such

as Alaska made Raven a popular figure

in local myth and folklore.

Raven

This wooden rattle was

made in the shape of Raven

by a Tlingit craftsman; the Tlingit

consider Raven a friend of humanity.

NORTH AMERICA

One of the most popular figures in North

American mythology is Raven, a trickster and

culture hero of the people of the northwest

coast. He is credited with bringing light into

the world because he placed the sun, moon,

and stars in the sky, using his trickery and

his powers of shape-changing. In certain

cultures, he is also said to be the bringer of

fire, and the creator or discoverer of the first

human beings.

Raven Steals the Light

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