Reading Notes: Alaska Part B

A man married the only woman that they knew of at the time and she lived in the south. A while after they married the son of the headsman went to the south to get the woman and grabbed her by the shoulders. When the husband awoke he noticed what was happening and grabbed his wife by the feet. They both started to pull in different directions and the woman's body broke in half.

The son of the headsman took the top half of the woman's body up north and her husband took the bottom half to the south. They each completed the rest of the woman's body by carving wood to make the body complete.

The woman in the north was great at sewing and needlework but not so great at dancing because her legs were made of wood. The woman in the south was good as dancing but not needlework because her arms were made of wood.

So to this day, all the women in the north are skillful with their hands and the woman in the south are good dancers.

Bibliography: The First Woman from Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson

Image source: Alaskan Eskimo women from Wikimedia Commons 

Reading Notes: Alaska Part A

Man burst out of a pea pod when he stretched. He stretched and moved his arms and legs and realized that he was full-grown and there was a hole in the bottom of the pod that he came out of. The ground was very soft and was moving under his feet, which made him feel uneasy, so he stopped to get a drink of water from a pool underneath him.

He saw a black figure flying towards him and it turned out to be a raven. The raven moved his beak up to the top of his head with the help of his wing. When he did that, he became a man. He was shocked at what he saw and started looking at Man from all different angles.

Raven went to get Man some berries so that he could eat and came back four days later. When he came back they went to the river and they molded animals out of clay. Then Raven would flap his wings over them four times and they would come to life.

When he was done with the animals, he created a girl so that Man would have a companion.



Bibliography: The Raven Myth: Raven's Creation from Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson

Image Source: Black Raven from Wikipedia