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| (Image Information: Image by Martin Lopez) |
Raven's Marriage
Raven had lived alone a long while, he decided to get married. It was late in the fall and the birds flew south. So, Raven followed the path of the geese to the warm climates. Raven stopped directly in the path. He saw a young goose coming near. He looked down at his feet and called, "Who will marry me? I am a very nice man." The goose flew away. He repeated this speech two other times and was ignored.
Soon a whole family of white-front geese came along. There were the parents, four brothers, and a sister. Raven repeated his same speech. However, Raven said he was a fine hunter as well as young and handsome.
The geese alighted just beyond him. Raven thought, "Now I will get a wife."
Raven saw near him a pretty white stone with a hole in it. He picked it up, strung it on a long grass stem, and hung it about his neck. Then he pushed up his beak so that it slid to the top of his head like a mask. He was a dark-colored young man. Then he walked up to the geese. Each of the geese pushed up its bill in the same manner. They were nice-looking people. Raven liked the female goose and gave her the stone. Thus choosing her for his wife. She hung it about her own neck.
They all pushed down their bills again and became birds. So they flew south toward the warm climate. The geese flapped their wings heavily and flew slowly. Raven, on the outspread wing, glided on ahead. The geese looked after him, saying, "How light and graceful he is!"
Raven was tired he said, "We had better stop early and look for a place to sleep." Soon they were all asleep. The next morning the geese were awake early. They wanted to be off. Raven was sound asleep. Father Goose wakened him. He said, "We must make haste. It will snow here soon. We cannot wait."
So the geese flapped their wings and flew slowly and heavily along or ahead of the others with stretched wings. He was always above or ahead of the others. They said, "See how light and graceful he is!"
Thus they traveled to the seashore and feasted upon the berries on the bushes. Soon they were asleep. Early the next morning the geese were ready for breakfast. Raven was hungry but the geese wouldn't wait. They flapped their wings and started, Father Goose said, "We will stop once on the way to rest. Then our next flight will bring us to the other shore."
Raven was afraid, but he was ashamed to say so. They all left. While the geese flew steadily, but the Raven fell behind. His wings ached and grew more tired. He fell farther and farther behind. At last the geese looked back.
Father Goose said he must be tired and thought he was light and active. They waited in the water. Raven flew near them and gasped for air. He sank down upon their backs. Raven caught his breath and pointed toward his chest. There was an old arrow war wound and it pained him.
After resting, the geese rose from the water. They flew slowly and Raven was along with them. After a while, Raven fell behind again, and he grew more tired. After the geese waited again, Raven said the arrowhead pierced his chest, but when his wife felt his breast there was on evidence.
So the geese left again. When Raven fell behind, the geese brothers didn't believe Raven's story.
Father Goose said to Raven, "We will not wait for you again." They left.
Raven's wings were heavy and caused him to near the waves. He shrieked for his wife to throw him the stone. It was magic. He sank down into the water, but the geese had reached the land. He couldn't rise from the waves.
Only once in a while could he get his beak above the water to breathe. Then a great wave cast him on the shore. He struggled up the beach and reached some bushes. He was a small, dark-colored man. Then he took off his raven coat and mask. He hung them on a bush to dry. Raven made a fire and dried himself.
How the Raven Stole the Lake
After Raven had made the crows black because they had eaten his salmon. The crows were once white.
Raven met some people with feathers on their heads and gambling-stick bags on their backs. They said, "What is the matter?"
Raven said, "Oh, my father and mother are dead." Then they started home with him. These were the Beavers, they say. They were going out to gamble but turned back on account of him.
The next morning they were their gambling-stick bags upon their backs and started off again. Raven flew around behind a screen. In a creek flowing from it was a fish trap full of salmon, and it looked as if someone were shaking it. Plenty of salmon was inside the trap. Small canoes passed in the lake.
Raven pulled out the fish trap and laid it down at the edge of the lake. Then he rolled it up with the lake and house, put them under his arm, and pulled himself up into a tree that stood close by. They were not heavy for his arm. He had rolled the lake up like a blanket.
Raven sat in the tree, and someone came. His house and the lake were not there. Then the Beavers went quickly to that tree and cut with their teeth. When it fell, Raven went to another one and another. After the Beavers had cut down many trees, they gave it up. They traveled for a long time until they found a lake and settled down on it.
Then Raven traveled around for a while with the lake. He came to a large open place. He unrolled the lake there. There it lay. He didn't let the fish trap or the house go. He kept them to teach the mainland people and Queen Charlotte Islands people they say.
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