Saturday, September 17, 2016

How daylight came


Ômâl obtains Daylight.

Then Ômâl tried to get our daylight. He quickly became the child of Daylight-Receptacle-Woman (the gull). Then Daylight-Receptacle-Woman gave birth to her child, and the child of Daylight-Receptacle-Woman quickly began to speak. Then he said that he wanted to play with a toy canoe. Therefore his mother, Daylight-Receptacle-Woman, made a toy canoe for him. Then the child of Daylight-Receptacle-Woman spoke again, and said that he wanted to paddle on the water. His mother, Daylight-Receptacle-Woman, tried to forbid him, but he just cried, therefore she launched the canoe.

Then he spoke again, and desired to have the daylight-receptacle of Daylight-Receptacle-Woman in the bow of the canoe. She tried to deny, him the daylight-receptacle. Then that child, the son of Daylight-Receptacle-Woman, cried very much, and after that the daylight-receptacle was taken. He desired to have the daylight-receptacle in the bow of the canoe. Then it was put into the bow of the canoe, and he paddled. 

"Don't go too far," said Daylight-Receptacle-Woman to her child.

Then he paddled by, in front of the house of Daylight-Receptacle-Woman.

"Forget, forget, forget!" said the child of Daylight-Receptacle-Woman. Behold! it was he,  Ômâl.

Then Daylight-Receptacle-Woman forgot her child. Then he paddled and stole the daylight-receptacle of Daylight-Receptacle-Woman. Therefore we have the daylight of our world. (Before) it never used to get daylight. It was always night in our world.



Kwakiutl Tales, by Franz Boas; (Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology, Volume II) New York: Columbia University Press; [1910] and is now in the public domain.


No comments:

Post a Comment