How Raven Named the Birds

Raven was always hungry. One day he saw some children playing with chunks of fat, throwing them back and forth to each other. He made himself look like one of them and joined the game. Each time he caught a piece of fat, he gulped it down. Soon the children noticed what he was doing. They tried to stop Raven, but he threw dog dirt at them until they ran away.

After he finished all the fat, he was still hungry. He looked around until he found a fishing camp, and flew down to see if there was any salmon hanging up to dry. He found no food, but he found a piece of jade with some carving on it half-buried in the ground.

He dug it up and was looking at it when he saw a big spring salmon jumping in the bay. He remembered some magic his uncle taught him. He spat on the stone and called to the salmon, "This green stone is calling you, you big fat salmon. Come here." But the salmon paid no attention. Raven scratched his head and tried to remember exactly what his uncle told him. Then he looked into his medicine back and found some bits of eagle down. He put them on the jade rock and called the fish again. The salmon swam right up to him. Raven hit it with a piece of wild celery and killed it.

Raven was too lazy to cook the fish by himself, so he called all the birds together. He told them to fetch some skunk cabbage leaves to wrap the salmon in, so they could bury it in the fire and roast it. When they came back with the leaves, he threw them on the ground, yelling, "These leaves are dirty! Somebody [censored] on them!" He sent them far away to look for better ones. While they were gone, he wrapped up the salmon and buried it in the fire. When it was ready, he ate the whole thing all by himself, wrapped up the bones and put them back in the fire.

When the birds returned, Raven said, "You're too slow. I already got my own leaves. Now it's time to dig out our feast!" When they opened the bundle, they saw nothing but bones! "I don't understand how such a thing could happen!" Raven said. "Must be some bad spirits around here." He could see that the birds were suspicious, so he decided to distract them. "Tell you what, " he said. "We'll forget all about that old salmon. Dress each other up and I will give you names."

The birds had lots of fun dressing up. They tied up the blue jay's hair with a string. They added a long tail to one bird, put yellow spots on another, and a red breast on another. Raven named them and told them what to do. He told the grouse to live high up where it is wintry. He told ptarmigan to teach people how to make snowshoes, because he was good at travelling on the surface of the snow. He told the robin to make people happy with his whistle, and appointed the wild canary head of the small birds. He gave talons to the eagle and told him he would have sharp eyesight and be above all the other birds. Nowadays, the birds still do exactly what Raven told them.



Walk in Peace and Harmony.
Phyllis Doyle Burns
Avatar: Fair Helena by Rackham, Public Domain