Week 10 Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends, Part A

The first human grew from a beach plea plant and, after a few days, came out of the pea pod as a full-grown adult. Man wandered along the beach and experienced strange sensations like hunger and thirst that he learned were relieved when he drank and ate. Raven discovered the wandering human and is curious about what Man is.

Raven learns that Man came from the peapod of Raven's creation. Raven realizes that he unknowingly created Man and decides to help Man learn how to live.

The world adjusts to Man's presence as Raven creates and moves animals for Man's needs. For some animals, Raven does not want Man to kill them, so places them out of Man's reach. For other animals, Raven multiples them so man can eat. Raven is still worried that Man will overeat, so he creates predators such as the bear to ward Man off.

Over time, Raven sees Man is lonely even if Man does not know what alone means. Raven carves clay and creates Woman to be a companion for Man.

Raven returns back to pea pod and sees that more men grew from it. Raven leads them into different directions and teaches them how to live with their respective lands and animals.

Retelling ideas:

Retell from Raven's perspective of a new parent who just discovered they created mankind without trying to. Perhaps Man accidentally almost hurts himself a lot because he is still ignorant of the world. These shenanigans cause Raven to want to pluck all his feathers out in aggravation and worry.

Retell from the abstract perspective of Man with descriptions of when he feels his stomach rumble for the first time or feels a weight in his chest from loneliness. Here also have almost accidents such as trying to eat a poisonous mushroom.

A mix of both perspectives could be useful, just make sure the transitions are clear.

Bibliography: Excerpt from "The Raven Myth" pulled from Myths and Legends of Alaska told by Native Storytellers and edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911). Source.

Photo of the Common Raven by David Iliff, License: CC BY-SA 3.0. Source.