Raven Steals Daylight from the Sky (Inuit folktale)

Author: Traditional Inuit

Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE

Country or Culture: North America

Genre: Folktale

PLOT SUMMARY

In the beginning, it is so dark that the Animal People cannot fish or mind their children. To keep track of each other, they must chatter constantly. Only on clear, star-filled nights can the Frog Fishermen see what they are spearfishing, and then they have to expend energy to prevent Raven from stealing the fish from their spears. To fool Raven they splash the water at one end of the boat, and while he follows the sound they hide their fish at the other end.

Raven finally gets tired of being the victim of the Frog Fishermen’s games. He decides to return to the sky and steal the box that contains light so that everyone will be able to see what they are doing. Raven flies through a hole in the sky and finds his way to Sky Chief’s house. There, he waits at the spring for Sky Chief’s daughter to fetch water. When he sees her approaching, he quickly transforms himself into a small cedar leaf and floats in the spring. The young woman drinks the water without noticing the leaf and becomes mysteriously pregnant. She gives birth to a boy with a long and pointy nose, dark and piercing eyes, and skin marked with feathers.

While strikingly beautiful, the baby is fussy and grows into a miserable little boy. His mother and grandparents try everything they can think of to stop his crying spells, giving him more food and changing his clothing more frequently. Sky Chief finally resorts to bringing in the tribal elders to see if they have any suggestions. While most of them end up stuffing their ears with cotton to muffle the boy’s annoying cries, one of them notices astutely that the boy wants a box that is hanging in the corner. The box is called the mä, and inside is daylight. Reluctantly, the grandfather removes the box and gives it to the boy. Delighted, the boy stops his crying and proceeds to play with the box, cooing in contentment. The adults watch him closely at first, but when it appears that the boy can be trusted with the box they go about their normal routines.

Each day, the boy plays with the box closer and closer to the door. One day when the adults are preoccupied, he sneaks outside and runs away with the box. Sky Chief tries to catch him, but he flies through the hole in the sky as if he is a bird. Indeed, the boy shifts back to Raven while in the sky. When he arrives back on earth, he finds the Frog People fishing and tries to exchange the box of daylight for a bite to eat. The Frog People neither believe he has daylight nor feel like putting up with his lazy ways. He threatens to punish them for their indifference, but still they ignore him. Finally, he drops the box onto the shore, and daylight spreads out through the valleys and over the mountains. The North Wind then mysteriously begins to blow, sweeping the Frog People out to sea. Their canoes eventually crash into the side of a cliff, and the North Wind freezes them in place when they attempt to climb the rocks.

SIGNIFICANCE

The story in which Raven steals the box of light and gives it to the people is indigenous to the Alaskan Tlingits and other Inuit groups across the Arctic region and even into Siberia, as well as the Haidas, Tsimshians, and other American Indians of the Pacific Northwest; it is one of the most widespread and well-known folktales of North America. This particular version is attributed to the Tlingits. Variations exist within their society, however, as well as across the geographic region. One common variation features Raven stealing a bouncing ball of light.

As a shape-shifter who can change back and forth between bird and human and inhabit both the spiritual and the earthly worlds, Raven serves as a revered cultural and spiritual figure. Although he can exhibit many undesirable qualities, such as laziness and selfishness, he is valued and even worshipped for the generous and good deeds he does for humans. In addition to bringing light to the people, some Inuit groups have credited Raven with bringing fire, creating the oceans and rivers, and putting salmon in the water, while some have considered him the creator of all life or the spirit who made order in the universe out of the original chaos. He has also been valued for his intelligence, ingenuity, and sense of humor, qualities that make him more appealing to humans. To many individuals, Raven symbolizes hope and direction in life by offering a path out of the darkness and into the light.

For his ability to transform and get into mischief, Raven is known as a trickster, a label that some American Indians attribute to Christian missionaries who attempted to associate animal deities with the devil. Thus, Raven’s negative qualities were magnified, and he evolved to be a more malevolent and feared, or simply trivial and ineffective, folk character.

Along with Bear, Wolf, and other animals from American Indian spirituality, Raven was often chosen for a family or clan’s crest and featured on totem poles in the Pacific Northwest region. When portrayed on masks, which were typically made from red cedar, driftwood, or animal skins, Raven usually required a mask within a mask to represent his ability to shape-shift into a human form. Raven has also featured prominently in other art forms, dance, and music.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz, eds. American Indian Trickster Tales. New York: Penguin, 1999. Print.

Hall, Edwin S., Jr. The Eskimo Storyteller: Folktales from Noatak, Alaska. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1975. Print.

McDermott, Gerald. Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest. San Diego: Harcourt, 1993. Print.

Miller, Jay. Tsimshian Culture: A Light through the Ages. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1997. Print.

Reid, Bill, and Robert Bringhurst. The Raven Steals the Light. Seattle: U of Washington P, 1984. Print.

Tagaban, Gene. “The Box of Daylight.” Native Peoples Magazine 25.6 (2012): 38–39. Print.