Week 11 Story: Raven

Raven

Jack and the Beanstalk

Back in a time there was no earth and no people, the earth today was just a vacant space in the galaxy. There was a place in the galaxy called the Heaven, a different world that was separated with everything, floating in the air. Heaven was a place of a few giant residents. No one knew their origin, they just lived there many any years even before the earth was form. It was called Heaven because it was such the most beautiful place, where the rivers were never dried and flowers were never wither. The giant people were slow aging and they all knew magic at birth. However, just only one baby was born in thousand years.

Raven was five hundred years old, but still was a baby boy. He was intelligent and a dynamic person. He got bored because there was nothing fun in here because everything were so perfect but he didn't have any friend. He just wandered around everyday to find fun things to do. One day, he wondered what would happen if he dropped a pea out of the Heaven, and he did.

Several days passed, a vine grew up from a pea. It grew so fast, in three days it reached the Heaven. He thought if the vine could not live down there, that must be a safe place. Therefore, he transformed to a Raven, with a black feathers and a sharp beak and flied down. This place was dark so he lighted the light first, the place had nothing on it except his giant vine. He had a new idea. He would tried to make a new world based on the image of the Heaven, but smaller version.

He turned back to Heaven and took some clay. He formed a man and then a woman from that clay, and he breathed the breath of life for both. The man and the woman were as small as his hand. The man and the woman were functioned after three days. So Raven put the man and the woman inside the pod of the pea. Next, he created mountain and river.

He called his new place Earth. To make the earth more cheerful, he formed fishes, reindeers, flies, mosquitoes, mouses, sheep. He also planted many trees for woods and timbers, trees for fruits and many cereals for foods. He prepared everything to welcome the new people.

And three days had passed, the first man dropped down of the pod of the pea. He was surprised at first, and Raven came to help him. Raven taught him to collect fruits to eat, found clean and clear water to drink. Later, Raven showed him how to make a house from the woods. Raven also taught him to defend with wild animal and catch the fishes for food. He also made careful recommendations to the first man to teach other people everything he taught the man today, so the later generation would survive by themselves.

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Bibliography: Alaskan Legends unit. Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

Author's Notes: The Raven Myth doesn't mention anything about the origin of Raven and where he came from. I am also curious why the Man came from the pod of the pea, so I took a position to tell the origin of Raven and the subsequents. In The Raven Myth: The Skyland and the Sea, Raven took the first man to see the skyland, where people there was just small. I then altered them to the giant one and chose that place to be the one that Raven came from. I also took the idea from Jack and the Beanstalk to transform the Earth to a miniature world for Raven.

Reading Notes:Alaskan Legends unit, Part B.

This part of Alaskan stories contains many creation stories and also stories about the spirit world. These stories are part of the Alaskan Legends unit that are collected from Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

The First Woman

Back to the early time, when there was only one woman in the earth around with so many man. Of course, many man wanted to marry her. She lived in a South. A man came from the northland married her, and both living in happy. One day, the son of the headman broke into their house to kidnap the woman. As the son of the headman carried her to the north side, the husband ran after to take her back. The son of the headman hold the upper part and the husband caught the woman by her feet. Both pulled her until she was teared into two parts. Both then made the woman completed by carved wood to attack to each part. The woman in the north side, with her lower part making by wood, was not doing good with things that related to her feet such as dancing, while very good as sewing and embroidered. The woman in the southland was a good dancer, but was not skillful with her hands since they made by wood.

Dancing

 Conversely, the woman in the north side, with her lower part making by wood, was not doing good with things that related to her feet such as dancing, while very good as sewing and embroidered. 

Hand embroidered

Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends unit; Part A

The Raven Myth is part of Alaskan Legends unit from  Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911). The Raven Myth simply narrates the creation of the world, of human and animal.

Raven

In the Raven's Creation, Man, a first human, was created from a pea pod of the giant beach pea. He drank water from the pool and ate salmon berries and heath berries which Raven brought for him. Raven, who in turn a human like Man but appeared under Raven's shape, had wings and beak. Raven showed Man about the sheep herd that Raven was created and many other animals. Raven also formed a girl from clay so that a Man would never be alone.

Raven created the shrewmouses, the mosquitoes, and the flies so that the earth would become more cheerful. He also created babies so that there would be more human on the earth. The baby boy and baby girl were growing so fast, just three days to become a man and woman. That was how Raven created people. Raven taught them people how to hunt, gather foods, and built house.

Raven took Man to see the skyland and the sea. It appeared much different than where Man lived, much beautiful, better planet but also the most dangerous place with monsters. the Man lived there three days and turned back to his home. He saw that the home now grew into a large village with so many people. So he and Raven taught the new people things that they supposed to know to support for their life. As the population growth, people killed much more animal. Raven got angry. He ordered a reindeer to come to the village, killed people and damaged the houses. Final, he decided to limit the day by placing people in dark. That how the sun and the moon appear. In the dark, people got rest and producing no activities but sleep.