Reading Notes, Native American Marriage Tales, Part A: The Woman Stolen by Killer Whales

A pod of whales.

(Source: Tatiana Ivkovich - Shutterstock via Earth Justice)

There once was a man who was a fisher and his wife would usually accompany him to work. One day when they were fishing, he felt an overly strong pull on his hook and couldn't bring it back up. He finally managed to pull his hook and the fish on it to the beach. His wife killed it and she hung it up on dry. They usally fish for halibut, but they couldnt recognize this kind of fish. The wife went to go wash her hands and when she put her hands in the water, killer whales pulled her in to take revenge on her for killing their friend. The man followed the whales and his wives and he got to the house of the Fish chief. "Where is my wife?" he asked. The chief told the man that his wive was taken by the whales to be their slave. The man asked the chief if anybody would be willing to help him get his wife back and a shark volunteered to go with the man. The chief had a fire lit so they could all see well and the shark accidentally put too much woof into the fire so it got too big. The chief told someone to go get water and the sharks pour water onto the fire clumsily and there was a big cloud of ashes and steam around where it was lit. The man found his wife and they swam all the way back, fleeing the killer whales, with the protection of the shark biting anybody who tried to help them get back home.

Story source: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).