Legends of the Northern Tutchone

If you have a legend from your own culture please send it, and we may post it on our website. Tantalus School

The Killer Owl

 

 

I will tell you a story about a Killer Owl, long ago.

 

The bush people were staying at a camp; the people started to go missing

whenever they left camp. No one knew it was the Owl because it wouldn't

leave witness's, they setup sentries to keep watch then one day someone spotted

a very large Owl munching on a person.

 

Every time the Owl landed near the camp someone went missing. Finally the

Elders said that they would leave the camp, but one Elder said she would

stay and be rid of the Owl. The old lady made a fire and gathered pitch from

tree resin, dug a deep hole for hiding and went to sleep to wait for

nightfall.

 

The old lady woke at dusk; the pitch from the trees was soft. When the Owl

swooped down beside the lady, he said, "where have all the people gone" the

lady replied "when I woke up this morning they had all deserted". So the Owl

said he would have to eat the lady. She told the Owl to turn around to see

if he could lift her, when he turned around she dumped pitch all over him

and threw him in the fire so he caught a flame. The Owl jumped out of the

fire and looked for the old lady instead of water but she was already in her

hiding spot so Owl hooted furiously and keeled over the old lady cut off the

Owls claws to prove that she had been rid of the evil Owl.

 

Agnes Waspan

Tape 1 Interviewed by

June 18,1987 Vera Charlie

 

The Bushman

 

This is story of five families. They lived far apart from each other. There

were bushmen, man eaters, snakes, and other big animals, long ago.

 

This one family were out hunting for gophers when bushmen came to the lady

and her daughter. The two bushmen were holding the girl down, while the

other bushman was cutting up the mother alive.

 

After they took the young girl, two of the bushman were always carrying her,

and they put gopher blanket over her head, so she won't see where they were

going.

 

She made a little hole, so she could see through it. The girl could see

where they crossed over three big rivers. Every time the bushmen made a

bridge, the girl was scared to cross over it; so the bushman had to carry

her across the bridges.

 

The girl pretended to fall down and said, "I'm scared." The two bushman were

going to be her husbands. They came to the bushman's home, and there were

lots of bushmen, about 21 bushmen.

 

The fourth creek they crossed, the bushmen put her down; they were making a

bridge. The girl was looking around, but she did not know where she was.

After the bushmen finished making the wide bridge, they both packed her

across and she said, "We're gonna make camp other side of the bridge."

 

After they made camp, the two bushmen were very tired and told the girl "to

repair our moccasins"; so she was busy repairing the moccasins.

 

When it was getting dark, the bushmen were sleeping. The she got up, and she

dropped something, but the bushmen didn't hear anything; they were snoring.

Then she threw something down again. The bushmen didn't even move.

 

Then she picked up her walking cane. After she crossed the bridge,she took

her cane down to the creek so the bushman think that she drowned. She went

across the creek and hid under the big cliff, so the bushmen couldn't see

her.

 

When it was morning, she could see all the bushmen getting up; then she was

counting the bushmen by the sticks. The bushmen were looking around for her

down and up the creek about a few times. They were looking for her all day

until night came; then the bushmen were sleeping again.

 

Next day, the bushmen were going, and the girl was counting them by the

stick, because she couldn't count. Each time one bushman left, she put one

stick aside until one stick was left. that meat one bushman was left, but

she never came out to him yet.

 

The next day around noon, she stuck her head out and saw one one still

there. Then the bushman went. soon as he went over the mountain, she came

back to where her mother got killed. she looked around there until she found

her husband, dad, and two brothers.

 

Then she told them what had happened to them, so the two brothers and her

husband went behind the bushman. She gave them directions where the bushmen

went, so her husband and two brothers followed the bushman.

 

As they were walking Closer to the bushmen's place, they sneaked there and

the guy told the two boys, "This is the place where the bushmen stayed.'

This guy took out dry meat and fat, and he said, "I'm going to eat this when

whiskey jack starts to tell story." Then the old man sneezed and said, "Hey,

why did I sneezed? That was not for nothing. My sneeze came out left side of

my nose."

 

That night, he Killed all the bushmen. Then he kept on walking until he got

to anther bushmen's town. They sneaked up to one camp and saw this guy who

used to carry his wife around; they were talking about the girl.

 

The bushmen were saying, "we lost good wife, huh?" That night, the man and

the two brothers killed all the bushmen off. Then they went to his wife and

her dad.

 

when the man and the two brothers came back, the girl took them to where her

mother died. It was just bones lying around. Maybe, something had ate it, I

don't know.

 

 

 

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