Week 10 Story: First (And Second) Woman

Years ago, when no men existed on the earth, the first man was curled up inside a beach pea pod. He slept there for four days, and on the fifth, he stretched out every limb ad broke out of his pod. He fell unto the earth, where he walked around for several hours, perhaps even days, disoriented. After some time had passed, he came across a large black bird called Raven. The bird pushed up his beak and instantly became a man. 

"What are you? Where have you come from?" Asked Raven, as he quizzically looked at Man. 

"I am a man, I came from that pea pod over there" he answered, pointing at the pod. 

"I made that, but I did not know something such as you would come out of it," he paused, as if wondering how such a strange creature had even come to be. "Have you eaten?"

"No, I have not, I only drank from the liquid at the beach."

"Ah, you drank water, eat this then" Raven handed him some berries, which Man ate and soon felt better. "I will make some more things for you to eat."

Raven then grabbed some clay from the ground and shaped it into several creatures, mountain sheep, caribou, reindeer, and many others. He waited for them to dry and then batter his wings four times, bringing them all to life. Man marbled at Raven and his magical skills, but Raven soon noticed how lonely he was. 

"You are lonely by yourself," he said. "I will make you a companion." 

Raven thus grabbed more clay, and carefully shaped it as closely alike to Man as possible. He let her dry fully and then proceeded to batt his wings, but when he went to pick her up, she slipped from his hands and split into two pieces. Raven tried to pull the two pieces back together, but when he brought the woman to life, her bottom and upper body were still separated. 

Man decided to take the bottom part and headed South, while another man that Raven created took the upper part and headed North. Both men then carved the completing body parts out of wood for each of their wives. The woman in the North thus became skillful with her hands and needlework but was a very bad dancer for her legs were made of wood. The woman in the South was an excellent dancer, but could not handle fine needlework. Even to this day, women in the North are skillful with their hands and women in the South are great dancer, therefore the story must be true.

Alaskan Clay Figurines

Author's Note: I decided to mix the two stories I read from the Alaskan Legends unit and turn them into one. One of the stories, Raven's Creation, explained how Raven created a pea pod out of which came Man, and then he proceeded to create creatures out of clay, including a wife for Man. The other legend, The First Woman, tells of a tribe that only had men, but one man heard of a young woman living in the Southland. He went to find her and married her, but another man tried to take her away, so when they both pulled on her she broke in half. They each took half of the body and carved the rest out of wood. I really enjoyed both stories, so I decided to mix them by making the first woman made out of clay fall out of Raven's hands and split in half, thus creating the first and second women

Story source: Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).