Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors

526 Pages·2009·17.72 MB·English

Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors
Tlingit Oral Narratives
Edited by Nora Marks Dauenhauer
and Richard Dauenhauer
Thesegrippingandpowerfulprasenarrativesrelatemonumentaleventsin
the Jives ofthe forebears ofTlingitclans, from theprehistoriemigration ta
the coast ofSoutheastAlaska ta the first contactwithEuropeans.
"TOD often in the past, translators ofNative American folklore and myth
ologyhaveignoredornotunderstoodtheculturalandsodalcontextofthe
works they have transcribed.... In recent years, fortunately, we have
begun to see English renderings of Native American texts{which have
attempted ta capture all the qualities ofthe originals, including the tribal
contexts which produced them.
"Haa5huká,OurAncestors,thefirstvolumeinaseriesofTlingitnarrativesto
beeditedbytheDauenhauersandpublishedbytheUniversityofWashing
tonPress, isabrilliantadditiontotheseefforts. Thetextsarenot'rewrites'
butrathertranscriptionsofwhat,ineachcase,asingleinformantsaidona
singleoccasion, withtranslationsdesigned-bymeansoflayout, orthogra
phy, punctuation, andathoroughknowledgeofTlingitlanguage, history,
andculture-tocaptureinEnglishthequalityoftheoriginal.Withtextsand
a thorough introduction to their format, oralstyle, andcultural context, a
lengthyexplanationofTlingitphoneticsandgrammar, extensivehistorical
and linguistic notes, and brief biographies ... , Haa Shuká is simul
taneouslya workofliterature, a contribution to scholarship, andanactof
homagetotheTlingitelderswhocontributed to theprojectfor the sakeof
theirdescendants."- World LiteratureToday
NoraMarksDauenhauerwaSraisedinatraditionalTlingit-speakingfamily.
She has had academic training in anthropology, folklore, and linguistics,
and has publishedpoetryand fiction inEnglish as weil as hertranslations
from the Tlingit. Richard Dauenhauer has degrees in Slavic languages,
German, and comparative literature. He is a widely published poet and
translator, and isa former poet laureateofAlaska.
...
CLASSICS OF TUNGIT ORAL LITERATURE
Edited by
Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer
VOLUME 1
Haa Shuká, Om Ancestors: Tlingit Oral Narratives
Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors
TUNGIT ORAL NARRATIVES
Edited by Nma Marks Dauenhauer
and Richard Dauenhauer
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS
Seattle and London
SEALASKA HERITAGE FOUNDATION
Juneau
Copyright © 1987 by Sea1aska Heritage Foundation
Second printing, 1988
Manufactured in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted in any ferm or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage
or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
This book is published with the assistance of
a grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum, a
state-based program of National Endowment for
the Humanities.
Preparation of this volume was made possible in
part by grants from the Division of Research
Programs of the National Endowment for the
Humanities, an independent federal agency, and
by grants from the Alaska State Legislature.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haa shuká, our ancestors.
(Classics of Tlingit oral literature v. 1)
English and Tlingit.
Bibliography: p.
1. Tlingit Indians--Legends. 2. Tlingit Indians-
Religion and mythology. 3. Indians of North America-
Alaska--Legends. 4. Indians of North America--Alaska-
Religion and mythology. 5. Tlingit language--Texts.
I. Dauenhauer, Nora. 11. Dauenhauer, Richard.
111. Series.
E99.T6H22 1987 398.2'089970798 87-2164
ISBN 0-295-96494-4 (cloth)
ISBN 0-295-96495-2 (paper)
Cover art by Joanne George
..
in memory of our ancestors
Tradition .. .
cannot be inherited,
and if you want it
you must obtain it
by great labour.
--T. S. Eliot
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 3
Narratives 61
Robert Zuboff, Basket Bay History 63
Robert Zuboff, Mosquito 73
A. P. Johnson, ~aa~'achg6ok 83
Willie Marks, Naatsilanéi 109
J. B. Fawcett, Naatsilanéi 123
Frank Johnson, Strong Man 139
Willie Marks, ~aakex'wti 153
Tom Peters,
The Woman Who Married the Bear 167
Frank Dick, Sr.,
The Woman Who Married the Bear 195
J. B. Fawcett, Kaats' 219
Susie James, Glacier Bay History 245
Amy Marvin, Glacier Bay History 261
Charlie White, First Russians 293
Jennie White, Raven Baat 299
George Betts,
The Coming of the First White Man 303
Notes 311
Biographies 443
References 511
vii
P~FACE
We are involved in Tlingit aral literature
because we believe it has value, that it is a
treasury of spiritual gifts trom which we can
draw in times of need, and that Tlingit people
especially, and especially the youth, may find
comfort and reward in seeing how their
ancestors faced decisions in their lives.
These are not simple children's stories, but
adult literature that addresses the "arnbiguities
of the human condition" with which we all must
came te grips: coming of age as adults, alienation,
identity and self concept, conflict of loyalty,
pride and arrogance, separation and loss--and many
ether experiences that are part of being human.
We have been most fortunate to have as Dur
instructors some of the tradition bearers in
this volume. Much of the instruction was very
difficult, and our instinct was often to give
up. But their faith in us helped us to
continue, because they wanted this work to
continue, for their grandchildren. Our hope is
that their words will be appreciated and will
inspire our generation and generations to come,
both Tlingit and non-Tlingit, as they have
inspired us.
We must also say that this collection is not
ix
x Preface
for everyone, but is tor those who wish to
know who they are (whoever they are) and who
the Tlingit people are. Only through stories
and traditions like these do we begin to learn
who we are, no matter who we are.
These stories are Tlingit clan stories.
They belong to all who are Tlingit through
birth or adoption because the Tlingit kinship
system makes isolation of individuals
impossible. Each of us, Tlingit or not, may
have lonely decisions to make, but we do not
stand alone. Tlingit people are connected by
the clan system in operation in these stories.
But all people have a system of some kind. To
readers of all cultures living in an age of
increasing fragmentation, these stories offer
examples of how such connecting systems operate.
80, while these stories are about various
Tlingit clans, and are in the stewardship of
specific clans, they are simultaneously about
all Tlingit people, and about people everywhere.
They are about family, community, and membership.
Each of us is connected, but it is important
for each of to learn how, and act accordingly.
At Sealaska Heritage Foundation, an
organization committed to fostering the culture
and heritage of the Native people of Southeast
Alaska, we have worked intensively for over
three years preparing these texts for
publication. But we have been living and
working with some of these texts for over 15
years. During this time, many of the Tradition
Bearers have passed from this life. Of the
twelve Elders whose work is presented here,
only three are still alive as this goes to
press.
Each death brings the Tlingit language and
the great oral tradition composed and
transmitted in the language closer to
extinction. We work with the sober awareness
that linguists predict the extinction of the
Tlingit language within the next 50 or 60
years. Children no longer speak Tlingit. Few
Preface xi
young parents speak the languagei as far as we
know, there are no speakers under the age of
30, and there are only a handful of speakers
under the age of 50.
We have no doubt that many aspects of
Tlingit culture and heritage will endure and
thrive in spoken and written English, but the
Tlingit language itself, and those traditions
which are bound to the language will probably
not survive.
Tlingit is one of the most complicated
languages in the world, and it is unrealistic
to expect it to make a comeback as a spoken
language through classroom teaching--at least
as presently constituted. Still, it is very
realistic to expect that many people in coming
generations will learn to read and appreciate
the ancestral language through study of the
classics of the past, and it is reasonable to
hope that in the meantime families and
communities will work together to cultivate
their traditions, whether in English or
Tlingit, working with their living elders, and
with the documented inheritance of the past.
George Steiner points out in his book After
Babel that part of the enduring greatness of
Classical Greek and Hebrew literature is due to
the entrance of literacy at a crucial point in
their histories, so that the oral literature
was abIe to outlive its original relationship
between composer and audience, and thrive and
have meaning for generations to come. Three
thousand years after the "Golden Age" of their
oral composition, ancient Greek and Hebrew
literature remain alive and powerful, far
beyond their original culture and audience.
The transformation from oral to written form
is not easy. Oral and written literature have
widely differing and often conficting aesthetics
and rules for composition and publication. The
non-literate world view is rich and complicated,
often beyond the comprehension and appreciation
of those steeped in literacy and written