The Man Who Married The Bear-goddess
: TALES ACCOUNTING FOR THE ORIGIN OF PHENOMENA.: Aino Folktales
There was a very populous village. It was a village having both plenty
of fish and plenty of venison. It was a place lacking no kind of food.
Nevertheless, once upon a time, a famine set in. There was no food, no
venison, no fish, nothing to eat at all; there was a famine. So in that
populous village all the people died.
Now the village chief was a man who had two children, a boy and a girl.
After a time,
the older of the two, and the boy was the younger. The girl spoke thus:
"As for me, it does not matter even if I do die, since I am a girl. But
you, being a boy, can, if you like, take up our father's inheritance. So
you should take these things with you, use them to buy food with, eat
it, and live." So spoke the girl, and took out a bag made of cloth, and
gave it to him.
Then the boy went out on to the sand, and walked along the sea-shore.
When he had walked on the sand for a long time, he saw a pretty little
house a short way inland. Near it was lying the carcase of a large
whale. The boy went to the house, and after a time entered it. On
looking around, he saw a man of divine appearance. The man's wife, too,
looked like a goddess, and was dressed altogether in black raiment. The
man was dressed altogether in speckled raiment. The boy went in, and
stood by the door. The man said to him: "Welcome to you, whencesoever
you may have come." Afterwards a lot of the whale's flesh was boiled,
and the boy was feasted on it. But the woman never looked towards him.
Then the boy went out and fetched his parcel, which he had left outside.
He brought in the bag made of cloth which had been given to him by his
sister, and opened its mouth. On taking out and looking at the things
inside it, they were found to be very precious treasures. "I will give
you these treasures in payment for the food," said the boy, and gave
them to that divine-looking man-of-the-house. The god, having looked at
them, said: "They are very beautiful treasures." He said again: "You
need not have paid me for the food. But I will take these treasures of
yours, carry them to my [other] house, and bring you my own treasures in
exchange for them. As for this whale's flesh, you can eat as much of it
as you like, without payment." Having said this, he went off with the
lad's treasures.
Then the lad and the woman remained together. After a time the woman
turned to the lad, and said: "You lad! listen to me when I speak. I am
the bear-goddess. This husband of mine is the dragon-god. There is no
one so jealous as he is. Therefore did I not look towards you, because I
knew that he would be jealous if I looked towards you. Those treasures
of yours are treasures which even the gods do not possess. It is because
he is delighted to get them that he has taken them with him to
counterfeit them and bring you mock treasures. So when he shall have
brought those treasures and shall display them, you must speak thus: 'We
need not exchange treasures. I wish to buy the woman!' If you speak
thus, he will go angrily away, because he is such a jealous man. Then
afterwards we can marry each other, which will be very pleasant. That is
how you must speak." That was what the woman said.
Then, after a certain time, the man of divine appearance came back
grinning. He came bringing two sets of treasures, the treasures which
were treasures and his own other treasures. The god spoke thus: "You,
lad! As I have brought the treasures which are your treasures, it will
be well to exchange them for my treasures." The boy spoke thus: "Though
I should like to have treasures also, I want your wife even more than I
want the treasures; so please give me your wife instead of the
treasures." Thus spoke the lad.
He had no sooner uttered the words than he was stunned by a clap of
thunder above the house. On looking around him, the house was gone, and
only he and the goddess were left together. He came to his senses. The
treasures were there also. Then the woman spoke thus: "What has happened
is that my dragon-husband has gone away in a rage, and has therefore
made this noise, because you and I wish to be together. Now we can live
together." Thus spoke the goddess. Afterwards they lived together. This
is why the bear is a creature half like a human being.--(Translated
literally. Told by Ishanashte, 9th November, 1886.)
More
-
The Loss Of Weetamoo
Winnepurkit, sagamore of the coast settlements between Nahant and Cape Ann, had married Weetamoo, daughter of Passaconaway, king of the Pennacooks, and had taken her to his home. Their honeymoon was happy, but old ties are strong, and after a little... The Lost Bell
A shepherd's boy, belonging to Patzig, about half a mile from Bergen, where there are great numbers of underground people in the hills, found one morning a little silver bell on the green heath among the giants' graves, and fastened it on him. It ... The Lost Book
After mankind began to multiply on the earth and had become numerous, and scattered into many regions, they lost much of their knowledge of the laws of God, and in their ignorance they committed many mistakes in their mode of worship, each one wor... The Lost Grave Of Paine
Failure to mark the resting-places of great men and to indicate the scenes of their deeds has led to misunderstanding and confusion among those who discover a regard for history and tradition in this practical age. Robert Fulton, who made steam navi... The Lost Message
The ant has had from time immemorial many enemies, and because he is small and destructive, there have been a great many slaughters among them. Not only were most of the birds their enemies, but Anteater lived almost wholly from them, and Centiped... The Lost Trail
The canon of Oak Creek is choked by a mass of rock, shaped like a keystone, and wedged into the jaws of the defile. An elderly Ute tells this story of it. Acantow, one of the chiefs of his tribe, usually placed his lodge beside the spring that bubbl... The Lover's Ghost
Somewhere, I don't know where, even beyond the Operencian Seas, there was once a maid. She had lost her father and mother, but she loved the handsomest lad in the village where she lived. They were as happy together as a pair of turtle-doves in th... The Lovers' Leap
Many, many years ago there lived, on the mountains among the rapids of the Maa Ping, a young man who loved a maiden and the maiden loved him truly, but her father refused his consent to their union and commanded that his daughter see her lover no mo... The Loves Of The Thunder-gods
Two young thunder-gods, sons of the chief thunder-god, fell violently in love with the same Aino woman. Said one of them to the other, in a joking way: "I will become a flea, so as to be able to hop into her bosom." Said the other: "I will become a ... The Lucky Days
At Casena, in Romagna, lived a poor widow, a very worthy, industrious woman, by name Lucietta. She unfortunately had an only son, who, for stupidity and laziness, had yet to find his equal. He would lie in bed till noon, and when he did resolve ... The Magic Bedstead
Once upon a time a carpenter made a bedstead, and when it was ready he put it in his verandah. At night he heard the four legs of the bedstead talking together and saying: "We will save the life of anyone who sleeps on this bedstead and protect him ... The Magic Cow
There was once a Raja who had an only son named Kara and in the course of time the Raja fell into poverty and was little better than a beggar. One day when Kara was old enough to work as a cowherd his father called him and said "My son, I am now poo... The Magic Egg
There was once upon a time a lark who was the Tsar among the birds, and he took unto himself as his Tsaritsa a little shrew-mouse. They had a field all to themselves, which they sowed with wheat, and when the wheat grew up they divided it between ... The Magic Fiddle
Once upon a time there lived seven brothers and a sister. The brothers were married, but their wives did not do the cooking for the family. It was done by their sister. The wives for this reason bore their sister-in-law much ill will, and at lengt... The Magic Lamp
In the capital of a certain raja, there lived a poor widow. She had an only son who was of comely form and handsome countenance. One day a merchant from a far country came to her house, and standing in front of the door called out, "dada, dada," (... The Magic Pipe - A Norse Tale
There was once three brothers, all the sons of the same father and mother. The two elder were hard-working, thrifty lads, who had no care except as to how they might better themselves in the world. But the youngest, whose name was Boots, was no... The Magic Spear
Kaululaau, prince of Maui, had misbehaved so grossly, painting the sacred pigs, imitating the death-bird's call before the doors of nervous people, opening the gates of fish-ponds, tippling awa, and consorting with hula dancers, that his father, b... The Magic Turban The Magic Sword And The Magic Carpet - A Persian Story
There were once two brothers, the sons of a rich merchant, and when he died he left all his estate to be divided between them equally. This was done, and the elder at once set about trading and improving his condition, so that very soon he became ... The Magic Well
The chow of a large province lay ill. All the doctors of many provinces were summoned, but none could aid him, nor could any understand his malady. Lying in his house one day, an old man begged he might see him, saying he had a message from the spir... The Magician Of Lake Huron
The Manatoline, or Spirit, Islands were supposed to be a favorite abode of the Manitous, or spirits. Perhaps that is why many strange things happened there. One night, as Masswaweinini, the magician, was lying asleep, a sound of voices wakened him... The Magician's Daughter
Just on the Finland frontiers there is situated a high mountain, which, on the Swedish side, is covered with beautiful copsewood, and on the other with dark pine-trees, so closely ranked together, and so luxuriant in shade, that one might almost s... The Magician's Glass
This glass, into which a person looked when he wished to solve the future, or to ascertain whom he or she was to marry, was used by Welsh, as well as other magicians. The glass gave back the features of the person sought after, and reflected the ... The Magpie
The magpie was considered a bird of ill-omen. No one liked to see a magpie when starting on a journey, but in certain parts of Montgomeryshire, such as the parish of Llanwnog, if the magpie flew from left to right it foretold good luck; in other pa... The Magpie Teaching A Wood Pigeon How To Make A Nest
The wood pigeon makes an untidy nest, consisting of a few bits of twigs placed one on the other without much care. There is a fable in the Iolo MSS., p. 159, in Welsh, and the translation appears on page 567 in English, as follows:-- The magp... The Maid In The Box
There once lived a woman called Monedo Kway (female spirit or prophetess) on the sand mountains, called The Sleeping Bear of Lake Michigan, who had a daughter as beautiful as she was modest and discreet. Everybody spoke of her beauty, and she was ... The Maiden Who Loved A Fish
There was once among the Marshpees, a small tribe who have their hunting-grounds on the shores of the Great Lake, near the Cape of Storms, a woman whose name was Awashanks. She was rather silly, and very idle. For days together she would sit doing... The Maiden Wiser Than The Tsar
Long ago there lived an old man, who dwelt in a poor cottage. He possessed one thing only in the world, and that was a daughter who was so wise that she could teach even her old father. One day the man went to the tsar to beg, and the tsar, astoni... The Maiden's Trial
Before this gorgeous assembly--before this terrible king--stood, surrounded by guards, a trembling, shrinking girl, wrapping closer and closer her linen veil around her slight form and drooping head. "Tear off her veil!" said the king. The comm... The Man And His Image
A man, who had no rivals in the love Which to himself he bore, Esteem'd his own dear beauty far above What earth had seen before. More than contented in his error, He lived the foe of every mirror. ... The Man And The Wooden God
A pagan kept a god of wood,-- A sort that never hears, Though furnish'd well with ears,-- From which he hoped for wondrous good. The idol cost the board of three; So much enrich'd was he With vows and... The Man In The Moon
There was a blacksmith once, who complained: "I am not well, and my work is too warm. I want to be a stone on the mountain. There it must be cool, for the wind blows and the trees give a shade." A wise man, who had power over all things, replied, ... The Man In The Moon
Every one knows that the moon is inhabited by a man with a bundle of sticks on his back, who has been exiled thither for many centuries, and who is so far off that he is beyond the reach of death. He has once visited this earth, if the nurser... The Man Who Avenged The Widows
This was in the old days, in those times when men were yet skilful rowers in kayaks. You know that there once came a great sickness which carried off all the older men, and the young men who were left alive did not know how to build kayaks, and th... The Man Who Became A Star
There was once an old man who stood out on the ice waiting for the seal to come up to their breathing holes to breathe. But on the shore, just opposite where he was, a crowd of children were playing in a ravine, and time after time they frightened... The Man Who Entertained Bears
There was once a man who had lost all of his family in a terrible sickness that came upon the people of his village. He was all alone in the world and very sorrowful. He did not know what to do. First he thought he would get into his canoe and paddl... The Man Who Lost His Wife
A man had lost his wife, and was searching for her everywhere, over hill and dale, forest and sea-shore. At last he came to a wide plain, on which stood an oak-tree. Going up to it he found it to be not so much an oak-tree as a house, in which dwelt... The Man Who Married The Bear-goddess
There was a very populous village. It was a village having both plenty of fish and plenty of venison. It was a place lacking no kind of food. Nevertheless, once upon a time, a famine set in. There was no food, no venison, no fish, nothing to eat at ... The Man Who Married The Thunder's Sister
A certain young man went to a dance one evening and met there two strange young women, both of whom had the longest and handsomest hair he had ever seen. He looked at them a great deal from a distance and finally spoke to them, and before the dance ... The Man Who Never Knew Fear
TRANSLATED FROM THE GAELIC BY DOUGLAS HYDE There was once a lady, and she had two sons whose names were Louras (Lawrence) and Carrol. From the day that Lawrence was born nothing ever made him afraid, but Carrol would never go outside the door fr... The Man Who Stabbed His Wife In The Leg
There was once a man whose name was Neruvkaq, and his wife was named Navarana, and she was of the tunerssuit, the inland-dwellers. She had many brothers, and was herself their only sister. And they lived at Natsivilik, the place where there is a g... The Man Who Took A Vixen To Wife
There was once a man who wished to have a wife unlike all other wives, and so he caught a little fox, a vixen, and took it home to his tent. One day when he had been out hunting, he was surprised to find on his return that his little fox-wife ha... The Man Who Was Changed Into A Fox
A certain man's conduct was as follows: he went to every place, making it his business to do nothing but tell lies and extort things from people. Then, after a time, when wanting to extort again, he went on to another place. While walking along he u... The Man Who Went Out To Search For His Son
Once in the days of our forefathers, a man went out along the coasts, making search for his son. For that son had gone out in his kayak and had not returned. One day he saw a giant beside a great glacier, and rowed up to him then. When he had e... The Man-fish
A very great while ago the ancestors of the Shawanos nation lived on the other side of the Great Lake, half-way between the rising sun and the evening star. It was a land of deep snows and much frost, of winds which whistled in the clear, cold nig... The Man-tiger
There was once a young man who when a boy had learnt witchcraft from some girl friends; he was married but his wife knew nothing about this. They lived happily together and were in the habit of paying frequent visits to the wife's parents. One day t... The Marriage Of Mount Katahdin
An Indian girl gathering berries on the side of Mount Katahdin looked up at its peak, rosy in the afternoon light, and sighed, I wish that I had a husband. If Katahdin were a man he might marry me. Her companions laughed at this quaint conceit, and,... The Matanzas Obeah Woman
On a hillock near Matanzas, with a ragged wood behind it, stood for many years an unkempt cottage. In our land we should hardly dignify it by such a name. We would call it, rather, a hovel. Some rotting timbers of it may still be left, for the bla... The Materials Of The Icelandic Troy Saga
We trust the facts presented above have convinced the reader that the saga concerning the immigration of Odin and the Asas to Europe is throughout a product of the convent learning of the middle ages. That it was born and developed independently o... The May-pole Of Merrymount
The people of Merrymount--unsanctified in the eyes of their Puritan neighbors, for were they not Episcopals, who had pancakes at Shrovetide and wassail at Christmas?--were dancing about their May-pole one summer evening, for they tried to make it Ma... The Mayamah
The blacks had all left their camp and gone away to attend a borah. Nothing was left in the camp but one very old dog, too old to travel. After the blacks had been gone about three days, one night came their enemies, the Gooeeays, intending to sur... The Meal Of Frothi
Gold is called by the poets the meal of Frothi, and the origin of the term is found in this story. Odin had a son named Skioldr who settled and reigned in the land which is now called Denmark, but was then called Gotland. Skioldr had a son name... The Meester Stoorworm - A Story From Scotland
There was once a lad, and what his real name was nobody remembered, unless it was the mother who bore him; but what every one called him was Ashipattle. They called him that because he sat among the ashes to warm his toes. He had six older brot... The Meeting Of The Star-lovers
One of the greatest days in the calendar of old Japan was the seventh of July; or, as the Japanese people put it, "the seventh day of the seventh month." It was a vermilion day in the almanacs, to which every child looked forward with eyes sparkli... The Men Of The Early Times
Zuni (New Mexico) Eight years was but four days and four nights when the world was new. It was while such days and nights continued that men were led out, in the night-shine of the World of Seeing. For even when they saw the great star, they though... The Men Who Changed Wives
There were once two men, Talilarssuaq and Navssarssuaq, and they changed wives. Talilarssuaq was a mischievous fellow, who was given to frightening people. One evening, sitting in the house with the other's wife, whom he had borrowed, he thrust... The Merchant's Son And The Raja's Daughter
Once a merchant's wife and a Raja's wife were both with child and one day as they bathed together they fell into conversation, and they agreed that if they both bore daughters then the girls should be "flower friends" while if one had a son and one ... The Mermaid Wife
A story is told of an inhabitant of Unst, who, in walking on the sandy margin of a voe, saw a number of mermen and mermaids dancing by moonlight, and several seal-skins strewed beside them on the ground. At his approach they immediately fled to s... The Mermaids
In dime museums and county fairs one may still find among the "attractions" a mermaid, dried and stuffed, consisting of the upper half of a monkey artlessly joined to the lower half or two-thirds of a codfish, the monkey's head usually adorned wit... The Messengers Of Death
There was once a Brahman who had four sons born to him, but they all died young; a fifth son however was born to him, who grew up to boyhood. But it was fated that he too should die before reaching manhood. One day while his father was away from hom... The Mice And The Owl
A pine was by a woodman fell'd, Which ancient, huge, and hollow tree An owl had for his palace held-- A bird the Fates had kept in fee, Interpreter to such as we. Within the caverns of the pine, ... The Midnight Burial
The scene which he had witnessed had left the mind of Lycidas in an excited and feverish state. The cooling breeze which whispered amongst the leaves of the olives, and the solitude of the secluded place where Pollux had left him, were refreshing t... The Migration Of The Water People
Walpi (Arizona) In the long ago, the Snake, Horn, and Eagle people lived here (in Tusayan) but their corn grew only a span high and when they sang for rain, the Cloud god sent only a thin mist. My people lived then in the distant Pa-lat Kwa-bi in t... The Minister And The Fairy
Not long since, a pious clergyman was returning home, after administering spiritual consolation to a dying member of his flock. It was late of the night, and he had to pass through a good deal of uncanny land. He was, however, a good and a consc... The Misdoing Of Kamapua
When a child was born to Olopana, a lord of Oahu, in the twelfth century, he conceived a dislike to it, and freely alleged that his brother was its father. Such as dared to speak ill of dignitaries, and there were gossips in those days, as in all ... The Miser And The Monkey
A Man amass'd. The thing, we know, Doth often to a frenzy grow. No thought had he but of his minted gold-- Stuff void of worth when unemploy'd, I hold. Now, that this treasure might the safer be, Our miser's d... The Miser's Servant
Once there was a rich man who was a miser. Although he kept farm servants they would never stay out the year with him; but ran away in the middle. When the villagers asked why they ran away and so lost their year's wages the servants answered. "You ... The Misfortunes Of Paw Yan
Upon a day, Paw Yan[22] said to his wife, "Today I shall build a watch-tower in the rice fields." "You will need four posts about the size of our children here," replied the wife. Taking the four children with him to the rice fields, Paw Yan du... The Missing Soldier Of Valley Forge
During the dreadful winter of the American encampment at Valley Forge six or eight soldiers went out to forage for provisions. Knowing that little was to be hoped for near the camp of their starving comrades, they set off in the direction of French ... The Moaning Sisters
Above Georgetown, on the Potomac River, are three rocks, known as the Three Sisters, not merely because of their resemblance to each other--for they are parts of a submerged reef--but because of a tradition that, more than a hundred years ago, a boa... The Mongoose Boy
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had two wives. By his first wife he had six sons, but the second wife bore only one son and he was born as a mongoose. When the six sons of the elder wife grew up, they used to jeer at their mongoose brother and... The Monkey And The Cat
Sly Bertrand and Ratto in company sat, (The one was a monkey, the other a cat,) Co-servants and lodgers: More mischievous codgers Ne'er mess'd from a platter, since platters were flat. Was anything wrong in th... The Monkey And The Girl
Once upon a time the boys and girls of a village used to watch the crops of but growing by a river, and there was a Hanuman monkey who wished to eat the but, but they drove him away. So he made a plan: he used to make a garland of flowers and go wit...