Storytelling Week 9: New Life

The Powerful Raven

Once upon a time I the almighty Raven was the only creature to live in the land. The land was a barren wasteland. I was quite lonely and that was when I decided it was time to bring someone else into the world.

Image Source: Flickr

Now I had a very special gift….I could transform from human to raven whenever I pleased. This was a gift that I greatly appreciated. It came in handy when I went to the ground to plant vines. These vines were normal, well, most of the time anyway. Every once in a while the vine would produce a pod and the pod would grow a human. I hadn’t seen this happen in years, though, so it was nothing worth getting your hopes up about.

I had a feeling about today however. It felt very special. So I decided to plant some vines and see if anything would come of them. I planted them near the river’s edge and hoped that they would flourish being next to the water. I carefully placed the seeds in the hole I had dug and then gently positioned soil on top of them. I cupped my hands together and gathered some water from the river and put it on the seeds. I decided to let them sit for a few days and I flew off.

I gave it a few days and on the fourth day something began to stretch out its arms and legs from the pod on the vine. I was ecstatic that something had grown but suspicious of what it was.  I decided it was time to investigate. I approached it and flapped my wings to turn back into a human. He was astonished by my ability and confused as to who I was. I then asked him, “Where did you come from?” He answered, “That hanging pod over there." I told him how I had planted that pod on the vine and really hoped one of them would produce life.

I explained to him how there were no other creatures living in the land. I also described how if he followed me to the river I could create other creatures.  We ventured to the river and I grabbed some clay. I shaped that clay into a fish. I then gently placed the fish into the water and it began to swim away. I explained how it would multiply and we would have an abundant amount in just a few days. I was so excited to have someone else here on the land to share this food with.

Next I formed the deer out of the clay and explained that they would move quickly so nobody could kill them. They would bring a lot of life to the land and would multiply quickly too. He was astonished by the power I had and asked that I do one more thing. He explained how he was very lonely and that he would appreciate if I could create a companion for him. I said, “Of course!” I formed a female out of the clay and told him that they would keep each other company for the rest of time. They loved each other and helped make the land prosper. I was so happy with my creations!

Author's Note: I am retelling the story of Raven’s Creation. This story is from the Alaskan Legends unit and it is about the culture of the Inuit (Eskimo). For this storytelling task this week I preferred to stick pretty close to the original story. I did decide to change who the voice was telling the story. I decided to tell it from the Raven’s point of view. I think that telling it from this point of view was a beneficial choice because he was the main character in the original. Another advantage to telling it from the raven's voice is that he is the main creator of everything. Without the raven, there would be no life, so he played a key role. In the original story the raven used the clay to make mountain sheep, reindeer and caribou. I changed the animals that the raven changed the clay into just to add a different detail to the story. The deer was similar to the mountain goat and reindeer but just a different animal. I wanted to also make an animal that would be able to escape any danger and be able to flourish quickly. Also in the original story the raven was surprised when a human came out of the pod. I changed this to having the raven anticipate it. This story was overall very interesting to me because the raven held all the power in creation and through creating this man he was then able to begin a whole society.

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of Alaska Katharine Berry Judson (1911). Raven's Creation.