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To Tell A Story
gyáehling is the Kaigani Haida word for "story." To gyaehlandáa
is to tell a story for a purpose, that is, to amuse, to transmit
cultural information, or to impart a moral lesson. Gyáehlingaay
are stories told on a winter evening. (1)
[Accents over letters (á, é, í, ó, ú, ý) indicate syllable stress marks.]
[Do Haida words become capitalized at the beginning of a sentence?]
Storys Purposes
Descriptions of ideal Haida behaviour include the way parents
instruct their children by talking to them, the response of the
village to the disappearance of the woman and their subsequent
acceptance of the fact, and the magnanimity of the Haida chief
once the enemy's evil plan does not succeed [in "The Octopus Story"].
(2)
About Oral Literature
The oral literature of Southeast Alaska Natives, like that of other primitive cultures, evolved from the universal human need to understand and explain how it all began, what forces are in control, how man fits into the scheme of things, how to live in harmony with the natural forces and the other creatures of the earth - some of which man must kill if he is to survive - and to transmit these concepts to posterity.
The literature deals with significant events in tribal, clan or family history, with adventures and misadventures of folk heroes, with supernatural forces, and with relationships and interchanges between human and non-human beings.
Some myths and Storys had their origins in a past so distant that no one knows what seeds they grew from. Others are relatively recent. They are neither all fact nor all fantasy. They are allegories, parables, metaphoric presentations of cultural values and the socially accepted life view.
Nature is so bountiful in Southeast Alaska that its aborigines had leisure to develop a complex culture, which survives in their unique and sophisticated graphic arts, their music and dances and their rich oral literature.
The myths and Storys were told and retold at potlatches, less formal gatherings, as family pastimes, even as bedtime stories. But their entertainment value was secondary. Here, as elsewhere, the important function of myth and Story was to pass the knowledge of traditions, morals and mores from the old to the young, maintain social cohesion and continuity, keep the culture alive and flourishing.
Even today, though these people have been literate for generations and have entered mainstream culture, they keep the art of storytelling alive.
To the Tlingits and Haidas the oral literature of the lineage, the clan or the tribe is hereditary property, intangible but nonetheless owned. As a group grew, divided and subdivided, none relinquished ownership of the group's intangible properties. In time, some related groups were separated by hundreds of miles of waterways and islands, and mutual ownership of intangible properties served as a bond of kinship.
With tribal intermarriage, some intangible properties passed into shared ownership. Or they might be transmitted as gifts or spoils of battle, in trade or as ransom. Thus the stories of the Tlingits and the Haidas, their music and dances and their visual symbols have much in common.
Just as language itself evolves over time, the oral literature evolved as a detail was added here or subtracted there, a name was remembered differently or deliberately changed, emphasis was altered, and so there were several versions of most stories before any were recorded.
The myths and Storys collected here are authentic for one group or another, though other versions may be equally authentic.
Names of the heroes and heroines are usually omitted to avoid
confusion or encroachment upon private property. The stories in
themselves are worth telling, and their parallels to the myths
and Storys of other cultures, they reinforce the one-world concept.
Through them we see that human needs, reactions and values are
essentially the same everywhere, and that human beings, wherever
they live, have found similar ways of explaining life and transmitting
their concepts. (3)
Some of these stories, passed on orally through the years, belong
to individual groups, the only ones entitled to them. But others
are clan stories, so popular they have been told in different
ways by many groups who honor the same heroes as part of their
heritage. (4)
Peace And Harmony
By nature, octopus people cannot remain on land long enough to
stage a siege against the Raven clan barricaded in their houses.
Here is a clear example of human advantage over nature, coupled
with the Haida's own desire to have peace between the two. Equilibrium
is restored at the potlatch given by the chief of the Raven clan
that includes the octopus people and honors Raven Woman and her
octopus baby. (5)
Characters Of Storys
Characters of Native lore are often more than just heroes to the
individuals who honor them as totems. They are spirit helpers
who guide and inspire them and help them develop strength, skills
and judgment. (6)
Heroes did not usually inherit their special powers. They had
to prove worthy first by obeying clan codes and bathing in icy
water, fasting, and exercising strenuously. Devotion to the crest
animals, who often gave them their special powers, was important
too. (7)
The heroines of these myths sometimes bring good fortune and sometimes
do not. (8)
In these stories, regard for clan values is usually rewarded and
neglect of them, punished. (9)
Raven
The first myth in this collection provides a good example of major
cosmological themes that are common to all the peoples of the
region. It involves the Raven, a deity of the type called in English
a trickster, which the old French word décepteur matches
to perfection. The fact that the Amerindians placed a deceitful,
insolent, libidinous and often grotesque character with a penchant
for scatology in the forefront of their pantheon sometimes surprises
people. But indigenous thought places the Raven at the turning
point between two eras. In the beginning, nothing was impossible;
the most extravagant wishes could come true. However, the present
era, in which humans and animals have acquired distinct natures,
is stamped with the seal of necessity. In the world inhabited
y man, social life obeys rules, and nature dictates its will.
We can no longer do just anything. The Trickster discovers this,
often to his cost. And because his immoderate appetites make him
the foremost victim of these nascent constraints, it is up to
him to make them definitive and to establish their terms. In a
universe that is undergoing constant change, the Raven is both
the ultimate rebel and the foremost maker of laws. (10)
Nicknames
Nicknaming functions such that both the people with the license to use nicknames (and the cultural background to interpret and understand them) and those who receive them are core members of a particular society. Nicknames are acquired as people acquire membership in a group, at a late stage in the process of developing a group's social identity. For social anthropologists, receiving a name is often a tangible sign of being accepted by or adopted into a group with whom they have been working.
...there need be no obvious relationship among a person's real or nickname.
...people are even nicknamed for physical characteristics they
do not possess - for example, a particularly hairy individual
may be called "Baldy." (11)
Grammar In Oral Literature
We hope that what seems to be unusual English grammar and awkward,
redundant phrasing in the translations will lead readers to see
things from a Haida point of view. (12)
Verbs come at the end of Haida sentences, and the point the sentence
makes is mentioned at the beginning. (13)
This topic-comment format of Haida utterances forces the tale-teller
into a redundancy of style that adds wonderfully to the audience's
feeling of participation. Individual utterances are affected by
this format as well. (14)
In Haida narrative there is a tendency to say things twice. (15)
The teller sings, "waited for him, waited for him" to convey a
sense of time passing being accomplished. [also emphasis or alarm]
(16)
Another story telling convention is to use the present tense at
exciting points in the story. (17)
Episodes in oral narrative are divided by the use of conjunctions
such as "and," "and then," "after that," and "meanwhile." To an
English-speaking reader the language may seem repetitive, but
to a Haida-speaking listener the conjunctions indicate that a
new character is about to be introduced or the action is to take
a new turn. The clearest example of this occur in the final selections
of many narratives where wáadluu ("and then") clearly indicates
that a turn of events is about to happen and asgaayst ("after
that") seems to designate the concluding piece of action. Such
conjunctions act as contextualizing cues to break the story into
memorable chunks and to help the audience follow the story line.
(18)
These particles and conjunctions preserve the flow of thought
for listeners where punctuation and placement on the page would
serve for readers. (19)
wáadluu ["and then"] usually has the function of breaking
a narrative into sections so that what follows is a consequence
of what went before. Its communicative function is to involve
the listeners in the progress of the story and to signal that
a change in activity or point of view is taking place. (20)
...wáadluu is used throughout to connect episodes and esgáayst
used as a wrap-up signal before the final bit of action. (21)
[Several spellings occur in this text: asgaayst (22),
asgáay(st) (23),
esgáayst (24)]
Formulaic Structure (using a proper closing)
Tales often start with, "I'm going to tell you a story," and end
with "That's all I have to say. Thank you." (25)
And now, in true Haida style, let us bring our own narrative to
a close formulaically: Áao tlaan gyáehlingaay Gíidang. Há'waa.
"Here our story ends. Thank you." (26)
Haida Gwaii / Queen Charlotte Islands
On the white man's maps, where every islet and scrap of land, inhabited or otherwise, sits now in the shadow of somebody's national flag, and is named for preference after a monarch or a politician, Haida Gwaii are shown as the westernmost extremity of Canada, and they are named not for the Haida, who have always lived there, nor for the Raven, who somewhat inadvertently put them there, but for a woman who never saw them. Her name was Sophie Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, but the British called her simply Queen Charlotte, for she was the wife of the Mad King of England, George III.
So the Raven, who often likes to call a rose a skunk cabbage, just to see what trouble he can cause, has tricked us again, Haidas and outsiders alike, with this one. He has us trained now to point to Haida Gwaii and say "Queen Charlotte Islands."
These stories were told there well before Queen Charlotte's time.
(27)
• • • • •
Footnotes
1. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 1.
2. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 34-35.
3. Ethel Dassow [editor], "Forward" (April 1989) in Haida Heroes & Heroines In Tlingit-Haida Story (Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 1989), p. ix-x.
4. Mary L Beck, "Preface" in Haida Heroes & Heroines In Tlingit-Haida Story (Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 1989), p. xi.
5. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 43.
6. Mary L Beck, "Preface" in Haida Heroes & Heroines In Tlingit-Haida Story (Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 1989), p. xii.
7. Mary L Beck, "Preface" in Haida Heroes & Heroines In Tlingit-Haida Story (Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 1989), p. xi-xii.
8. Mary L Beck, "Preface" in Haida Heroes & Heroines In Tlingit-Haida Story (Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 1989), p. xii.
9. Mary L Beck, "Preface" in Haida Heroes & Heroines In Tlingit-Haida Story (Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 1989), p. xii.
10. Claude Lévi-Strauss, "Preface" (1989) in The Raven Steals the Light (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre 1996, copyrights 1984-1996), p. 11.
11. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 26.
12. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 7.
13. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 7.
14. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 7.
15. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 8.
16. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 8.
17. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 8.
18. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 8-9.
19. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 29.
20. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 29.
21. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 32.
22. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 9.
23. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 29.
24. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 32.
25. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 32.
26. Carol M. Eastman & Elizabeth A. Edwards in Gyaehlingaay: Traditions, Tales and Images of the Kaigani Haida (Seattle: Burke Museum Publications, copyright 1991 Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum), p. 44.
27. Robert Bringhurst (1984) in The Raven Steals the Light (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre 1996, copyrights 1984-1996), p. 15.
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