raven

raven - Transcript

How Raven Stole Crow s Potlatch
A Native American Story
Loosely based on a Northwest Pacific Indian Myth

There are many tales of Raven the Trickster in Native American myths and legends This is one of them
Retold by L in Donn Illustrated by Phillip Martin

Raven
Once upon a time a long time ago there lived a magical bird named Raven Raven was a shape shifter He could turn himself into a man and then back again into a bird simply by pulling his beak over his head like a mask Over time Raven learned how to turn himself into any animal Raven could fool other animals into thinking he was well just about anybody

Raven

Raven was very smart He had considerable charm He was also a thief and a liar Raven used his charm to make his lies sound like truth Creatures who trusted Raven often found themselves in big trouble But Raven did not care Raven was as selfish as he was clever

Raven
One day Raven looked up at the sky Winter is coming he said in a surprised sort of way The snows will fall soon I bet Squirrel has piled up lots of food by now But when he flew by Squirrel s house Squirrel hissed at him Go away Raven You are not stealing food from me Not one single nut

Raven
Raven spread his wings and soared away Bear will have food he thought But when Raven arrived at Bear s cave Bear was sound asleep for the winter All Bear s food was stored in Bear s belly Goose always knows where good food is hiding Raven laughed But when Raven arrived at Goose s home no one was about Goose had flown south for the winter

Raven
Raven soared off to the top of a tree to think things over An idea took shape in his devious mind Grinning broadly Raven soared off in search of Crow Crow was Raven s cousin Crow Raven called out when he spotted him Everyone is talking about your beautiful voice They can t wait to hear you sing

Raven
Crow knew that Raven was selfish He knew Raven was a thief He knew Raven often lied Just the same it was hard to resist Raven s charming compliments Crow did have a beautiful voice It was his one vanity as Raven well knew When is your potlatch You re inviting me right Raven begged eagerly

Raven

Crow shook his head A potlatch is a huge party It would take all my winter storage of food to feed my guests And what about all the cooking and cleaning I ll help you get ready Raven smiled warmly at his cousin I m so proud to be related to you Crow Everyone wants to hear you sing

Raven
That very night Crow and Raven began cooking The next day while Crow cooked and cleaned and practiced his singing Raven flew all over the forest inviting everyone to his potlatch

Raven

I m having a potlatch Raven told all the animals in the forest At Crow s house Come to the back door That way you won t have to wait with the crowd to get in Finally the big day arrived Everyone came to Raven s potlatch except the animals that had flown south for the winter and the animals that were snoozing away in their caves and burrows Everyone that is except Squirrel Raven had not invited Squirrel

Raven
There s Elk Raven called out Raven soared off supposedly to see who else was approaching Instead Raven quickly circled around and landed behind Crow s house Raven used his magic powers to turn himself into Elk He hurried to Crow s front door Welcome to my potlatch Elk Crow welcomed Raven the Elk excitedly

Raven

Thank you for inviting me Crow replied Raven pretending to be Elk I can t wait to hear your beautiful voice Raven the Elk lowered his head and entered Crow s house Raven flew out the back door and changed himself into Rabbit He hopped around to the front of Crow s house

Raven
Welcome Rabbit cried Crow excitedly Thank you for inviting me said Raven who was pretending to be Rabbit I can t wait to hear you sing And so it went Crow stood by his front door welcoming what he thought were all the animals of the forest But really each and every animal was only Raven in disguise

Raven

As for Raven when he wasn t busy tricking Crow Raven stood at the back door welcoming all the guests to his potlatch Raven was a bit winded from all his running about but he found the whole thing delightful No one suspected a thing

Raven
When all the real guests had entered through Crow s back door Raven dragged Crow away from the front door and pushed him into the middle of the room Crow is going to sing for us Raven shouted over the noise of the party Crow s singing received huge cheers One more song Crow called Raven over and over Bursting with happiness Crow sang and sang until his voice was hoarse

Raven
It was a wonderful party At the end of the potlatch each guest received a package of food to take home Thank you for inviting me to your potlatch each guest thanked Raven Crow tilted his head in puzzlement He tried to tell his guests that this was HIS potlatch But Crow s voice was gone

Raven

That winter as he knew he would Raven received invitations to many potlatches Raven had a wonderful time laughing and eating At each potlatch he received a package of food to take home But no one invited Crow After all Crow had never invited them to a party Why should they invite him

Raven
Poor Crow To eat that winter he had to beg scraps of food from the People Crow could not even tell anyone what Raven had done Crow had lost his beautiful voice forever The only sound he could make was a shrill caw caw And that I m afraid did not help him at all

L earn More
To learn more about the Pacific NW Indians go here NW Pacific Coastal Indians To learn more about Native Americans go here Native Americans For free clipart go here Free Native American Clipart



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