BRITISH NORTH AMERICA
RAVEN AND MOON WOMAN
Haida
RAVEN became the son of Moon Woman. He cried a great deal. When he cried, he said, "Boo-hoo, moon!" Then his mother said, "He talks about a thing beyond his reach, which the supernatural beings own." So Raven began to cry again, "Boo-hoo, moon!"
Then, when Moon Woman's mind was tired out with his noise, she stopped up all the holes in the house. She stopped up the smoke hole, and all the small holes as well.[1] Then she untied the strings of the box. Although they were very strong, she untied them. She did this because the moon was inside the box. Then she took the moon out and let Raven play with it. She did not give it to him; she only let him play with it to quiet him.
After his mother had gone out, Raven took up the moon in his beak. He turned himself into a raven and
- ↑ These Indian houses were made with rough, loose boards on the sides and top, which were shifted to let the smoke out, and in summer to let the breeze in. The fire was always in the center of such one-room houses, and the usual smoke hole was immediately above it.
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