Once
as Raven flew over the ocean he spotted a dead whale floating in the
water. Hungry he flew down and crawled inside the whales blowhole to
eat to his content. While he was inside, however, the whale washed up
on shore and turned upside down onto its blowhole trapping Raven inside. Nearby
where the whale had washed ashore there was a village. All the people
of that village were excited when they saw the whale and they cheered
that now they would have food for the winter. As they were cutting up
the whale raven heard them outside so he called out to them to cut a
hole in the top of the whale. Confused by the strange voice coming from
inside the whale the people decided they’d best do what it asked lest
they be cursed by it. Once they had cut the hole in the whale Raven
flew out so fast all they saw was a black blur streaking up into the
sky. Later after they had finished carving up the whale and hanging
it to render its oil and to dry for winter Raven came to the village in
the form of a wise old man. Raven acted surprised to see the whale meat
saying he felt it was cursed. He asked the people if they’d heard a
voice coming out of the whale asking them to cut a hole in the top of
the whale. Surprised that he knew this they asked him what it meant. He
told them that there had been evil spirits in the whale which they had
released and which now would curse their village. Afraid the people
fled the village and so Raven was able to spend that winter going from
hut to hut stealing their food.
