As The Raven Flies Lyrics
RAVEN, the Trickster
The Raven stories of the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest give us a glimpse of the customs and life of a people who depended on and respected their enviornment. The lives of the many tribes of the Northwest coast: Tlingit, Tsimshian, Haida, Kwakiutl, Makah and Quileute-Hoh, and the Coast Salish (to name a few) were closely linked to both forest and sea.
Raven was the chief god and culture hero for the Northwest coastal natives. He is credited with teaching the people how to fish, build their houses, etc. In myth he is the creator of the earth and people.
He is also the Trickster who perpetrates practical jokes on people. For this reason, the people were very careful when they prayed to the Raven. They used precise terms to specify exactly what they wanted so that confusion (and the occasional practical joke) might be avoided.
Raven is the original organizer, playing roles of trickster, transformer, teacher, catalyst and chief spirit. He is also a relentless schemer and practical joker, lustful, impulsive, cunning, shameless and without remorse.
Full of magical, supernatural power, Raven could turn himself into anything at any time. He could live beneath the sea, ascend into the sky or make anything happen by willing it to be so. His legendary antics were often motivated by insatiable greed and he loved to tease, cheat, woo and trick.
The Raven Stories are both entertaining - as Raven's mischief often backfired, but also instructive - teaching us about the Northwest Indians' way of life and the origin of their customs.
Raven and Mouse Woman
There could not be two more opposite individuals among the Spirit beings of the Northwest Mythology than Raven and Mouse Woman.
Raven was the Creator-Trickster of the Northwestern Indian mythology. A voracious glutton, his appetite was only matched by his enthusiasm for mischief. A shape changer, he could take many forms. He loved to upset things and cause trouble.
As he sought to satisfy his appetites and often as a result of schemes and tricks that backfired, Raven established the ways of dealing with the chaotic natural world, taming it for the benefit of mankind.
Mouse Woman was the busiest of busybodies and the tiniest of Grandmothers. Upset whenever the proper order of things was disturbed, she always sought to restore order and maintain balance. She was as dedicated to undoing mischief as Raven was in creating it. As a Spirit person, she could go anywhere and her mouse ears often overheard trickery in the making.
In the stories, it was usually a violation of some custom that placed someone in peril or unleashed and attracted monsters such as Cannibal Woman, or Monster Killer Whale.
But Mouse Woman's help always came with a price - her one weakness - a fondness for items of mountain goat wool, which she delighted in unraveling into a mouse nest of fur. To maintain balance, there must always be something given, if something is to be received in return. Of course trickery deserves trickery in return.
From Raven we often learn the reasons for various Indian customs and taboos, while from Mouse Woman, we see the consequences of failing to observe them and ways to restore order and balance.
Here are some of many books you may want to look for at your local library.
Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Gerald McDermott
Raven the Trickster by Gail Robinson
Raven, Creator of the World by Ronald Melzack and Laszlo Gal
How Raven Freed the Moon by Anne Cameron and Tara Miller
Raven-who-sets-things-right, Indian Tales of the Northwest Coast by Retold by Fran Martin and Dorothy McEntee
Ten Rowdy Ravens by Susan Ewing and Evon Zerbetz
Mouse Woman and the Mischief Makers by Christie Harris and Douglas Tait
Heroes and Heroines: Tlingit-Haida Legend by Mary G Beck and Nancy DeWitt
Raven and Mouse Woman
