Long ago, even before the days of the animal people, the world was only a great ocean wherein was no land nor…
- Date of account
- Published 1911
- Source
- Myths and Legends of Alaska
- Reference
- Myths and Legends of Alaska · selected passage 1
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English retellings of Alaska Native traditions
- Translation
- Compiled by Katharine Berry Judson from identified sources
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
Long ago, even before the days of the animal people, the world was only a great ocean wherein was no land nor any living thing except a great Bird
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyLong ago, even before the days of the animal people, the world was only a great ocean wherein was no land nor any living thing except a great Bird. The Bird, after a long, long time, flew down to the surface of the water and dipped his great black wings into the flood. The earth arose out of the waters. So began the creation. While the land was still soft, the first man burst from the pod of the beach pea and looked out upon the endless plain behind him and the gray salt sea before him. He was the only man. Then Raven appeared to him and the creation of other beings began. Raven made also animals for food and clothing. Later, because the earth plain was so bare, he planted trees and shrubs and grass and set the green things to growing.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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