Reading Part A "Alaskan Legends"

A snowy raven, perhaps like the trickster in these legends (Source)

Stylistic Notes: Most of the first story is told in quotations, with Raven talking directly to Man that he had created.  Raven himself is the one that explains how the various animals are created.  Man also replies, also in quotations.

In the next story, Raven talks to himself as he continues to create different animals.

The Raven in this story is much more helpful to the humans that it created then it is to the other beings in the world that it lives in.

The other story focuses on the creation of other animals.  Each of their creations is somehow related to Man, who is traveling with Raven and being turned different animals by him.  I almost always compare the references to a creation story to the traditional Biblical account.  It is interesting to see the difference, especially how they see the creation of different species and land.  It is also interesting to see how many of these stories revolve around making clay figures of some kind.

Raven's account of him trying to marry someone was very sad, he had thought that he had finally found a beautiful goose to marry, but they had to fly away.  Raven at first flew strong and gracefully, but eventually could not keep up with the family of geese.  They had to cross an ocean and on the way, Raven became too tired to continue.  The geese (and his wife) left him to drown in the ocean, and only through magic did he escape death.  Poor guy.

The next story makes no sense at all.  Raven finds a man, befriends him, eats all the seals in front of his house, kills him and eats him as well, buries some seals with cabbage leaves, a thing called "Stump" is there and is very hungry, tries to find the buried seals but cannot, and cries forever because he is hungry.  That is it. 

Marmots are jerks.  That was the moral of the next story.  They tricked Raven and made fun of his dancing (which I am sensitive about) and then ran away, mocking him forever.  I really don't understand the point of this legend, but now I don't like marmots.

Story source: Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).