When Raven Was Killed

[Guest guest]

Raven had played so many tricks on mankind for so long that one day a

great Chief decided to kill her. The Chief invited Raven to visit him

and when the black bird wasn't watching, he quickly threw her into a

large skin bag which he tied tightly shut so that the troublesome

bird would not escape.

Then, with the large bag over his shoulder, the Chief began to climb a

very high and steep mountain which was close by the village. It was

very dark on the inside of the skin bag so Raven could not see

anything. She asked the Chief what he was doing, but the Chief

ignored her.

As the Chief climbed higher and higher, Raven spoke out again.

" Where are you taking me? " she asked.

The chief just kept on climbing.

" I can tell that you are climbing a mountain, " insisted Raven. " Why

are you carrying me there? What are you going to do to me? "

The Chief ignored her still and continued to climb.

Raven warned the chief that he would be sorry if he killed her, saying

that bad things would befall his people.

When the chief was on top of the mountain he threw the bag with the

Raven over the side. As it fell, it struck the side of the steep

cliff and ripped open. Raven was torn to pieces by the jagged rocks

as she crashed to the ground far below. The Chief had killed Raven!

When the Chief returned to his village, he showed the people the

pieces of Raven so that they knew what he had done. All of the men

called him a great Chief for killing such an awful creature. For

several days the villagers were happy and they celebrated.

Finally, though, some people started to notice that all of the water

was gone. They went to the river, but it was dry. They went to a

lake, but it was empty. There was no water to be found! Then the

people began to get thirsty. They knew that they could not live long

without water.

The people asked why the water had vanished and a shaman told them

that it was gone because the Chief had killed the Raven. Now the

villagers were not happy that Raven was dead and they wanted her back

before everyone died.

The shaman told the chief that he had to put Raven back together. The

Chief took all of the pieces of the dead bird and put them together

again.

When he was finished, Raven came back to life! She jumped up and

started to fly away, but she first asked the Chief why he had brought

her back to life.

" All of the water has gone, " the chief replied, " and only you can

return it. "

Raven flew up higher and then spoke to the Chief, " Look around you,

There is water everywhere. "

The Chief turned and saw that the lake was full and that the river ran

deep and fast again. As Raven disappeared in the distance, the Chief

promised never to try to kill Raven again.