Beaver ancestress (Tate’s account)

Overview

A hunter and his wife work together preparing the many raccoons caught in his traps. When she asks him to look at her, he compares her unfavourably with the animals occupying his attention. Ashamed and distressed, she leaves him and weeps beside a stream. She begins damming the water with stones and gravel to cool herself in a pool, then remains there through the night. Her small leather apron strikes the water when she turns and dives.

The pool becomes a lake. She refuses her husband’s pleas to return and asks him to tell her six brothers that she is alive. When they arrive, a beaver house stands in the water. She chooses to remain, invites visits and specifically asks them to care for her husband rather than hurt him. On later visits they see her children, her fur-covered body and the apron changed into a tail. She loses human speech, although her face remains recognisable.

Eventually the brothers decide to break the dam. Beavers escape from the draining lake and scatter across the land, but the mother remains behind. They find her with fur, animal claws and the same human face. She is glad to see them, yet dies on the exposed lake bed. The rescue attempt destroys the environment in which she can live.

The final explanation traces beavers’ brown fur to the woman’s hair and says that all beavers are female because their ancestor was a woman. These are the narrative’s origin claims, not biological assertions. Her change unfolds through repeated visits and growing separation, rather than through an immediately spoken magic curse.

Origins & earliest records

Franz Boas, Tsimshian Mythology, based on texts recorded by Henry W. Tate, published in 1916 in the Bureau of American Ethnology’s thirty-first report for 1909–1910. Boas translated Tate’s free interlinear English renderings of his Tsimshian texts. The preface notes Tate’s editorial choices and some influence from published collections; the 1916 volume omits the original-language text.

Records & interpretation

Story 14, The Hunter’s Wife Who Became a Beaver, complete pp. 138–141, including Tate’s clothing footnote and final origin explanation; preface pp. 31–32.

In the literature

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Tsimshian Mythology

   Henry W. Tate, recorder; Franz Boas, translator and editor · 1916

   Story 14, The Hunter’s Wife Who Became a Beaver, complete pp. 138–141, including Tate’s clothing footnote and final origin explanation; preface pp. 31–32.

2. 02

   Tsimshian Mythology — 14. The Hunter’s Wife Who Became a Beaver, complete pp.138–141

   Henry W.Tate, recorder; Franz Boas, translator and editor · 1916

   Washington: Government Printing Office,1916; Thirty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,1909–1910. Complete selected English narrative(s) and attached technical footnotes read in retained OCR. Original selected opening/identity/ending pages visually checked. Preface31–32 translation provenance independently inspected. Comparative chapters not included in this reading claim.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary textBoas/Tate 1916: Story 14, The Hunter’s Wife Who Became a Beaver, complete pp. 138–141, including Tate’s clothing footnote and final origin explanation; preface pp. 31–32.Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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