A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A hungry raven waits beside a fisherman’s net. He washes a fish before giving it to her, and she later returns speaking like a human, inviting him to receive her father’s thanks. She flies while he follows on foot. In the large house they reach, she appears in human form beside a divine old man and woman. The father explicitly identifies her as his daughter and rewards the fisherman with two puppies that produce precious metals.

A second man imitates the first but offers the bird a mud-covered fish. She carries it away, and he follows her to the same household. Her father angrily describes the insult yet still gives him puppies, making their benefit conditional upon proper treatment. The generous man prospers; his imitator feeds the animals indiscriminately and receives only dung. The raven-girl is a particular divine daughter in this account, not a zoological raven species or a named pan-Ainu goddess. The old woman is present, but the story does not explicitly call her the girl’s mother.

Raven and human appearancesHuman speechGuidance to a divine household
01

Origins & earliest records

Ainu oral narrative in Chamberlain’s historical English collection

02

Records & interpretation

Complete numbered tale, ending, attached notes, title and collection introductions read; teller and recording method retained.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Aino Folk-Tales

    Basil Hall Chamberlain, collector and English translator; narrative by Ishanashte · 1888

    xxi, The Kind Giver and the Grudging Giver, pp.23–25; Ishanashte, 20 July1886; labelled translated literally. Folk-Lore Society XXII. Page markers from English transcription, not independent scan collation.

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.

Primary records and illustrations

Complete English narrative and edition context read

Aino Folk-Tales

Basil Hall Chamberlain; Folk-Lore Society XXII,1888; introductionEdwardB.Tylor. xxi, The Kind Giver and the Grudging Giver, pp.23–25

Complete cache chamberlain-aino-21.txt; master chamberlain-aino.html/.txt. Ishanashte, 20 July1886; labelled translated literally. Actual Ainu original not collated. Sacred narrative scoped to named historical telling; original English prose public domain, no image reuse.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical English record of a named Ainu tellingChamberlain, Aino Folk-Tales — xxi, The Kind Giver and the Grudging Giver, pp.23–25Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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