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

Overview

In Ishanashte’s account recorded by Basil Hall Chamberlain, a hunter follows a bear through a mountain cavern into an underworld. After eating its grapes and mulberries he becomes a serpent, unable even to speak in his former voice. Sleeping beneath an enormous pine near the passage home, he encounters the tree’s goddess in a dream. She pities him and suggests a dangerous means of recovering his human form, without promising certain success. Chamberlain labels this English account as written from memory rather than translated literally.

The hunter follows her directions, climbing and falling from the tree. On recovering consciousness he finds himself human again beside a split serpent body from which he has emerged. He thanks the pine, sets up sacred symbols and returns home. The scene describes release from an animal body within the tale, not a practice to imitate. The goddess has not transformed him herself; she intervenes after the underworld food has caused his predicament.

A second dream brings a less comforting message. The goddess says that eating the underworld food prevents his remaining long among the living, and explains that another goddess had taken bear form to lure him below because she wished to marry him. He soon becomes gravely ill and goes back to the underworld permanently. The pine goddess and the bear-form goddess are therefore separate agents, and the temporary restoration is not a complete escape from death. The English word Hades is Chamberlain’s framing, not a verified indigenous name.

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Origins & earliest records

Ishanashte of Shumunkot, through Chamberlain’s identified1886 collection and1888 English publication.

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Records & interpretation

Complete named tale reread; explicit memory-reconstruction label and narrator/date 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

    xxxv, The Hunter in Hades, pp.40–42; Ishanashte,22 July1886; written down from memory; Folk-Lore Society XXII. Transcription page markers, 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 tale reread, named narrator/date/memory label and relevant introduction qualifications checked.

Aino Folk-Tales

Folk-Lore Society XXII,1888. xxxv, The Hunter in Hades, pp.40–42; Ishanashte,22 July1886; written down from memory

Cache chamberlain-aino-35.txt and master chamberlain-aino.html. Actual privy-god intervention distinct fabricateddoorpostclaim; pinegoddess distinct bearformgoddess. Native-language text not independently collated.

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References

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

  1. Attributed historical English narrative recordAino Folk-Tales — xxxv, The Hunter in Hades, pp.40–42; Ishanashte,22 July1886; written down from memoryResearch 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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