The dog wife and abandoned youth, Cowichan

Overview

In Boas’s Cowichan tale of the abandoned boy, a youth repeatedly goes into the mountains claiming that he will bathe. His father instead finds him roasting fern roots, with snakes emerging from his body. The villagers hear noises in his abdomen and decide to leave. A younger uncle initially resists but agrees after observing the same scene. Only the grandmother supplies practical help: she hides food and live coals in a shell and leaves a dog to show her grandson where they are. When the youth returns to the deserted village, the dog nudges him and repeatedly runs to the hiding place until he follows. The narrative gives the grandmother the saving initiative; the dog carries it out.

A man appears in the youth’s dream and tells him to cleanse himself. During the washing, a man strokes the dog’s back and it becomes a woman with beautiful black hair. The youth himself becomes handsome with long red hair and marries her. Subsequent dreams identify the stranger as the giver of these benefits, though no personal name or divine identity is supplied. He instructs the youth to strike the water with the cedar bark used for washing, bringing abundant herring. The wife’s transformation is performed upon her by the helper; the source does not say she had secretly been human or could change shape at will.

The stranger reveals the grandmother’s kindness. The youth sends Raven with fish for her, and repeated deliveries eventually persuade his father that the abandoned son is alive and wealthy. The community returns, initially unable to recognize his changed appearance. He shares the herring freely, but the story does not end at reconciliation. The dream visitor asks whether he wants revenge and instructs him to summon a whale. It eats the herring and comes ashore at his call. When villagers gather to butcher it, the youth separates those who treated him well from those who mistreated him; at his command the whale lashes its tail and kills the latter. The transformed wife is not assigned the revenge plan or the killing. No final return to dog form is recorded.

Origins & earliest records

Franz Boas prints this account under Cowitchin, his historical spelling for Cowichan communities of southeastern Vancouver Island. The episode belongs to the 1895 collected German edition; publication is not a date for the tradition’s beginning. No individually named narrator is supplied here.

Records & interpretation

Complete IV.6, pp.51–53 read in German, including its ending, and checked against original printed-page images. The collection’s oral and translation mediation does not establish physical existence. Historical spellings identify this witness without imposing a standardized modern name.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas

   Franz Boas · 1895

   Cowitchin section IV.6, pp.51–53, complete German narrative and notes; original printed pages checked. Collection-level translation mediation is described in the preface; no unrecorded individual interview date is inferred.

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.

References

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

1. PrimaryBoas 1895, Cowitchin IV.6, pp.51–53Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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