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

Overview

Tate locates the prince’s community between Metlakahtla and Port Simpson, near the sandbar before Kumalgo. During the salmon season he feeds eagles so that he can collect their shed feathers for arrows. When winter provisions run low, his father and three maternal uncles taunt him and withhold food. The youngest uncle and his wife instead feed him, then leave modest supplies when the community moves away to the Nass and abandons the prince with his young enslaved companion.

Eagles begin leaving food on the beach, announcing each arrival by their cries. The gifts increase from trout and other fish to seals, sea lions and whales. The text explicitly explains these provisions as repayment for the summer feeding. They are not merely ordinary carrion found by chance: the birds fly in together carrying a whale, and their repeated deliveries eventually fill the deserted village’s houses. The prince and his companion still perform the work of hauling, cutting and storing the food.

Wanting to reach the kind youngest uncle, the prince borrows a gull’s skin and flies to the famine-struck people upriver. A piece of seal meat he drops reaches an enslaved family; their child’s choking reveals the hidden food, leading to a reconnaissance party and the community’s return. The gull’s borrowed skin supplies the flight transformation; the eagles are the food providers, and the narrative does not identify the prince as an eagle.

He initially refuses the returning relatives but ultimately feeds them, honouring the youngest uncle first and marrying that uncle’s daughter. Trade and gift-giving enlarge his standing. At successive feasts he takes names translated in the edition as Craving Food and Deserted One. The closing passage says that the eagles continue providing through his lifetime. The bird assistance thus supports a lasting reversal of abandonment, rather than ending after a single miraculous meal.

An earlier German telling by Matthias of Metlakatla appears as Ts’ensläek, the Deserted One, in Boas’s 1895 collection, pp. 300–304. In that version the hungry boy initially gives the eagle-provided fish to his enslaved companion while fasting himself. Even a very large halibut proves unexpectedly easy to carry, and the provision of food continues after the eagle ceases to appear. The boy assumes a gull skin to visit his absent relatives, but observers notice human feet. The returning uncles offer several daughters; he first admits and marries the youngest uncle’s daughters, then eventually allows the others to land. This earlier named-teller version is compared with Tate’s later account without making their different marriage details or sequence of gifts interchangeable.

Moses’s Little-eagle, printed in Boas’s 1902 Nass collection, gives another local arrangement of this reciprocal relationship. The abandoned prince remains with his grandmother and a young enslaved attendant; his mother secretly leaves fire and salmon for them. Eagles later return food in increasing sizes, ending with four whales. A gull-skin visit reveals the possibility of his survival, but he initially orders visiting men to report him dead and conceal his wealth. Food hidden for a visitor’s child exposes that deception. He resists the returning community before feeding it, marries the younger of two offered women, and later distributes wealth after each parent’s death. The closing sentence names him Little-eagle and directly credits the eagles’ repayment. This named Moses witness differs from both Tate’s account and Matthias’s 1895 version; their family arrangements and endings remain separately attributed.

Repay food with provisionsAnnounce gifts by criesCollectively carry whalesSustain abandoned humansContinue assistance throughout a lifetime
01

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.

02

Records & interpretation

Story 32, The Prince Who Was Deserted, complete pp. 225–232; preface pp. 31–32. Complete earlier German story16, pp.300–304, and Matthias attribution p.305 also read; original scan confirms the latter.

In the literature

“Von nun kam der Adler nicht wieder,”
Franz Boas · Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas
XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 16. Ts’ensläek (= der Verlassene), complete pp.300–304; attribution p.305; brief German prose p.302 · Boas’s German collected narrative witness; no independent Tsimshian-language translation claimed

A fatherless boy neglects work and plucks Eagle feathers for arrows. Three maternal uncles mock his hunger; the youngest feeds him and secretly leaves supplies when the village abandons him and one companion. An Eagle repeatedly calls beside food on the shore, with successive gifts increasing in size; after the Eagle ceases coming, further food still appears. The boy builds overflowing storehouses and visits the hungry relatives in Gull form, feeding the youngest uncle. A hidden morsel reveals his prosperity. Returning relatives bargain for entry; he takes the youngest uncle’s daughters as wives, eventually admits the older uncles and receives the name Ts’ensläek at his feast.

“Because the prince had fed the eagles the past summer, they now gave him this food.”
Henry W.Tate; Franz Boas · Tsimshian Mythology
32. The Prince Who Was Deserted, p.228; complete story225–232 · Franz Boas, based on Henry W.Tate’s free interlinear rendering, Preface31

The Eagles provide food after the abandoned prince had fed them during the summer; this explicit reciprocity is specific to Tate’s selected telling.

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 32, The Prince Who Was Deserted, complete pp. 225–232; preface pp. 31–32.

  2. 02

    Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas

    Franz Boas, recorder; Matthias of Metlakatla, teller · 1895

    Story 16, Ts’ensläek, complete pp. 300–304; stories15–18 attribution p.305.

  3. 03

    Tsimshian Texts: Nass River Dialect

    Moses, teller; Franz Boas, recorder and translator · 1902

    Little-eagle: A Legend of the Eagle Clan, complete pp.169–187; introduction p.5. Separate Nisga’a witness.

  4. 04

    Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas — XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 16. Ts’ensläek (= der Verlassene), complete pp.300–304; attribution p.305

    Franz Boas; Matthias of Megtlak’qä’tla, explicitly credited narrator for stories15–18 · 1895

    Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895; complete German story300–304 read in retained OCR and all original printed pages. Story15–18 Matthias attribution on original305 also inspected. PhysicalPDF313–317=printed300–304 for selected range.

  5. 05

    Tsimshian Mythology — 32. The Prince Who Was Deserted, complete pp.225–232; selected comparative opening p.784; Preface pp.31–32

    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 English story225–232 read in retained OCR; original title, Preface31–32,225,228 and232 independently viewed. Notes reference783, but actual comparative section32 begins784; only its opening classification read, not all comparative variants.

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.

Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas — XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 16. Ts’ensläek (= der Verlassene), complete pp.300–304; attribution p.305

Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895; complete German story300–304 read in retained OCR and all original printed pages. Story15–18 Matthias attribution on original305 also inspected. PhysicalPDF313–317=printed300–304 for selected range.

  1. A fatherless boy neglects work and plucks Eagle feathers for arrows. Three maternal uncles mock his hunger; the youngest feeds him and secretly leaves supplies when the village abandons him and one companion. An Eagle repeatedly calls beside food on the shore, with successive gifts increasing in size; after the Eagle ceases coming, further food still appears. The boy builds overflowing storehouses and visits the hungry relatives in Gull form, feeding the youngest uncle. A hidden morsel reveals his prosperity. Returning relatives bargain for entry; he takes the youngest uncle’s daughters as wives, eventually admits the older uncles and receives the name Ts’ensläek at his feast.

    XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 16. Ts’ensläek (= der Verlassene), complete pp.300–304; attribution p.305

Complete selected German narrative only; no whole collection or independent Tsimshian translation. Earlier or later regional parallels not conflated; no practical fishing/preparation instructions copied.

Tsimshian Mythology — 32. The Prince Who Was Deserted, complete pp.225–232; selected comparative opening p.784; Preface pp.31–32

Washington: Government Printing Office,1916; Thirty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,1909–1910. Complete English story225–232 read in retained OCR; original title, Preface31–32,225,228 and232 independently viewed. Notes reference783, but actual comparative section32 begins784; only its opening classification read, not all comparative variants.

  1. A chief’s son feeds Eagles for their fallen feathers. His living father orders maternal uncles to withhold food; only the youngest helps. When the village leaves, that uncle leaves supplies and a companion. Eagles provide increasingly large food gifts, explicitly returning the prince’s earlier feeding. The prince borrows a Gull’s garment and carries food to a hungry slave woman. A child choking on a hidden morsel exposes his prosperity. He favors the youngest uncle, marries that uncle’s daughter, rejects the older uncles’ proposed daughters, eventually admits his parents and gives great feasts. Eagle gifts continue throughout his life.

    32. The Prince Who Was Deserted, complete pp.225–232; selected comparative opening p.784; Preface pp.31–32

Selected narrative and comparative opening only; not whole volume or all twenty comparative versions. No practical fishing, food preparation, ceremonial protocols or songs reproduced.

References

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

  1. Primary textBoas/Tate 1916: The Prince Who Was DesertedResearch access: 2026-10-05
  2. Primary textBoas 1895: Matthias’s Deserted OneResearch access: 2026-10-05
  3. Primary textBoas 1902 original Nass River collectionResearch 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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