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

Overview

The Hakas and the Tennas begins with a dispute between hunting companions over the strength of their arrowheads. A Tenna dies after testing a Haka flint point against his own body, prompting the Tennas to kill their companions. Repeated deceptive hunting invitations develop into a campaign against Haka men, women and children. At last only the elder Tsuwalkai Marimi and her grandson Tsawandi Kamshu remain. Before he too is killed, he leaves spittle beside his sleeping place and predicts that a child will arise there.

Tsuwalkai mourns under siege while the Tennas mock her grief. On the fourth night a baby appears among dirt and ashes. She wonders whether he is her grandson’s returning spirit and calls him Tsawandi Kamshupa. The source preserves that thought as hers. Repeated washing makes the boy grow quickly. He breaks the stored bows except the old defender’s own weapon, which he recognises as belonging to a strong man.

The new defender approaches Tenna women while their removable teeth hang out of reach. He offers flesh deceptively described as venison and bread conjured from red flint meal. The food kills them. He then uses a false invitation and the same food against the people in their house. Four refuse it and block his exit with their jaws; he springs between them, shoots three, and leaves one survivor who becomes the ancestor of later Tennas.

Tsuwalkai can finally leave to gather roots. She discovers another infant beneath a plant whose stalk grows from its navel. Dari Jowa takes this child, Ilhataina, whose voice shakes the house and earth. The ending begins a different figure’s career. Curtin associates Hakas with flint and Tennas with grizzlies; his further reading of the feud as lightning against clouds is editorial interpretation, not a replacement for the story’s violence, mourning and survival.

Spittle-born successorRapid growth through washingRemovable Tenna teethConjured flint breadOne Tenna survivor
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Origins & earliest records

Jeremiah Curtin, Creation Myths of Primitive America in Relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind (Boston: Little, Brown,1898). Collection notes486–487 distinguish the first nine narratives as Wintu and the later thirteen as Yana. Curtin describes California collecting in1895 and prior publication of these narratives in The Sun. The Yana section begins at281; these selected chapters do not name individual tellers.

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Records & interpretation

Complete The Hakas and the Tennas,297–310 read through its final episode; relevant personage lists and collector notes520–521 checked. No independent Indigenous-language transcript is claimed.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Creation Myths of Primitive America

    Jeremiah Curtin, collector and English presenter; individual Yana teller unnamed here · 1898

    The Hakas and the Tennas,297–310; Yana section statement281 and collection provenance486–487.

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. Primary textCurtin1898 digitised primary 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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