A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
At Pötr’mten, above Fort Douglas in Boas’s geography, two sisters receive unidentified male visitors at night. Each bears a child the following day, but neither knows the father’s identity. They smear their hands with fat and red pigment, then mark the visitors when they return. Watching the village’s young men bathe reveals no coloured bodies. Passing a boatbuilder, however, the sisters discover red pigment on his hammer and one wood shaving. The objects have been taking male human form.
The sisters tell their visitors that they recognize them and ask why they always leave in the morning. The men then stay, retaining human form. Their former owner later scolds them and claims them as his property, upsetting the women. The two families make a large basket, sit inside with their children, tie it closed and have it thrown into the water. Wind and waves carry it to another place, where they open it and emerge. The men make planks and build a house. The ending identifies them as ancestors of the Pötr’mten, without supplying a genealogy for later named individuals.
Boas places the tale in his Lower Fraser section but qualifies that arrangement: stories situated above Fort Douglas may belong more appropriately among Lillooet traditions, although he includes them because he heard them from a Stseélis narrator. His section credits George Stseélis and his wife with most of its tales, not with an individually itemized attribution for every story. The ancestral claim is therefore retained as the narrative’s own conclusion, with the collector’s geographic uncertainty visible.
Origins & earliest records
Boas1895, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, III.5 Die Pötr’mten,40–41; collection introduction18–19.
Records & interpretation
Complete German story and introduction read, original40–41 and18–19 inspected. Instant childbirth, material identities, voluntary departure and source-level ancestry claim are retained without an invented community pedigree.
In the literature
“blieben sie bei den Frauen und behielten ihre menschliche Gestalt.”
III. Sagen vom unteren Fraser River; 5. Die Pötr’mten, complete pp.40–41; brief exact German prose p.41 · Boas’s German collected narrative witness; no independent Indigenous-language translation claimed
Two daughters each bear a child after mysterious men visit at night. Red marking reveals a hammer and wood shaving as the visitors, who have assumed human form. When recognized they remain with the women. Their former owner’s claim distresses the women; both couples and children leave in a basket, land elsewhere and build a household. The story identifies them as ancestors of the named community.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas
III.5,40–41, complete;18–19 collection introduction qualifies geography and credits most, rather than all, tales to the named couple.
- 02
Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas — III. Sagen vom unteren Fraser River; 5. Die Pötr’mten, complete pp.40–41
Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895, actual title imprint verified. Complete selected German episode(s) and attached notes independently read; original18–19 introduction and40–45 pages inspected.
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 — III. Sagen vom unteren Fraser River; 5. Die Pötr’mten, complete pp.40–41
Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895, actual title imprint verified. Complete selected German episode(s) and attached notes independently read; original18–19 introduction and40–45 pages inspected.
- Two daughters each bear a child after mysterious men visit at night. Red marking reveals a hammer and wood shaving as the visitors, who have assumed human form. When recognized they remain with the women. Their former owner’s claim distresses the women; both couples and children leave in a basket, land elsewhere and build a household. The story identifies them as ancestors of the named community.
III. Sagen vom unteren Fraser River; 5. Die Pötr’mten, complete pp.40–41; Complete III5,40–41
No entire volume, original performance or independent Indigenous-language translation inspected. Collection-wide majority attribution is not converted into a definite individual-teller credit. Adjacent III6–7 seen only incidentally, not claimed as new complete coverage.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textOriginal Boas1895 collected volumeResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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