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

Overview

Two adjacent Yana narratives give Ilhataina distinct introductions. The Hakas and the Tennas ends with Tsuwalkai Marimi finding a child beneath a plant and Dari Jowa taking him; his speech becomes thunder. In the separately titled Ilhataina, the older Tsore Jowa digs up roots and finds the child attached to them, then raises him herself. These women and foster arrangements are not collapsed into one sequence.

In the second telling, Ilhataina learns that Gowila has killed his people. He breaks all the stored bows except an old sinew weapon, pulls up trees, and twice emerges unharmed from boiling-water preparations. He creates the sound and appearance of a crowded gathering to lure Gowila. Ordinary arrow hits cannot stop either Gowila or his dog; a voice from one of the Pleiades reveals each vulnerable little toe. Ilhataina strikes those points and defeats them.

Wearing Gowila’s skin, he revives the dog and enters the enemy’s household in disguise. Gowila’s younger brother recognises the smell of the flesh Ilhataina serves, but the others eat it. Ilhataina later burns the closed house and gathers the discarded legs of Gowila’s victims. Placed in the river, these remains become living people who return to Tsore Jowa’s house. Rescue and brutal revenge are both retained in the complete account.

His strength and voice frighten the restored community: moving trees shakes the ground, and the house trembles at his actions. He refuses gifts of beads, shells and fine robes, choosing Jupka’s old rabbit-skin robe instead. He brings a black cloud, announces that future rain will fall from his robe, and flashes into it. Curtin identifies Ilhataina with lightning. The profile does not adopt his speculative equation with the Wintu Tulchuherris as a shared identity.

Different root-born introductionsRapid growthIllusory gatheringEnemy skin disguiseRestoration from remainsRain from rabbit robe
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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 Tennas297–310 and Ilhataina313–322 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 Tennas297–310 and Ilhataina313–322; 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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