Ku´urkịl in Qo´tirġịn’s raven tale

Overview

Ku´urkịl is the mythical Raven named in Qo´tirġịn’s account recorded at Mi´s·qạn in November 1900. Bogoras’s footnote also records the local pronunciations Ku´rkịl, Qu´urkil and Qu´urqịl. Raven invites animal suitors for his daughter. Hare wins the shooting test and alone has a sledge that withstands her weight; he later creates a house, sledges and reindeer by kicking natural objects. When the couple and their child visit Raven, the hosts offer a dead puppy and excrement, which Hare rejects. On Raven’s return visit, Hare lets him slaughter a reindeer. Raven remains beside its carcass, eating and fouling it, then brings home the bones and tries to pass their covering off as fat.

His wife Miti´ exposes the deception. Raven initially appears to die from shame, but the narrator immediately corrects this to a simulated death. After being left in an old jawbone house, he leaves, turns parts of his body into sewing equipment and takes a husband among the Reindeer people. A fox informs Miti´ and coaches her to pretend that she has acquired a new suitor. Raven becomes jealous and returns, claiming to have revived. Miti´ points out that she recently saw him in his new household. This time, the narrator expressly says, his death from shame is real. The earlier supposed death therefore provides no evidence of resurrection.

This is one recorded Raven narrative, not a combined biography of all northern raven figures. In the preceding tale, also told by Qo´tirġịn, an unnamed Raven steals a seal from girls, suffers their retaliatory tricks and drowns after mistaking his own tattooed reflection for a prospective bride. Those events belong to that separate telling and are not inserted between the episodes of Ku´urkịl’s marriage tale. No creation of the world is narrated in either of these two accounts.

Elsewhere in the same volume, three separately attributed creation versions give incompatible accounts of Raven’s origins and work. In Aɛ´ttin·qeu’s first version, recorded at Mariinsky Post in October 1900, Raven calls himself self-created. His wife changes her raven body into human form during sleep and bears male twins, while Raven cannot initially accomplish the same bodily change. At the meeting of sky and ground he encounters people formed from the dust of their friction. With one of them as his companion, he makes land and mountains from excrement and lakes and rivers from urine. Chips from different trees become marine and terrestrial animals. A descending Spider-Woman later bears four daughters, providing partners for the previously male population; the narrative also explains the establishment of sexual reproduction.

Rịke´wġi’s second version, likewise recorded at Mariinsky Post in October 1900, assigns the making of land, animals and people to a Creator and his wife. Their digging drains the surrounding water into a great ditch that becomes the sea. Raven emerges afterward from the outer garment they left behind. He claims to be self-created, but after eating fly-agaric provided at the Creator’s direction he identifies himself as the garment’s son. The Creator exposes his claim as false. This is a narrative about a challenged origin claim, not confirmation that all recorded versions make Raven the sole creator.

Va´lẹ’s brief third version, recorded in the same place and month, has Raven scatter stones that become islands and coastal cliffs. He sets his stone house in the western part of Mị´s·qạn Bay, identified editorially as Holy Cross Bay, and crosses to Kị´ịmịn, Cape Prince of Wales on the American shore. These three versions remain separate from Qo´tirġịn’s marriage-and-shame narrative; their actions are not assembled into a single chronological life.

A further witness belongs to a different genre: the incantation for stomach pain told by Keɛ´ulịn at Mị´s·qạn in October 1900. It invokes Qu´urkịl, expressly identified in the note as the Raven of tales and myths, as an assistant whose strong beak breaks ice in an imagined frozen bay. The bay represents the afflicted abdomen, and the clearing of its obstructing material represents relief. Sea-Wind and a hairy maggot take further roles in the same imagery. Bogoras notes that the speaker alternates between first and third person, so references to the returning assistant and practitioner require care. This is evidence of Raven’s role in a publicly recorded ritual text, not a claim that the procedure cures illness or that every described material transformation physically occurred.

Origins & earliest records

Chukchi; narrated by Qo´tirġịn at Mi´s·qạn, November 1900

Records & interpretation

Complete English narrative, ending and attached notes read; title page, introduction and HTML transcription limitations inspected.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Chukchee Mythology

   Waldemar Bogoras, recorder and translator; narrated by Qo´tirġịn; series edited by Franz Boas · 1910

   Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Volume VIII, Part I; Chukchee Texts II.14, A Tale of the Raven Ku´urkịl, pp. 77–83, including all notes; separate comparison II.13, pp. 75–77

2. 02

   Chukchee Mythology

   Waldemar Bogoras, recorder and translator; versions told by Aɛ´ttin·qeu, Rịke´wġi and Va´lẹ · 1910

   Chukchee Tales, I. Creation Tales, 1. Raven Tale, three versions, pp. 151–155; all footnotes

3. 03

   Chukchee Mythology

   Waldemar Bogoras, recorder and translator; incantation told by Keɛ´ulịn · 1910

   Chukchee Texts III.8, Incantation for Pains in the Stomach, pp. 133–135, all notes; recorded Mị´s·qạn, October 1900

Family, evolution & connections

Raven, Miti´ and Hare’s marriage — Qo´tirġịn’s telling

Complete II.14 narrative and footnotes, pp. 77–83; November 1900 attribution.

Explicit spouse, daughter, son/brother, marriage and child statements. Names of the two children, Hare’s mother and the grandchild unstated. The grandchild’s sex is not supplied. Hare’s mother is a separate maternal relation, not Raven’s wife. Raven’s first death is explicitly simulated and final death real; no revival is inferred. This account is not a universal Raven genealogy.

Primary records and illustrations

References

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

1. Historical recorded narrative and English translationBogoras, II.14, A Tale of the Raven Ku´urkịlResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. Historical recorded narratives and English translationBogoras, three Raven creation versionsResearch access: 2026-10-05
3. Historical published ritual text and English translationBogoras, III.8, Raven in a recorded incantationResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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