A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Boas’s German Die Landotter begins by saying that people taken by otter people after a capsize become otters themselves. Its protagonist has boasted that he would resist them. After his canoe overturns while he is travelling with his sister, he reaches shore and sees a fire that seems continually to recede. He refuses to follow it and makes his own fire. A canoe then arrives, and its occupants approach him.
The castaway burns their paddles, which change into crying minks. The visitors disappear, and their canoe is revealed as an old driftwood log. A subsequent attempt also fails. Later a woman calls him by name and offers food, asking him to look at the dishes rather than at her. He initially treats her as another otter deceiver. Eventually her voice seems to be his drowned sister’s; she identifies herself as the sister’s ghost, and he accepts her food without harm.
The man resumes hunting seals but remains wary of visiting canoes. After a month a genuine canoe takes him home. The ending distinguishes the otter people’s attempted capture, the deceased sister’s aid and eventual human rescue; it does not identify every visitor from beyond ordinary life as hostile. The story supplies no secure zoological identification for its otter people and does not describe all the detailed bodily signs found in other Northwest Coast traditions.
The complete earlier German account appears in Boas’s 1895 collection at pp. 290–291, with a later English version inserted as story 60 in his 1916 Tsimshian Mythology. The German gives the offered food as fish and seal meat, whereas the English has fish and seaweed. This variation is retained rather than silently selecting one as the unchanged wording. The 1916 footnote prints a Boas 1 reference whose bibliography numbering is problematic; the matching earlier German passage establishes the comparison independently. Neither inspected version names an individual teller for this particular episode.
Origins & earliest records
Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas (Berlin: A. Asher & Co., 1895), a collected reprint of earlier journal installments. The preface describes recordings mediated variously through Chinook Jargon and direct translation from Indigenous languages; it does not specify one method for every story.
Records & interpretation
Complete German story 10, Die Landotter, pp. 290–291; matching complete English story 60, pp. 345–346, in Boas’s 1916 Tsimshian Mythology. Original scans and edition title inspected.
In the literature
“So ward er gerettet.”
XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 10. Die Landotter, complete pp.290–291; ending German prose p.291 · Boas’s German collected narrative witness; no independent Tsimshian-language translation claimed
The opening says Otter people capture capsized travellers and transform them into otters. A man travelling with his sister reaches land after a wreck and resists a moving fire and deceptive boat arrivals. When he burns their paddles, they become Minks and the apparent boat is revealed as driftwood. He refuses the food of an Otter woman. Later a voice claiming to be his drowned sister offers food that does not harm him. After a month a genuine boat returns him home; he is not transformed into an Otter.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas
Tsimshian section, story 10, Die Landotter, complete pp. 290–291.
- 02
Tsimshian Mythology
Inserted story 60, complete pp. 345–346; printed earlier-source reference checked against the matching German text.
- 03
Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas — XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 10. Die Landotter, complete pp.290–291
Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895; complete German story290–291 independently read in OCR and original printed pixels. PhysicalPDF303–304=printed290–291, selected range verified.
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; 10. Die Landotter, complete pp.290–291
Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895; complete German story290–291 independently read in OCR and original printed pixels. PhysicalPDF303–304=printed290–291, selected range verified.
- The opening says Otter people capture capsized travellers and transform them into otters. A man travelling with his sister reaches land after a wreck and resists a moving fire and deceptive boat arrivals. When he burns their paddles, they become Minks and the apparent boat is revealed as driftwood. He refuses the food of an Otter woman. Later a voice claiming to be his drowned sister offers food that does not harm him. After a month a genuine boat returns him home; he is not transformed into an Otter.
XXIII. Sagen der Tsimschian; 10. Die Landotter, complete pp.290–291
Complete selected German narrative only; no whole book, performance or independent original-language translation. Separate1916 inserted parallel not yet independently read in this batch.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textBoas 1895 original German editionResearch access: 2026-10-05
- Primary textBoas 1916 English renderingResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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