Loon-associated healer (Tate’s account)

Overview

In Tate’s story of a blind Git-q!a°da hunter, the man successfully shoots a grizzly bear with his young son guiding the arrow. His wife conceals the kill and eats the meat with the child while depriving her husband. The boy secretly tells his father the truth and offers him food. The hunter subsequently asks the boy to lead him to a woodland lake, where he stays crying after sending his son home.

He hears a loon calling progressively nearer. Someone touches him and asks why he weeps; the hunter addresses this visitor as a supernatural being and requests restored sight. The visitor removes obstructing matter from each eye in four successive treatments. At first the man sees only a little light, then indistinct shapes, and finally clearly. The being disappears after the fourth treatment. Blood, ashes, hair, dust and other matter remain in the water.

The visitor reproaches the hunter for failing to shield his face when harmful things pass before his eyes. This is the story’s explanation, not a medical account of blindness. Although the approach is marked by loon calls, the passage does not explicitly describe a loon changing into a human body. The restored man returns to his son; the distinct owl transformation and later death at the story’s ending involve his wife, not this healer.

Origins & earliest records

Franz Boas, Tsimshian Mythology, based on texts recorded by Henry W. Tate, published in 1916 in the Bureau of American Ethnology’s thirty-first report for 1909–1910. Boas translated Tate’s free interlinear English renderings of his Tsimshian texts. The preface notes Tate’s editorial choices and some influence from published collections; the 1916 volume omits the original-language text.

Records & interpretation

Story 37, The Blind Git-q!a°da, complete pp. 246–250; preface pp. 31–32.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Tsimshian Mythology

   Henry W. Tate, recorder; Franz Boas, translator and editor · 1916

   Story 37, The Blind Git-q!a°da, complete pp. 246–250; preface pp. 31–32.

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 textBoas/Tate 1916: story 37, The Blind Git-q!a°daResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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