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

Overview

An elderly Kamloops hunter falls asleep on the mountain and dreams of two singing women. On waking, he finds them present. After their repeated invitations he accompanies them, leaving his hunting gear behind. They are mountain goats in human appearance. When he cannot climb their cliff, they give him shoes that enable the ascent.

Inside their dwelling he sees male and female goats and becomes a male goat himself. The women insist that he wait until the mating season; when it arrives, he defeats the other males. After the season ends, access ceases and the other males return. The telling thus includes restrictions and a seasonal end to his dominance, rather than an unlimited marriage privilege.

Eventually the goats recognize his homesickness and bring him near his village. They tell him that young goats will recognize and play with him and must not be killed, while older goats may be hunted. At first he cannot rejoin people because their scent makes him flee. The villagers, who had searched for his body, discover and bring him back. He later recounts the experience, and young goats continue to approach him on hunts.

This is the complete local hunter account recorded in Boas’s Kamloops group. Its youth-protection instruction remains part of the story rather than a rule attributed to every hunting community. The text does not explicitly identify particular young goats as his biological children, despite the earlier mating episode.

Women appear as goatsShoes enable cliff ascentHunter becomes a male goatYoung goats recognize the returned hunter
01

Origins & earliest records

Boas1895, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Shuswap collection at Kamloops, I no6, Die Bergziegen,12–13. The preface describes an unnamed French-Indigenous intermediary; no individual narrator is supplied here.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete German tale read, with original printed9–13 checked at the relevant boundaries. Narrative transformations and kinship remain source-specific; neither a historical incident nor a universal account of the animal species is asserted.

In the literature

“Er hatte alle Ziegen für sich.”
Franz Boas · Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas
I. Shushwap, Kamloops; 6. Die Bergziegen, complete pp.12–13; brief German narrative excerpt p.12 · German witness by Boas; Shushwap recording mediated through an unnamed French-Indigenous intermediary; no independent translation claimed

An older hunter hears visiting women in a dream and later accepts their invitation. They are mountain goats; he joins their cliff household and becomes a male goat. He wins the mating contest and has the females to himself until the season ends. Homesick, he returns near his village, initially flees human smell, then rejoins people and relates the experience.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas

    Franz Boas; Kamloops Shuswap narrator not individually named · 1895

    I no6, Die Bergziegen,12–13, complete account; preface gives the collection intermediary, not an individual teller name.

  2. 02

    Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas — I. Shushwap, Kamloops; 6. Die Bergziegen, complete pp.12–13

    Franz Boas · 1895

    Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895; actual title-page imprint visually checked in retained original microform PDF. German collected narrative, not an independent modern translation.

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 — I. Shushwap, Kamloops; 6. Die Bergziegen, complete pp.12–13

Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895; actual title-page imprint visually checked in retained original microform PDF. German collected narrative, not an independent modern translation.

  1. An older hunter hears visiting women in a dream and later accepts their invitation. They are mountain goats; he joins their cliff household and becomes a male goat. He wins the mating contest and has the females to himself until the season ends. Homesick, he returns near his village, initially flees human smell, then rejoins people and relates the experience.

    I. Shushwap, Kamloops; 6. Die Bergziegen, complete pp.12–13

No complete book, original performance or original-language transcript inspected; no direct Shushwap-to-German translation claimed. Preface mentions earlier publications that were not separately inspected.

References

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

  1. Primary textOriginal Boas1895 collected volumeResearch 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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