A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Six brothers from Prairie Town on the upper Skeena kill many mountain goats but take only their fat, leaving the rest. Children also torment a captured kid with water and fire. A youth called Really Black, whose full name Boas gives as Really Black Raven Feather, rescues it and leads it back toward the mountains. The contrasting treatment of the same animal people sets up the later division between vengeance and gratitude.
Messengers subsequently invite the whole settlement to a new house below the mountain. The hosts wear goat headdresses and skins, a mountain appears inside the building, and a one-horned goat descends during the songs. Its kicks collapse the house and floor, destroying the guests. One young host has already drawn Really Black behind a post; when the destruction ends, the post is a small spruce on a steep mountainside and the two remain beside it.
The host identifies himself as the rescued kid. He explains that the goats suffer because their bodies and bones are abandoned on the mountains, and that they have retaliated against the community. He lends his skin to his rescuer, demonstrates how to descend the cliffs and gives instructions for reviving selected relatives. Wearing the garment, Really Black gains secure footing, reaches the bodies below and restores them by jumping over them. He leaves the borrowed skin on a tree branch before going home.
The survivors return to gather and burn the goats’ abandoned remains. In the narrative’s explanation, this releases the animals from the sickness caused by scattered bodies. The conclusion therefore goes beyond the catastrophe: the rescued kid makes both human survival and changed treatment of animals possible. The text does not equate this helpful goat with the one-horned dancer who brings the house down.
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 12, The Feast of the Mountain Goats, complete pp. 131–135, including the rescue, restoration and final treatment of remains; preface pp. 31–32.
In the literature
“Therefore the Goats took vengeance on your people.”
12. The Feast of the Mountain Goats, complete prose pp.131–135; music/words p.133 not reproduced; brief prose p.134 · Franz Boas, based on Henry W.Tate’s free interlinear rendering, Preface31
Mountain Goats take revenge on hunters who waste their bodies and children who torment a Kid. Really Black rescues that Kid. Goat people invite the village to a feast, where a one-horned Goat collapses the house and buries the guests. The rescued Kid, now a young man, protects Really Black, explains the revenge and lends his garment. Really Black safely descends, restores his relatives and returns home; the community changes its conduct toward animals in the closing explanation.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Tsimshian Mythology
Story 12, The Feast of the Mountain Goats, complete pp. 131–135, including the rescue, restoration and final treatment of remains; preface pp. 31–32.
- 02
Tsimshian Mythology — 12. The Feast of the Mountain Goats, complete prose pp.131–135; music/words p.133 not reproduced
Washington: Government Printing Office,1916; Thirty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,1909–1910. Complete selected English narrative(s) and attached technical footnotes read in retained OCR. Original selected opening/identity/ending pages visually checked. Preface31–32 translation provenance independently inspected. Comparative chapters not included in this reading claim.
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.
Tsimshian Mythology — 12. The Feast of the Mountain Goats, complete prose pp.131–135; music/words p.133 not reproduced
Washington: Government Printing Office,1916; Thirty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,1909–1910. Complete selected English narrative(s) and attached technical footnotes read in retained OCR. Original selected opening/identity/ending pages visually checked. Preface31–32 translation provenance independently inspected. Comparative chapters not included in this reading claim.
- Mountain Goats take revenge on hunters who waste their bodies and children who torment a Kid. Really Black rescues that Kid. Goat people invite the village to a feast, where a one-horned Goat collapses the house and buries the guests. The rescued Kid, now a young man, protects Really Black, explains the revenge and lends his garment. Really Black safely descends, restores his relatives and returns home; the community changes its conduct toward animals in the closing explanation.
12. The Feast of the Mountain Goats, complete prose pp.131–135; music/words p.133 not reproduced
No whole volume or independent Tsimshian translation claimed; no songs, prayers, net-making procedures, food processing or ritual preparation reproduced.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textBoas/Tate 1916: The Feast of the Mountain GoatsResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.