A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
A princess from Q!adu’ in old Metlakahtla refuses her cousin’s proposed marriage. While gathering fern roots near Kiyaks River on the north side of the Skeena, she meets someone who appears to be that cousin. She leaves with him by canoe, but reaches a strange island and sees the canoe become a drift-log. Mouse Woman reveals that her husband is an otter prince sent by his father to take her.
The otter household expels her when childbirth approaches. Mouse Woman brings her fire, and the princess gives birth to an otter. At first she rejects the baby, repeatedly throwing him into the water, but he keeps returning and she finally cares for him. He grows into a speaking provider, catching fish and crabs for her. The mother later kills the adult otter household with Mouse Woman’s help. Her son is unhappy when he discovers the deaths; his loyalty to his mother does not erase his connection to his father’s people.
The young otter locates his maternal grandfather and offers to carry his mother across the sea. Gravel dropped along the journey becomes resting sandbars, then a passage toward the mainland. The story links these formations to the entrance of Metlakahtla Channel. At first human shellfish gatherers try to kill the unfamiliar animal, but the princess carries him safely into her father’s house and explains who he is.
The grandfather publicly identifies the child at feasts and asks other communities not to hurt him. The otter’s catches support his relatives and provide abundance during winter scarcity. One community, however, is absent from the feast. Its hunters later kill him while he carries a large seal, take the seal and discard the otter, unaware of his identity. His mother dies of grief; the responsible chief brings compensation to her father.
The husband and child are different generations with opposing narrative roles. The father participates in the deception and expulsion; the son saves the princess and supplies her family. Both receive princely language in the English text, which should not collapse them into one character.
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 21, The Otter Who Married the Princess, complete pp. 166–172 through the mother’s death, compensation and closing warning; preface pp. 31–32.
In the literature
“So the princess died of sorrow.”
21. The Otter Who Married the Princess, complete pp.166–172; brief prose p.172 · Franz Boas, based on Henry W.Tate’s free interlinear rendering, Preface31
An Otter prince impersonates a princess’s rejected cousin and takes her to an island household. Mouse Woman identifies the deception. The pregnant princess is expelled and gives birth to an Otter son; Mouse Woman helps her survive. The woman kills the Otter household while her son is away. He later carries her across the sea and makes sandbars and a passage to the mainland, where her father receives them. He provisions his grandfather’s village. Hunters of a tribe omitted from the protective feast kill him without recognizing his status. His mother dies of grief; the hunters’ chief pays compensation, and the account closes with a warning about Otter deception.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Tsimshian Mythology
Story 21, The Otter Who Married the Princess, complete pp. 166–172 through the mother’s death, compensation and closing warning; preface pp. 31–32.
- 02
Tsimshian Mythology — 21. The Otter Who Married the Princess, complete pp.166–172
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 — 21. The Otter Who Married the Princess, complete pp.166–172
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.
- An Otter prince impersonates a princess’s rejected cousin and takes her to an island household. Mouse Woman identifies the deception. The pregnant princess is expelled and gives birth to an Otter son; Mouse Woman helps her survive. The woman kills the Otter household while her son is away. He later carries her across the sea and makes sandbars and a passage to the mainland, where her father receives them. He provisions his grandfather’s village. Hunters of a tribe omitted from the protective feast kill him without recognizing his status. His mother dies of grief; the hunters’ chief pays compensation, and the account closes with a warning about Otter deception.
Selected narrative only; not whole volume or comparative chapter. No songs, ritual/healing, plant use, food preparation, practical hunting or ornament-making instructions reproduced.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textBoas/Tate 1916: Otter prince and son (Tate’s account)Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.