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

Overview

Rabbit lives with his grandmother beside a gray bear and its two young. Despite his grandmother’s warning, he raids Bear’s store, leaving only baskets of wasps and ants. He has the stolen food cooked and gives a feast. When Bear investigates, Rabbit initially echoes his accusations word for word, then admits the theft and boasts that the food is already eaten.

Preparing to fight, Rabbit places his grandmother beneath a basket, puts on his mantle and tears off one leg to use as a hammer. He fills the house with smoke and springs around Bear. Even after Bear catches and squeezes him, Rabbit escapes and keeps moving until the larger opponent tires. He then kills Bear with the leg-weapon and kills the young bears too.

The brief account ends there: it gives neither a restoration of Rabbit’s leg nor a punishment for the theft and killings. His escape and victory are narrative outcomes, not evidence that his behaviour is endorsed. This whole Kamloops episode is distinct from the chest-kicking rabbit that Tlé’esa defeats in the neighbouring tale.

Food-store theftEchoes an accuser’s speechDetached leg used as a hammerKills the bear household
01

Origins & earliest records

Boas1895, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Shuswap collection at Kamloops, I no4, Das Kaninchen,11. 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

“Das Kaninchen und seine Grossmutter lebten in einem unterirdischen Hause.”
Franz Boas · Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas
I. Shushwap, Kamloops; 4. Das Kaninchen, complete p.11; brief German narrative excerpt p.11 · German witness by Boas; Shushwap recording mediated through an unnamed French-Indigenous intermediary; no independent translation claimed

Rabbit and his grandmother live underground near a Bear household. Rabbit steals the stored food except wasps and ants, repeats Bear’s questions and eventually confesses. Rabbit protects his grandmother beneath a basket and uses his severed leg in a fight with Bear, killing Bear and then Bear’s two children.

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 no4, Das Kaninchen,11, 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; 4. Das Kaninchen, complete p.11

    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; 4. Das Kaninchen, complete p.11

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. Rabbit and his grandmother live underground near a Bear household. Rabbit steals the stored food except wasps and ants, repeats Bear’s questions and eventually confesses. Rabbit protects his grandmother beneath a basket and uses his severed leg in a fight with Bear, killing Bear and then Bear’s two children.

    I. Shushwap, Kamloops; 4. Das Kaninchen, complete p.11

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.

FT·2762 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑