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

Overview

Red and Spots belong to White-Bear Woman in Tate’s story of ten hunting brothers. She lends them to the surviving youngest brother and tells him to keep the pups inside his garment. When he faces the bear village’s attack, he initially relies on arrows and a spear. Only at the point of exhaustion does he remember the dogs and call each by name.

Thrown onto the ground and urged to grow, the pups become enormous dogs stronger than the attacking grizzlies. They continue fighting while the hunter recovers. Once the bears are dead, he pets the tired dogs, reducing them to pups small enough to carry at his belt again. Their change of size is reversible and depends on the described interaction; the account gives no permanent giant dimensions.

Later the hunter and White-Bear Woman take them into the den of a woman who has killed passing hunters. The dogs grow at the wife’s call, attack before the woman can summon her supernatural helpers and destroy her body. Her head nevertheless remains alive. The wife pets the dogs back to their small forms, but both are dead when the couple reach home. The hunter dies afterward, and she carries their bodies away. The story gives neither dog an individual fate separate from the other, so they remain a paired entry.

Named pair of portable pupsBecome giant dogs at a callStronger than grizzly attackersShrink when pettedDie together after the cave encounter
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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.

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Records & interpretation

Story 16, The Hunters, complete pp. 145–152, including the final cave confrontation and deaths; preface pp. 31–32.

In the literature

“his two dogs were stronger than any kind of animal.”
Henry W.Tate; Franz Boas · Tsimshian Mythology
16. The Hunters, complete pp.145–152; brief prose p.151 · Franz Boas, based on Henry W.Tate’s free interlinear rendering, Preface31

The woman gives the youngest hunter two pups named Red and Spots. They become giant dogs during the grizzly-bear conflict, protect the exhausted hunter, and subsequently regain their small size. They accompany the married couple home and overcome the later cannibal shaman woman, whose severed head remains alive. In the final paragraph both pups are dead, followed by the husband’s death. White-Bear Woman carries all three bodies home; their revival is not stated.

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 16, The Hunters, complete pp. 145–152, including the final cave confrontation and deaths; preface pp. 31–32.

  2. 02

    Tsimshian Mythology — 16. The Hunters, complete pp.145–152

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

    Washington: Government Printing Office,1916; Thirty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,1909–1910. Complete selected English narrative16 and attached technical footnotes independently read. Original selected transformation148, conflict150, marriage151 and ending152 visually checked. Preface31–32 translation provenance previously 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 — 16. The Hunters, complete pp.145–152

Washington: Government Printing Office,1916; Thirty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,1909–1910. Complete selected English narrative16 and attached technical footnotes independently read. Original selected transformation148, conflict150, marriage151 and ending152 visually checked. Preface31–32 translation provenance previously independently inspected; comparative chapters not included in this reading claim.

  1. The woman gives the youngest hunter two pups named Red and Spots. They become giant dogs during the grizzly-bear conflict, protect the exhausted hunter, and subsequently regain their small size. They accompany the married couple home and overcome the later cannibal shaman woman, whose severed head remains alive. In the final paragraph both pups are dead, followed by the husband’s death. White-Bear Woman carries all three bodies home; their revival is not stated.

    16. The Hunters, complete pp.145–152

No whole volume, comparative-note coverage, independent Tsimshian translation or universal resurrection claim. No transformation formulas, restoration procedure, songs or ritual instructions reproduced.

References

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

  1. Primary textBoas/Tate 1916: The HuntersResearch 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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