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

Overview

The youngest of three brothers loses his own possessions and those of his siblings through gambling. Hungry enough to swallow used cooking stones, he leaves home secretly. An old woman feeds him, shelters him and warns him how to pass two singing women and approach a dangerous old man. At that second dwelling, human flesh hangs drying outside. The traveller addresses the host as grandfather, but the story establishes no biological relationship.

Following the woman’s instructions, he refuses gifts from the first three boxes, each containing human heads, and accepts the fourth. The host brings out a beautiful head covered in red feathers, opens the traveller’s body to remove the swallowed stones, washes him and fits the new head. He also supplies four skin mantles and the name Sk’oö’ts. This is a supernatural bodily remaking; the text does not describe his prior execution or identify the original owner of the replacement head.

The host sends him back to the two singers, who now accept him as their husband. They warn that their continual singing must be tolerated. Returning home, he is welcomed by his parents, then agrees to gamble again. His new appearance has not itself removed his vulnerability: he again loses everything except a staff. Only when a wife shows him how to play does he recover his property and win the other players’ belongings.

The wives warn him against the women who formerly rejected him. Those women had cut away pieces of their clothes after his touch; his mother preserved the pieces. When they now seek him as a husband, he sends their discarded scraps back and dismisses them. The tale ends in this reversal, not in a stated cure of gambling, a punishment of the cannibal host or an explanation of the singers’ ancestry.

Stones removed from his bodyNew head covered with red feathersTwo continually singing wivesWife supplies decisive gaming instruction
01

Origins & earliest records

Boas1895, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Shuswap collection at Kamloops, I no8, Der Spieler,14–15. Individual teller not named; collection intermediary described in preface.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete German narrative and source boundary read; original printed13–15 inspected. Collector wording and local narrative actions are retained without biological or historical verification claims.

In the literature

“Er hatte nur noch einen Stab.”
Franz Boas · Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas
I. Shushwap, Kamloops; 8. Der Spieler, complete pp.14–15; brief German narrative excerpt p.15 · German witness by Boas; Shushwap recording mediated through an unnamed French-Indigenous intermediary; no independent translation claimed

A youngest son with two brothers and two sisters loses the family’s property by gambling and departs after swallowing cooking stones. Warned by an old woman, he meets a cannibal who spares him and replaces his head with one decorated by red feathers after removing the stones. Renamed Sk’oö’ts, he marries two singing women and returns to his family. After losing again, he follows his wife’s advice, wins the property back and rejects people who formerly disdained him.

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 no8, Der Spieler,14–15, complete narrative and original pages. The unnamed French-Indigenous intermediary applies to the collection; no individual telling date supplied.

  2. 02

    Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas — I. Shushwap, Kamloops; 8. Der Spieler, complete pp.14–15

    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; 8. Der Spieler, complete pp.14–15

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. A youngest son with two brothers and two sisters loses the family’s property by gambling and departs after swallowing cooking stones. Warned by an old woman, he meets a cannibal who spares him and replaces his head with one decorated by red feathers after removing the stones. Renamed Sk’oö’ts, he marries two singing women and returns to his family. After losing again, he follows his wife’s advice, wins the property back and rejects people who formerly disdained him.

    I. Shushwap, Kamloops; 8. Der Spieler, complete pp.14–15

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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