Sqä’lek’en and the Thunderbird’s eyes

Overview

Boas’s Cowichan section places this episode at Tsimö’nes. While ducks are being prepared for a communal meal, Sqä’lek’en cannot wait for his portion and cleans and eats their entrails. His older brother responds by beating his face with cedar branches and covering the wounds with wood shavings. The injured young man recovers enough to leave, catches ducks, and goes to seek mountain goats. His brother follows, destroys his canoe and attacks him again, leaving him with his face torn and believing him dead. The account calls him nearly dead and later lying as if dead; it does not explicitly narrate a completed death followed by resurrection.

After ten days, Sqä’lek’en awakens and finds that the Thunderbird has visited and given him its eyes. Looking about now makes fire flash from them. When his eldest brother returns that day to inspect him, the young man looks at him and the fire kills him. The ending generalizes the deadly consequence to anyone he looks at with those fiery eyes. It does not describe the donor losing its own sight, give Sqä’lek’en a bird’s body, or identify him as a new Thunderbird. The source’s title names the bird, but the plot centers on a human recipient of one specific power.

Origins & earliest records

Franz Boas prints this account under Cowitchin, his historical spelling for Cowichan communities of southeastern Vancouver Island. The episode belongs to the 1895 collected German edition; publication is not a date for the tradition’s beginning. No individually named narrator is supplied here.

Records & interpretation

Complete IV.4, pp.50–51 read in German, including its ending, and checked against original printed-page images. The collection’s oral and translation mediation does not establish physical existence. Historical spellings identify this witness without imposing a standardized modern name.

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 · 1895

   Cowitchin section IV.4, pp.50–51, complete German narrative and notes; original printed pages checked. Collection-level translation mediation is described in the preface; no unrecorded individual interview date is inferred.

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.

References

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

1. PrimaryBoas 1895, Cowitchin IV.4, pp.50–51Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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