The crows that save the sun

Overview

An unnamed Ainu interlocutor explains to Batchelor why people should tolerate crows taking their food. In the translated story, a hostile power intends to destroy the light and warmth on which people depend by swallowing the rising sun. A creator sends a crow, which waits and then flies down the attacker’s open throat. The sun is saved, and the birds’ later boldness around human provisions is explained as confidence in the benefit they once conferred.

A second version places the event at the first sunrise and has a multitude of crows fly into the attacker’s mouth. While he struggles to remove their feathers, daylight arrives and people can continue hunting and fishing. Batchelor alternates crow and raven in his English discussion; these words are not evidence here for two supernatural species. Neither version says the birds steal or create the sun.

The second telling permits inao offerings but says the birds should not be prayed to. Batchelor then reports prayers to crows and ravens in different districts and proposes a speculative clan explanation for the discrepancy. The conflicting reports are retained without treating that conjecture as established history. His labels God, devil and Satan are the English framing of this witness; the passage supplies no independently verified indigenous personal name for the attacker.

Origins & earliest records

Ainu traditions as reported in John Batchelor’s1901 English account; individual tellers generally unnamed in these passages.

Records & interpretation

Complete chapters V and VI read, including variant legends, contextual comparisons and the attached note; selected original pages inspected.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   The Ainu and their Folk-Lore

   John Batchelor, missionary author and translator of collected traditions · 1901

   VI, Matters Cosmological: The Heights Above, pp.68–70; London: Religious Tract Society,1901. Complete chapter context read, not a collation of the indigenous-language original.

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.

Primary records and illustrations

References

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

1. Historical English ethnographic and narrative accountThe Ainu and their Folk-Lore — VI, Matters Cosmological: The Heights Above, pp.68–70Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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