Tsugk’i’n (Kamloops)

Overview

The birds covet an old fisherman’s spear, decorated with red woodpecker feathers. Several take salmon form and approach him, but he ignores them. Tsugk’i’n, described as a black woodpecker with a red head, finally draws a strike. He breaks off the spear point and escapes with it. Back in bird form, he bargains with the searching fisherman, choosing the last of four mantles, covered in red feathers, in exchange for returning the spear.

Later, the birds see what appears to be a half-dead trout at the river’s edge. Tsugk’i’n sends his companion to take it. The trout instead draws the bird farther into the water, seizes him and disappears with him inside a rock upstream. Boas identifies it as a water being assuming trout form, rather than an ordinary fish or an automatic second identity of the fisherman.

The birds pursue. Tsugk’i’n tells two companions to strike the rock with their beaks while calling his name. Each uses his own name instead and flattens his beak against the stone. Tsugk’i’n himself strikes while using the prescribed name; a crack opens and reveals the captive barely alive. A second strike widens the entrance. He enters, kills the water being and takes his companion home.

The first episode makes him a successful thief and negotiator; the second has him repair the danger into which his instruction sent another bird. The account supplies neither a transformed human ancestry nor a scientific identification for each named bird. The complete paired episodes are preserved together under this named protagonist.

Origins & earliest records

Boas1895, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Shuswap collection at Kamloops, I no7, Der Lachsfischer,13. Individual teller not named; collection intermediary described in preface.

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

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 no7, Der Lachsfischer,13, 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; 7. Der Lachsfischer, complete p.13

   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

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Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

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

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