Wok’üs, Siä’latsa’s horned hunting helper

Overview

When cedar hunting nets fail in Boas’s Siä’latsa narrative, the hero seeks a mountain being called Stlä’lak’am. A footnote explains that this word means something supernatural; it is not established here as a unique species name. The being carries a needle-sharp horn at the back of its neck. Siä’latsa’s companions flee on seeing it, but he advances leaning on his staff. The creature falls asleep, he touches it with the staff and calls it Wok’üs, then scratches its head. Its ears move with pleasure. This sequence presents a dangerous being made tractable, without describing a change into an ordinary dog.

Ten people hold a cedar rope around its neck and lead it down to the settlement. When it scents deer and elk, they restrain it until Siä’latsa orders them to release the rope. It then rushes the animals and kills them by driving its horn into their bellies. The animals are skinned, and their back sinews supply material for another hunting net. The horn belongs at the nape in the source; assigning it to the forehead would turn a specific anatomical detail into a familiar but different monster design.

The new net fails in two reported ways: it is too small, or people eat it during famine. When Siä’latsa withdraws angrily to bed, villagers fear he will set Wok’üs on them and leave. That feared attack is never carried out in the recorded story. The next morning the being has vanished from the place where he tied it beside the house, and its subsequent fate is not explained. Its disappearance is distinct from the earlier serpents’ deaths in the burning pit.

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.2, pp.47–50, including the closing alternate account and collector’s ancestry qualifications, read in German and checked against original printed-page images. Boas’s preface describes oral collection on repeated journeys, much mediated through Chinook Jargon, without identifying this episode’s exact translation route. These are attributed narrative records, not evidence of biological organisms.

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.2, Siä’latsa, complete printed pp.47–50 including variant and ancestry notes. German collector-mediated account; preface identifies mixed translation routes for the collection without assigning a named individual teller or exact interview date to this episode.

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.2, pp.47–50Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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