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

Overview

The brothers Woodpecker and Eagle each train a son in his own skill: climbing trees or soaring in circles. A jealous Prairie Wolf creates a beautiful waterbird from his wife’s excrement and uses it to lure the young men upriver and into the sky. Their fathers gather the animals to seek a route upward. Pelican, a burrowing animal tentatively identified as Mole, Swallow, Eagle and a strong coastal dwarf all fail. T’ämia, grandson of Woodpecker’s wife, then acts on a dream. With his grandmother singing and keeping time, he shoots an arrow chain to the sky entrance and changes it into a broad road.

The assembled people climb the road, overcome the sky inhabitants and recover the two sons. They break the route after returning, overlooking Snail, who arrives too late and falls. Its broken bones explain its subsequent slowness. Learning who caused the disappearance, Woodpecker cuts through the supports and entrance ladder of Prairie Wolf’s house. Its collapse kills Prairie Wolf and his wife. This rescue leads to retaliation rather than ending all danger.

Gray Bear, their enemy’s friend, assumes dog form and waits at a young bird-woman’s house, wishing the sons to court her. The narrative now follows older and younger sons from both households, four in all, who are eaten there. Each father still has a very young son, whom he sends to bathe and strengthen himself. Those two cousins eventually seek their lost brothers. Raccoon advises them and provokes a fight between Quartz Woman and her bear co-wife to let them pass. Pursued by the bear and Lynx, they blind the attackers with rotten wood dust and escape. Gull ferries them across a river and then uses a damaged boat and a prolonged cold-water passage to kill the pursuing bear.

The cousins next stay with Mink and his two blind wives, then receive protective herbs from the women. Buffalo directs them to the underground dwelling of the dead and permits their entrance. They find their four brothers playing there. The dead say that they are strong below but powerless above; each living cousin offers to carry his own two brothers back and restore them where their bones lie. The return and revival succeed. Their parents, blinded by grief, are made young and healthy, and the two rescuers become powerful hunters and chiefs. The later marriage episode involving Eagle’s son and Qut follows this recovery but does not undo the separate roles of the many helpers.

Arrow chain becomes a road to the skySnail falls after the route is brokenFour brothers recovered from the underworldBlind grieving parents restored
01

Origins & earliest records

Boas1895, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, III.3 Der Specht und der Adler,30–36. The section credits most tales to George Stseélis and his wife without individually assigning every item.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete German narrative30–36, footnote and all original pages read, with collection introduction18–19. Added family members, separate rescues and unresolved transitions remain as narrated.

In the literature

“Die Brüder liessen sich dann zurücktragen und sie wurden wieder lebendig.”
Franz Boas · Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas
III. Sagen vom unteren Fraser River; 3. Der Specht und der Adler, complete pp.30–36 and note; brief exact German prose p.33 · Boas’s German collected narrative witness; no independent Indigenous-language translation claimed

Woodpecker and Eagle are brothers whose sons are lured to the sky by a bird created through Prairie Wolf’s trick. T’ämia, explicitly the grandson of Woodpecker’s wife, makes a sky route; the sons are rescued and the route removed before Snail returns. Woodpecker destroys Prairie Wolf’s house, killing him and his wife. Their Bear ally then kills older sons of both bird households. The youngest sons evade dangerous helpers and pursuers, accept aid from Mink and Buffalo, enter the dead people’s region, recover their four brothers and restore them to life. Their grieving parents regain health. Later Qut marriages and Mink encounters continue the same published narrative.

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; Lower Fraser narrators include George Stseélis and his wife · 1895

    III.3,30–36, complete body and note; all original pages checked. Selected character focus does not merge other regional versions.

  2. 02

    Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas — III. Sagen vom unteren Fraser River; 3. Der Specht und der Adler, complete pp.30–36 and note

    Franz Boas; individual Lower Fraser teller not identified for this selected story · 1895

    Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895, actual title imprint verified. Complete selected German III3 narrative30–36 and attached footnote read in retained OCR and every original printed page; collection introduction18–19 also inspected.

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 — III. Sagen vom unteren Fraser River; 3. Der Specht und der Adler, complete pp.30–36 and note

Berlin: A. Asher & Co.,1895, actual title imprint verified. Complete selected German III3 narrative30–36 and attached footnote read in retained OCR and every original printed page; collection introduction18–19 also inspected.

  1. Woodpecker and Eagle are brothers whose sons are lured to the sky by a bird created through Prairie Wolf’s trick. T’ämia, explicitly the grandson of Woodpecker’s wife, makes a sky route; the sons are rescued and the route removed before Snail returns. Woodpecker destroys Prairie Wolf’s house, killing him and his wife. Their Bear ally then kills older sons of both bird households. The youngest sons evade dangerous helpers and pursuers, accept aid from Mink and Buffalo, enter the dead people’s region, recover their four brothers and restore them to life. Their grieving parents regain health. Later Qut marriages and Mink encounters continue the same published narrative.

    III. Sagen vom unteren Fraser River; 3. Der Specht und der Adler, complete pp.30–36 and note

No whole book, original performance or independent Indigenous-language translation inspected. Incidental precedingIII2 not claimed as complete; referenced earlier reports not independently read. Practical cultural procedures and chants excluded.

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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