David Neel - Raven Falling From the Sky World
By Lattimer Gallery
Posted in News, on October 19, 2024
David Neel has recently completed three red cedar masks embodying three Kwakwaka'wakw stories. This is the story of Raven Falling From the Sky World as told by David Neel, summarized by Lattimer Gallery:
In the early days of the world, there was a chief who, one day, discovered his wife had been meeting a lover in the woods. He was heartbroken, and he shunned his wife and her newborn child. Late one night, she went to see a wicked shaman and he gave her a potent mixture of herbs, so she could feign her death. In the morning, the woman was found dead with her child in her arms. She was taken to a burial house in the forest, where her lover waited for her. The chief heard of this and when he saw his wife with her lover, he became enraged, and killed her, leaving the baby in the woods. Alone in the forest, the baby grew to be a young boy in just a few days. The chief heard of the orphan boy’s growth and realized the infant was supernatural, so he decided to bring him home and raise him as his adopted son. One day, while playing with a friend in the woods, the boy said that he wanted to visit the chief of the Sky-World. With a bow and arrow, they shot a thrush and a woodpecker, skinned them with their feathers still attached and stretched them until they were large enough to be worn. They transformed into the two birds and flew to their destination. The Sky-World chief’s daughter discovered the two birds and took them into her house. Once inside, the boys transformed back into their human form. The young boy asked the chief’s daughter to marry him, and she quickly agreed. After proving himself to the chief, they wed and had a baby boy, who one day slipped from the mother’s hands and fell through a hole in the sky, down to the world below. The baby splashed into the sea, not far from his grandfather’s village. Once discovered, he was brought to the chief. He knew the baby was supernatural, as he survived the sea. When they tried to feed the baby milk, he refused. A wise elder asked for fresh fish to be brought. The baby ate the fish and cried for more. He was ravenous and continued growing. He ate everything in the house, and all the food from each house in the village. The baby, now the size of a small child, revealed himself as Raven. The people became afraid of the child and moved away from the village. Raven disappeared into the forest. The chief and his people heard about Raven’s exploits but, never saw him again.