Nine Visits to the MythworldThe nine stories contained in this volume are the finest offerings from one of the last of the traditional Haida storytellers, Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas. Ghandl was born in 1851 in a small Haida island community off the coast of British Columbia. His world was devastated by waves of European diseases, which wiped out over ninety percent of the Haidas and robbed him of his sight. He became a skilled listener, taking in the myths, legends, and everyday stories of his people. Creatively adapting them, the blind storyteller became a master of his craft. In 1900 John Swanton, with the help of a translator, transcribed a number of Ghandl's narrative poems. Nearly all of the poems in this volume are qqaygaang, narrative poems set in the Haida mythtime of long ago. One story, ?The Names of Their Gambling Sticks,? is a qqayaagaang, a story that juxtaposes mythtime and historical time and is the property of a Haida family. Each poem creatively enacts a myth in a way that illuminates and celebrates the traditional world of the Haidas and reveals Ghandl's own acute sense of the foibles and great potential of all human beings. Meticulously and sensitively translated and annotated by Robert Bringhurst, these stories have finally been given the attention they deserve. |
Contents
Xayna Llanagaay 1888 | 14 |
The Northern Northwest Coast of North America | 36 |
Great Blue Heron and Human | 50 |
Bill Reid Crown of a threeheaded housepole | 76 |
In His Fathers Village Someone Was Just About | 81 |
Daxhiigang Female Shaman with Seawolf | 108 |
Gwaay Ttiihl Shaman Performing | 126 |
Those Who Stay a Long Way Out to Sea | 129 |
Anonymous Face of a Man | 142 |
Anonymous Gambling sticks and pouch | 170 |
Haida Spelling and Pronunciation | 193 |
Notes to the Illustrations | 213 |
Other editions - View all
Nine Visits to the Mythworld: Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas Limited preview - 2023 |
Common terms and phrases
arrows asked awhile Bill Reid Boas bones British Columbia brothers brought called canoe carried carver cedarbark chewed child Classical Haida coming ashore deadfalls door dorsal fin eagle edge elder English father father-in-law fire fishing flew front FTER Gambling Sticks gave Ghandl glottalized grabbed Haida Gwaii halibut head headman heron Hlagwajiina housepole human humpback whale hunter husband inside John Enrico killed killer whales Kingagwaaw Llaanas Llanagaay looked lovely feathers marmots marry my wife morning mother mouse Museum Native American nephew Nishga northern Haida Northwest Coast paddled perched poem pole pulled Qaysun Qquuna Raven redcedar Reid Sawahliixha sealion seaward Seawolf Seawolf skin shaman sister snare someone spat the medicine spirit powers started stood Story as Sharp swam Swanton n.d.2 Tahltan theme thing Tlaaganaaqati Tlingit told took town trail Tsetsaut Tsimshian uncle uncle's village walked woman youngest