Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest

**Lisa Bueno** (0:00)
Okay, our friends.

**Lisa Bueno** (0:03)
So now we are moving into, of course, some of the same ideas of hearing stories from all over the world that belong together. And today we are going to be focusing on the area that we live in, which is the Pacific Northwest. It's in the United States, and there are peoples who have lived here, the first peoples who have lived here in this area for a very long time. And they have mythology and they have history and they have all kinds of tales that help tell the story of what they believe and why. So today we're going to be reading one of those stories. It's called Raven, A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest. This story was written by Gerald McDermott.
And I absolutely love this series that he's actually done several stories of, this style, so we'll try to get as many of them as we can in.
But today's story is read by Mommy and...

**Philip** (1:08)
Philip! Whoa!

**Lisa Bueno** (1:09)
You're bouncing!

**Philip** (1:11)
Jumpy, jumpy, jumpy, jumpy! Can I push the ceiling from here?

**Lisa Bueno** (1:15)
No, I don't know. It's almost like you're being a trickster. I wonder why.
Now, in the very beginning of this book, when we open it up, it looks like it's the middle of the night, right?

**Lisa Bueno** (1:36)
Raven came.
All the world was in darkness. The sky above was darkness. The waters below were in darkness.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:47)
Men and women lived in the dark and cold. Raven was sad for them.

**Philip** (1:55)
He said, I will search for light.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:01)
Raven flew across valleys and across mountains. He flew along rivers and over lakes.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:08)
There was darkness all around.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:12)
Then he saw a bit of light far away.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:16)
He flew and flew and came closer to the light.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:20)
And the light was at the edge of the water.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:26)
The light came from the house of the sky chief.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:31)
And it was shining.

**Philip** (2:33)
Why doesn't the sky chief just give the sun to everyone and then everyone's happy?

**Lisa Bueno** (2:38)
Yeah, why couldn't they share? You wonder, huh? Raven perched high in a pine tree on the shore.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:47)
Raven watched.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:50)
He saw a beautiful young girl emerge from the shining house and go to the edge of the water. She was the sky chief's daughter. She knelt and drank some water from a woven basket.
Raven changed himself into a pine needle.

**Lisa Bueno** (3:10)
He fell down from the tree and floated in the water.

**Lisa Bueno** (3:13)
When the girl drank again, she swallowed the pine needle.

**Lisa Bueno** (3:20)
After a time, the girl gave birth to a child.

**Lisa Bueno** (3:24)
The child was small and dark with shiny black hair and tiny black eyes. Who do you think the child was?

**Lisa Bueno** (3:36)
It was Raven.

**Lisa Bueno** (3:37)
Raven had been re-born as a boy child.

**Philip** (3:41)
I don't know if the baby is Raven and not a normal baby. Because, I mean, like...

**Lisa Bueno** (3:48)
The nose is kind of a giveaway, huh?

**Philip** (3:51)
Yeah, the nose and the clothing.

**Philip** (3:53)
Yeah, for sure.

**Lisa Bueno** (3:54)
He looks like a raven, doesn't he? The sky chief was delighted with his daughter's child.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:01)
He called him Grandchild.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:03)
He played with the boy and carved toys for him. He invited the elders to come and see the curious, wonderful child.
The elders gathered in the shining house with the sky chief and his daughter.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:18)
They watched Raven child crawl around the floor of the lodge.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:24)
He pretended to be playing.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:27)
All the time, he was trying to find where the light was hidden.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:31)
He saw a box in the corner of the lodge.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:35)
The box was large.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:38)
It was carved and painted with many colors.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:41)
The box was bright.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:43)
It glowed. The Raven child said, Gah!

**Lisa Bueno** (4:47)
Gah!

**Philip** (4:48)
What do you want?

**Lisa Bueno** (4:50)
asked his mother. Raven child said, Gah!

**Lisa Bueno** (4:54)
Gah!

**Philip** (4:55)
He began to cry. What does the child want?

**Lisa Bueno** (5:00)
asked the elders. The Raven child said, Gah!

**Philip** (5:03)
Gah!

**Lisa Bueno** (5:04)
He cried and cried.

**Philip** (5:07)
My grandchild wants the box, said the sky chief.

**Lisa Bueno** (5:15)
The young woman placed the box in front of Raven child, but he continued to cry.