Klukwan House Post Collection

The Chief's Daughter & Woodworm

A chief's daughter raised a woodworm as a pet in her bedroom. She would sing a cradle song to it all day long and feed it all kinds of oil until it grew to be a fathom in length. Her parents became concerned for their daughter since she would only leave her room to eat. Meanwhile the woodworm was stealing oil from the village people's boxes. Now the people got real angry and wanted to kill this monster and tried to induce the girl to leave her bedroom. One day she heard a great up roar and said to her uncle's wife, "They are killing my son at last." Then she went to her father and said, "Let that pet of mine be burned like the body of a human being. Let the whole town cut wood for it." So they did and it burned like coal oil. To this day when the kanarhtaidi Clan is feasting they sing the daughter's four songs to the woodworm.

The full story of the Chief's daughter & Woodworm can be found in the Marius Barbeau's "Totem poles" book.

 

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