Ideas of the same sort meet us in stories told by the North American
Indians. Thus the Navajoes tell of a certain mythical being called
"the Maiden that becomes a Bear," who learned the art of turning
herself into a bear from the prairie wolf. She was a great warrior
and quite invulnerable; for when she went to war she took out her
vital organs and hid them, so that no one could kill her; and when
the battle was over she put the organs back in their places again.
The Kwakiutl Indians of British Columbia tell of an ogress, who
could not be killed because her life was in a hemlock branch. A
brave boy met her in the woods, smashed her head with a stone,
scattered her brains, broke her bones, and threw them into the
water. Then, thinking he had disposed of the ogress, he went into
her house. There he saw a woman rooted to the floor, who warned him,
saying, "Now do not stay long. I know that you have tried to kill
the ogress. It is the fourth time that somebody has tried to kill
her. She never dies; she has nearly come to life.
Pages:
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893