A long time ago, there was a girl that was out gathering wood. She was out in the woods and got separated from her family. She met up with Teekona the wolf. Back then the wolves were half human, this is why the Yup'ik people respect the wolf to this day. Wolves act like people because they have families like us and even take care of their own. The girl did not act afraid of the wolf and even offered him some food. The wolf liked the girl and wanted her to marry him. So he brought the girl home with him where she met the wolf's other wives; those wives were wolf women. They did not like her because she was a human.
Teekona loved all of his wives dearly but their own jealousy started to show through, and they would fight for his attention. He got tired of all the bickering between the women so he would spend more and more time away from his camp. One day the bickering got so bad, Teekona banished the wolf women and only had his human woman. The wolf women soon perished and their spirits came back and killed the woman and they ate the insides of the human woman.
Since then women are not allowed to kill wolves, and never ever work with wolf hides until the spirit is sure to be gone. If they do not follow this rule they would never have children. That is why when a wolf is caught we first give it something to eat, and give it some water, thanking the wolf spirit because it is so strong. The Yup'ik people do not purposely hunt the wolf because his spirit is like theirs. When one is caught though only the men can work on it and everything is used.
Introduction
Folktale: Teekona the Wolf
A long time ago, there was a girl that was out gathering wood. She was out in the woods and got separated from her family. She met up with Teekona the wolf. Back then the wolves were half human, this is why the Yup'ik people respect the wolf to this day. Wolves act like people because they have families like us and even take care of their own. The girl did not act afraid of the wolf and even offered him some food. The wolf liked the girl and wanted her to marry him. So he brought the girl home with him where she met the wolf's other wives; those wives were wolf women. They did not like her because she was a human.Since then women are not allowed to kill wolves, and never ever work with wolf hides until the spirit is sure to be gone. If they do not follow this rule they would never have children. That is why when a wolf is caught we first give it something to eat, and give it some water, thanking the wolf spirit because it is so strong. The Yup'ik people do not purposely hunt the wolf because his spirit is like theirs. When one is caught though only the men can work on it and everything is used.
Gallery of Gray Wolf Pictures
HowToDrawAGrayWolf from Bottenfield Art on Vimeo.
HowTOPaintAGrayWolf from Bottenfield Art on Vimeo.
HowToPaintAGrayWolf2 from Bottenfield Art on Vimeo.
Go back to Alaskan Wildlife Book (Intermediate)