In the earliest days, the land was green and gold all year long. Rivers shimmered, but they ran shallow, and the salmon—who once filled every stream—could not return home to spawn. The forests whispered in thirst. The People prayed for cold to come, but no frost ever touched the earth.
High on a spruce branch sat Raven, feathers shining like oil and moonlight. He watched the rivers dry and the People suffer, and though his heart was sly, it was not without care.
“It is not right,” Raven muttered, turning his sharp black eye toward the sky. “Somewhere, someone is keeping all the snow to themselves. And that someone owes the world a share.”
He spread his wings and rose into the high air, flying so long that his shadow passed over ten thousand trees. At last, he reached the house of Sky-Chief, the mighty ruler who kept all seasons locked inside gourds of weather—one for rain, one for fog, one for wind, and one that glowed faintly blue: the Gourd of Snow.
Raven landed on the roof and listened. Inside, Sky-Chief’s family laughed around their fire. “The world below freezes too easily,” the Chief was saying. “Let them keep their warm earth. Snow belongs to us.”
Raven’s feathers bristled. “Selfishness,” he whispered, “is the coldest thing of all.”
Now, Raven was clever as he was curious. He changed his shape, shrinking down into the form of a tiny pine needle, and let the wind carry him down through the smoke hole into Sky-Chief’s lodge.
There he waited, still and green, on the edge of the hearth until the Chief’s daughter—curious and kind-eyed—saw it. “What a pretty thing!” she said, lifting the pine needle. She tucked it into her hair.
Raven waited until she slept. Then, with a soft shimmer, he changed again—this time into a handsome young man with hair dark as night and a laugh that made the fire dance higher.
When morning came, the Chief’s daughter said, “Father, there is a stranger outside who makes the wind sing. May he stay?”
Sky-Chief studied him and saw nothing but charm. “He may,” the Chief said. “But the gourds stay where they are.”
Raven bowed low. “I would not dare touch your treasures, Great Chief.”
But that night, while the others slept, Raven tiptoed to the gourds. He passed the one of wind, the one of rain, until he came to the gourd that glowed cold and pale. He pressed his beak against it—his true beak, for tricksters can never hide themselves for long—and it hummed like ice about to break.
He pecked at the stopper. It popped loose with a sound like thunder swallowed by silence.
At once, snow burst forth, glittering, swirling, spinning into the air. The cold light filled the lodge, then poured out through the smoke hole. It covered the mountain peaks in white, rolled down into valleys, and turned the rivers to glass.
Sky-Chief awoke roaring. “Thief! My snow!”
But Raven was already gone, feathers black against the blinding drift. He flew faster than any storm, clutching the gourd as flakes whirled behind him.
The Chief’s daughter ran to the doorway, calling, “Stop! He only wanted to share your gifts!”
The Chief’s fury softened. “Then let the snow remain—but let it rest upon the mountains, so it does not bury the world.”
So it was done.
The snow that escaped Raven’s wings settled over the tall peaks, melting slowly each spring. The water that ran from it fed the rivers and brought the salmon home again.
When Raven saw this, he perched on a branch and laughed until his feathers shook. “Well,” he said, “I suppose not all thieves are villains.”
And from that day on, the mountains have kept their white caps to remind the world that no gift should be hoarded, for even frost can bring life if shared wisely.
The People still tell how Raven’s feathers turned black that day—from the smoke of the lodge and the fury of Sky-Chief’s storm. Once, they say, he was white as a gull, but now he wears the shadow of his mischief proudly, as a mark of what was stolen not for greed, but for balance.
Moral of the Story
The world remains whole only when its gifts are shared. Even those who act with trickery can serve a greater good if their heart is aimed toward harmony, not greed.
Knowledge Check
1. Who kept all the seasons?
The Sky-Chief, who stored rain, wind, and snow in gourds high above the world.
2. Why did Raven decide to act?
Because the People and the rivers were suffering without winter or snow.
3. How did Raven enter the Sky-Chief’s lodge?
He transformed into a pine needle and drifted down through the smoke hole.
4. What happened when Raven opened the snow gourd?
Snow poured out and covered the land, creating winter for the first time.
5. Why do mountains still wear white caps?
The Sky-Chief allowed the snow to stay there so the world would stay balanced.
6. Why are Raven’s feathers black?
They were scorched by Sky-Chief’s fire as he escaped, turning forever dark.
Origin: Northwest Coast (Tlingit and Haida oral tradition, retold)
Category: American Myths
Tags: Raven, creation of snow, Northwest Coast mythology, trickster tales, balance of nature
Keyword: Raven snow myth
