Panther
Chinookan · numen · Chinookan traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Panther, the cougar, is the great hunter of the Chinookan myth-age, a dignified provider who stands opposite the trickster figures as an image of competence and restraint. In the Clackamas tales he keeps a household and hunts the large game, and he is characteristically cast as the responsible elder brother of a rasher or more vulnerable sibling whose troubles he must set right. His hunting prowess and his steadiness make him a moral counterweight to the appetites of Coyote and the folly of Blue Jay within the same narrative world.
Domains
- hunting
- game
Powers
- hunts the large game
- provides for his younger kin
Sources
- Panther (Cougar) is the archetypal skilled hunter among the Chinookan myth-age people, typically the responsible elder brother of a weaker sibling.: Melville Jacobs, Clackamas Chinook Texts, Parts 1-2 (1958-1959) (primary); Ella E. Clark, Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest (1953) (secondary)