Old Woman's Grandchild
Crow · demigod · creation time · Recorded classification
Old Woman's Grandchild (Crow Kaalisbaapite) is the best-attested Crow culture hero after Old Man Coyote. Born of the Sun and a Crow woman carried up to the sky, he returns to earth, is raised by an old woman (identified in Crow star lore with the Moon), and undertakes a cycle of exploits in which he rids the world of monsters, including the ogress Red Woman. At the end of his career he ascends into the sky as the Morning Star; Crow elders recorded by McCleary continue to identify the Morning Star with this hero.
Parentage
- parent: The Sun
Domains
- morning star
- monster slaying
Powers
- to destroy the monsters and ogres that menace humankind
- to ascend into the sky and shine as the Morning Star
Relations
- slayer of: Red WomanAmong the hero's exploits in Crow variants is the destruction of the ogress Red Woman, one of the chief monsters plaguing the people.Robert H. Lowie, Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians, 1918 (secondary)
Sources
- Old Woman's Grandchild is the Crow monster-slaying culture hero, son of the Sun and a mortal woman, who becomes the Morning Star.: Robert H. Lowie, Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 25(1), 1918 (secondary); Timothy P. McCleary, The Stars We Know: Crow Indian Astronomy and Lifeways, Waveland Press, 1997 (secondary)