Thrown-into-the-Spring
Crow · demigod · creation time · Recorded classification
Thrown-into-the-Spring is the feral twin of the Crow twin-hero cycle. Flung into a spring by Red Woman after she murdered his mother, he grows up in the water as a wild boy until his brother entices him ashore and their father captures him. Together the twins restore their mother to life and destroy the monsters of the early world, Red Woman among them. The cycle is a Crow instance of the widespread Plains 'Lodge Boy and Thrown Away' tale type documented comparatively by Stith Thompson.
Domains
- wild power
Powers
- to live and thrive beneath the waters of the spring
- to overcome the ogres and monsters of the early world
Relations
- twin sibling: Thrown-behind-the-CurtainThe two boys are twins separated at birth by Red Woman and reunited when the lodge twin lures his wild brother from the spring.Robert H. Lowie, Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians, 1918 (secondary)
- slayer of: Red WomanWith his twin he avenges their mother by destroying the ogress Red Woman.Robert H. Lowie, Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians, 1918 (secondary)
Sources
- Thrown-into-the-Spring is the wild twin of the Crow 'Lodge Boy and Thrown Away' cycle who, with his brother, avenges their mother's murder by Red Woman.: Robert H. Lowie, Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 25(1), 1918 (secondary); Stith Thompson, Tales of the North American Indians, Harvard University Press, 1929 (secondary)