Black-Bear Woman
Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) · numen · Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Black-Bear Woman is the sympathetic figure of the Thompson bear tale, the co-wife whom the jealous Grizzly-Bear Woman murders. Foreseeing her own death, she prepares her daughters, instructing them how to flee and how to bring about their aunt's destruction. Her killing and the daughters' revenge form the pivot of the narrative, which sets the contrasting natures of the black bear and the grizzly and warns against jealousy within a household.
Domains
- kinship and motherhood
Powers
- foresees her death and provides for her children
Relations
- enemy: Grizzly-Bear WomanMurdered by her co-wife, then avenged by her daughters.Teit 1912, 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' Grizzly-Bear and Black-Bear. (primary)
Sources
- Black-Bear Woman is the gentle co-wife murdered by Grizzly-Bear Woman in the Thompson bear narrative; her daughters escape and avenge her.: Teit, James A. 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 12, 1912, 'Grizzly-Bear and Black-Bear.' (primary)