Grizzly-Bear Woman
Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) · numen · Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Grizzly-Bear Woman is the antagonist of one of the most widely told Nlaka'pamux narratives, the tale of the Grizzly and the Black Bear. Jealous and ferocious, she murders her gentle co-wife Black-Bear Woman and seeks to destroy her children as well. Her cruelty is ultimately requited when the surviving daughters of Black-Bear turn her own violence against her and kill her, a reversal that supplies the story's moral weight and accounts for the temper attributed to the grizzly.
Domains
- violence and wilderness
Powers
- kills and devours her rival
Relations
- enemy: Black-Bear WomanMurders her co-wife and is avenged by the latter's daughters.Teit 1912, 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' Grizzly-Bear and Black-Bear. (primary)
Sources
- Grizzly-Bear Woman is the jealous, violent figure of the Thompson bear narrative who kills Black-Bear Woman and is destroyed in revenge by Black-Bear's daughters.: Teit, James A. 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 12, 1912, 'Grizzly-Bear and Black-Bear.' (primary)