Nliksentem

Nliksentem is the son of Coyote and the protagonist of the Thompson version of the widespread 'star-husband' or 'bungling host' story. Coveting his son's two wives, Coyote contrives to send the young man into the sky, causing a tree to grow beneath him or a bird to carry him upward until he is stranded in the upper world. There Nliksentem is taken in and married among the sky people; growing homesick, he is lowered back to the earth by his sky kin, recovers his wives, and turns his father's treachery back upon him. The narrative binds the human and celestial worlds and accounts for features of both.

Parentage

• parent: CoyoteSon of Coyote, who betrays him.Teit 1898, 'Traditions of the Thompson River Indians,' Coyote and his son. (primary)

Domains

• sky and ascent

Powers

• ascends to the sky world
• returns to earth and exposes his father

Relations

• parent: CoyoteSon of Coyote, who betrays him.Teit 1898, 'Traditions of the Thompson River Indians,' Coyote and his son. (primary)

Sources

• Nliksentem is Coyote's son, hero of the Thompson sky-marriage narrative in which Coyote covets his wives and strands him in the upper world.: Teit, James A. 'Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia,' Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society 6, 1898, 'Coyote and his son.' (primary); Boas, Franz, ed. 'Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes,' Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society 11, 1917. (secondary)