Sho-pow'-tan
Sahaptin (Yakama and related) · numen · Sahaptin (Yakama and related) traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Sho-pow'-tan is Owl, a chief among the people in the Yakama narrative of the cannibal ogress. Lost from his band while hunting, he is heard and pursued by the Tah-tah-kle'-ah and her four sisters, who say among themselves that they will take the lost Owl for their own. The tale, recorded from Tam-a-wash by L. V. McWhorter in 1919, turns on Owl's escape and revenge, for it is remembered as the story of how Owl killed the cannibal ogress. As Owl, he belongs to the roster of bird-chiefs of the myth age and stands, unusually, as the being who ends the terror of the child-eating owl-witches.
Domains
- chieftaincy
- night
Powers
- slay the cannibal ogress
Relations
- enemy: Tah-tah-kle'-ahHunted by the ogress and her sisters, Owl becomes her slayer.L. V. McWhorter field narrative, 'Tah-tah-kle'-ah,' recorded from Tam-a-wash, 1919. (primary)
Sources
- Sho-pow'-tan, Owl, is a chief who becomes lost while hunting and is pursued by the Tah-tah-kle'-ah; in the tale he kills the cannibal ogress.: L. V. McWhorter field narrative, 'Tah-tah-kle'-ah,' recorded from the Yakama narrator Tam-a-wash, 1919 (McWhorter Papers, Washington State University). (primary)