Conte Tlingit : The Woman Who Married a Frog

There once was a young woman who was very vain. Her father was
the village chief and her family was very respected. Many young
men wanted to marry her, but she thought that she was too good for
all of them. One day, she and her sister were walking beside the
big lake in their village. That lake had many frogs. Several of
them were sitting on a mud bank, in the middle of the lake, and
she started making fun of them.

« How ugly those frogs are, » she said. Then, she stooped
over and picked up one which was sitting on the shore and looking at her.

« You are so ugly, » she told that frog. « Even another
frog wouldn’t marry you!! » With that, she threw the frog back into the lake.

That very night, when the young woman stepped outside of her lodge
to walk, while everyone else was sleeping, she was surprised to
see a young man standing there. His clothing was decorated with
beautiful green beads and he was very handsome.

« I have come to marry you, » the young man told her. « Come
with me to my father’s house. »

The young woman agreed. She had never seen such a handsome young
man and wanted to be his wife.

« We must climb this hill to get to my father’s house, »
the young man said and he pointed to the lake. They started to walk
down to the water, but to the young woman, it felt as though they
were climbing a hill. When they got to the water, they didn’t stop…they
went under.

The next morning, the young woman’s family noticed that she was
missing. They looked everywhere for her and when they discovered
the footprints leading to the water, they decided that she must have drowned.

They beat the drums and held a death feast. People, in the village,
cut their hair and blacked their faces and mourned the loss of the
young woman.

One day, however, a man was walking down by the lake. When he looked
at the middle, he saw a lot of frogs sitting on the mud bank. And
there, in the middle of all those frogs sat the chief’s lost daughter!!!
He began to wade out towards the frogs, but they leaped into the
water, and took the young woman with them.

The man went very quickly to the chief’s home. « I have seen
your daughter! » he said. « She has been taken by the frogs.
I tried to get to her, but the Frog People took her with them under
the water. »

The young woman’s mother and father went down to the lake. There,
they saw their daughter sitting on the mud bank surrounded by the
Frog People. Just like before, when the chief tried to reach her,
the frogs leaped in and carried her under the lake with them.

Then, the chief’s other daughter spoke.

« My sister insulted the Frog People, » she said. That
is why they have taken her.

The chief knew then what he must do. He made offerings to the Frog
People, asking them to forgive his daughter. They placed dishes
of food on the surface of the water. The dishes floated out, to
the middle of the lake, and then sank. But, the frogs wouldn’t give
the young woman up.

Then, the chief placed robes, of fine skins, on the bank. The young
woman and the Frog People came to the bank and took the robes. But,
when the chief came close, the Frog People drew her back into the lake.

The Frog People just would not give up. At last, the chief had
a plan. he gathered together all of the people in the village.

« We will dig a trench, » he said. « We’ll drain all
of the water out of the lake, and rescue my daughter. »

The people dug for a long time and the water began to drain away.

The Frog People tried to fill the trench with mud, but they couldn’t
stop the water from flowing out of the lake. The Frog People tried
to drive the people away, but the people only picked up the frogs
and dropped them back into the water. They were very careful not
to hurt any of the frogs, but they didn’t stop digging the trench.
The water kept flowing out and the homes of the Frog People were
being destroyed.

At last, the chief of the Frog People made a decision. After all,
it was his son who married the young woman.

« We aren’t strong enough to fight these humans, » he said.
« We must give my new daughter-in-law back to her people. »

So, they brought the young woman to the trench. Her father and
mother saw her and pulled her out. She was covered with mud and
smelled like a frog!

One frog leaped out of the water after her. It was the frog that
had been her husband. But, the people carefully picked him up and
put him back into the lake.

The chief took the young woman home. For a long time, she could
only speak like a frog does.

« Huh, Huh, Huh!! »

But, finally, she began to speak like a human again.

« The Frog People know our language, » she told the people.
« We must not talk badly about them. »

So from that day on, the people showed great respect to the Frog
People. They learned the songs that the woman had brought from the
Frog People and they used the frog as an emblem.

They learned a great lesson. They never forgot what happened to
the young woman who was too proud. To this day, when the people
of the village hear the frogs singing, they say that the Frog People
are telling their children this story too.