Curse of The Raven, 30x40, Acrylic on canvas

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Comment by Linda Rzoska on March 14, 2013 at 9:33am

Thank you for taking the time to post the story.

Comment by Mick Grochowski on March 13, 2013 at 11:40am

Thanks Linda,

This is one of a series I'm working on relating to American Indian Lore. There are many of these very interesting stories. A few details below pertaining to the curse of the Raven. Enjoy!

ORIGIN OF THE BULLHEAD (Legend of The Tsimshian (English pronunciation: Simsian) native people of British Columbia)

TxamsEm (Raven) went along the sand-point, and while walking there he was searching for food, but he did not find anything. Suddenly, behold! there was a fish in the water. It was not moving. TxamsEm stood there and wept. He said to the Fish," You look like my grandfather, who died a little while ago." He wiped the tears from his eyes, and said, "Come ashore! I want to talk to you a while."

The Fish came toward the shore. TxamsEm thought he would kill it. He was much depressed because he was hungry. Now the Fish was almost within his reach, but it swam back into the deep water. The Fish knew TxamsEm's intentions, and swam back from the shore, saying, "Do you think I do not know you, Giant?" Then Raven acted as though he were going to take hold of the Fish, stretched out his hand, and said, "You shall have a thin tail, only your head shall be large and thick." It became the bullhead. The bullhead is remarkably stout, because TxamsEm cursed it, and made it thin at one end, while the other end is thick.

Comment by Linda Rzoska on March 13, 2013 at 10:05am

Beautiful composition and color, I'm interested in learning more about the story of the Curse of the Raven.