This legend tells the origin of killer whales. There once was a young man named Naatsilanei. He was a very good hunter. Because he was such a good hunter his brothersinlaw were jealous of him.
One day, Naatsilanei's brothersinlaw took him away out to a large bare rock in the sea. There were many seals and sea lions on that rock. While Naatsilanei was on the rock the brothersinlaw started paddling away in their canoe. All except the youngest brotherinlaw wanted to leave Naatsilanei on the big rock. The youngest man tried to help him by getting the brothersinlaw to go back. But they finally did leave Naatsilanei alone on the rock, while they returned to their camp.
Not having anything to do, Naatsilanei slept a lot. One day while he was still sleeping he heard someone speak to him. He heard, "I've come to help you."
When he looked, there was no one around. So he pulled the blanket up over his head again. Again he heard the same voice, "I have come to help you." Now he felt certain that something was there that would help him.
He made a little peek hole in his blanket. Through the hole he saw a Sea Gull coming toward him. Before the Sea Gull could speak, Naatsilanei said, "I have seen you already." Then the Sea Gull told Naatsilanei that he would be asked to cure somebody. He would be asked to help a sick person. If he cured the sick person, he would be rewarded.
At low tide Naatsilanei went down to find seafood. Seafood was the only available food on this rock. While he was looking around the rocks, lifting the wide kelp, hunting for food, he found a place that seemed to be a door. He entered the door and found himself inside a large house.
At the back of the house was a sick man the sea lion chief's son. soon as Naatsilanei looked at the sea lion, he could see why he was sick. There was a broken spearhead in his back. Asked if he could cure him, he replied, "Yes."
He began to act like a medicine man. He asked for water. Singing like a medicine man, he circled around the dying young man. After using the water to wash the wound, he took hold of the spearhead. He gave it a little turn and pulled it out. That's all there was to that. He could easily see why the sea lions had not been able to see the spear head themselves.
When he was asked what he wanted for payment the Sea Gull advised him to accept one of the tags hanging from the ceiling. So he asked for one of the bags, which was the west wind bag.
The sea lions gave it to him, telling him the bag would take him ashore from this rock. He was warned not to think of this island he was currently on. He was only to think of his home at all times. So he got inside the bag. He was pretty much on his way toward land when he thought of the island. He felt the bag bumping on the rock. There he was right back on the island again!
The sea lion people came out, put him in the bag again and set him adrift. He drifted towards land again. But this time he thought only of land. Very soon he was bumping against the beach on the mainland.
At night when everyone was asleep he came to his wife. He asked her for his carving tools. Taking only his carving tools, he went back to a place where he set up his dwelling.
Then he started carving killer whales. First he used cottonwood. He carved eight of them. Eight different killer whales. When he finished carving he dug a big hole like a pond in front of his dwelling. He set them there on the beach. He told them to go out and bring him all the fish, seals, or whatever food they could get. The killer whales jumped into the pond. There was a lot commotion, a lot of foam in the pond, but very soon the killer whales came drifting up again out of the water.
Next he carved the killer whales from red cedar. Again when finished carving he set them on the beach. Again he instructed them to go after food. And again the same thing happened. The killer whales just drifted back to shore. Next he tried hemlock. The same thing happened. He continued trying other kinds of wood.
Finally he tried yellow cedar. Again he carved eight killer whales. He lined them up on the beach. He talked to them. When he had finished talking they jumped into the water and swam out to sea. This time they stayed underwater. They brought back to him codfish, red snapper, king salmon, halibut, seals, or whatever they could get hold of these killer whales were made to be good hunters. Every day they brought back a lot of
seafood. Before too long Naatsilanei had filled his house full of food, brought by the killer whales.
Then one day he saw his brothers'inlaw clan moving to another camp in their canoes. He set the killer whales on the beach. He lined them up. Then he instructed them to swim out and wreck all the canoes. "Let those people drown because they were the people who left me on the rock to die. All except the youngest. He was the only one who tried to paddle back to help me."
Following Naatsilanei's request, the killer whales went out and wrecked all the canoes. The youngest brotherinlaw was thrown on the wreckage by the killer whales. Two killer whales held the wreckage behind their fins and brought him safely back to shore. After this happened Naatsilanei again lined up the killer whales on the beach. He started talking to them, as if they were human beings.
Finally he told them even though they were made to kill they should not harm human beings because it was a human being who had carved them. So to this day killer whales will not harm any people at all even though they can kill anything that is in the water or in the sea.
Today, whenever Tlingits see killer whales going by at sea, they consider them as hunters going out hunting. They ask them to bring food. When killer whale fat is thrown into the fire it crackles like yellow cedar burning.
The people who belong to Naatsilanei's clan still use the killer whale as their crest. They call themselves the killer whale people. The crest may be used on their blankets, shirts, moccasins, dancing hats and helmets, and totem poles. The crest can be identified by the dorsal fin and the sharp teeth.
At Klawock you can see a totem pole which shows Naatsilanei with the killer whales he had carved. The Tlingit work for killer whale is Keet.
Interpretation by Henry A. Davis and Claribel Davis Kake version