Legend of the Thunderbird #3

"Kakaso'las pole", Ellen Neel and Mungo Martin, 1955. Photo: Unknown

​“The bravest warriors are the children of Thunderbird.  Qolos, the younger brother of Thunderbird, lives in heaven and flew down to become the ancestor of the Lalelamin of the Nimkish and also of the Wiwomasgem and the Sisemle.  The daughters of Thunderbird found a box drifting in the sea and one of them married the man who was hidden in the box and later taught him to wear an eagle skin so that he could fly and learn to catch whales like the Thunderbird.  Thunderbird has endowed his people with great gifts which are theirs for evermore.  He appeared to the Qexsem as a person with a face like a bird called Kwakunxbalisela (Thunderbird – at End of World) and gave them supernatural gifts which included the ability to look into the soul of men”.

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• Franz Boas, Kwakiutl Culture as Reflected in Mythology (1969)
  

(As published in The Thunderbird Journal, Summer 1983)