Week 10 Storytelling: The Spirit of the Sea

Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a palace with her father, the king. She found herself daydreaming constantly about an adventurous life outside of the palace. You see, the princess had always been inside the palace walls. Her father was going out of the palace on business the next week. She made the decision to sneak out and wander the forest.

The day was finally here. She was ready to act on her plan to sneak out. She walked passed the guards at the back door and told them she wanted to spend a day alone in the garden so they should not disturb her. Once she had made her way into the garden, she went straight for the tall tree in the back corner that grew over the castle wall. She climbed to the very top of it. Once there, she slid off the branch and onto the wall. From here, she reached into her satchel and withdrew a long rope made of sheets she had tied together. She tied it around a decorative gargoyle on the castle wall and then propelled herself down. When her feet touched the ground of the forest below, she celebrated! She had done it! She had made it out of the palace!!!

The princess began to explore the forest. She wandered past rivers and waterfalls. She saw wonders that she had only read about in books. She kept going deeper and deeper into the woods until it began to get dark. She realized it was time to head back. However, when she tried to make her way back to the palace she was lost. She tried to retrace her steps, but she kept ending up back were she began to retrace her steps. The princess began to cry. In the distance, a handsome young man heard her crying. He wondered up to her and introduced himself as a handsome prince. He told her that he would take her back to her palace if she would promise him her hand in marriage when the time came. The princess said she would and they began their trek back to her palace.

They had been walking for some time when the princess suddenly realized they had been walking much longer than they should have to get to her palace. She began to fear that this handsome prince was not as nice as she originally thought. She was right. They came to the end of the woods and the prince grabbed the princess by her arm and pulled her into is kingdom. You see, he was the prince of the rival kingdom and he had successfully kidnapped the princess.

The prince made the princess work hard and did not treat her well. She wanted to go home very badly. She regretted her decision to leave her palace tremendously, but no amount of regret could change what had happened. One day, she went down to the river to get water for the prince and his friends. She saw a man in a canoe and begged him to help her. The man came ashore and offered to take the princess away from their. She agreed.

This man was not just any mere mortal, he was the spirit of the sea. He took the princess to his palace in the sky and treated her very well. She was very happy with him, but she still missed her home. She begged him to allow her to take their son back to her kingdom were he would be trained as a great warrior. He knew this is what would make her the happiest so he said he would let her go, on one condition...she had to make him a blanket of how he courted her and their life together. She did. And this is the story of the first blanket.

(Chilkat Blanket)

Author's note: The story I retold was that of The Origin of the Chilkat Blanket. This story is of the daughter of a chief who is gathering with the women of her tribe when she is asked for her hand in marriage by a member of the Bear tribe. She becomes very unhappy there and the people won't let her leave. The Spirit of the Sea rescues her and takes her away from there. He treats her well, but she still misses her home. He agrees to let her take her son  and go back to her kingdom as long as she makes him a blanket. This is the original Chilkat blanket.