Raven and the Man That Sits On the Tides

Long ago the oceans had no tides and the shores no
shallows. Raven knew
there was lots of food in the sea - oysters and clams,
mussels and
crabs.
But how to get to it? He was lazy and preferred
getting into
mischief.. Raven wondered, "If only there was a way to
move the water
out of
the way, so I could gather food from the sea!" Raven,
he knew nothing
about
the sea, but knew the Fog Man did. He would find the
Fog man and ask
him.
Raven started asking around. He asked the sandpipers,
and like a single
bird, the flock darted and swooped this way and that,
but Raven could
not
figure out which way they wanted him to go. Raven
asked the gulls, but
they
seemed to be lost souls endlessly searching
themselves.
Raven asked the Cormorants, perched like lonely
sentinels on the
offshore
rocks but they didn't know where The Fog Man was to be
found either.
Finally Raven decided to look far to the north, where
the fogs came
from. He
searched until one day he saw a island bouncing from
wave to wave, like
a
raft free of its moorings. On it was a wrinkled old
man with a long
straggly
beard. When he saw the Raven coming, he snatched up
his hat and pulled
it
down on his head. Fog began to pour out from under
it's brim, hiding
the fog
man and his island. Raven swooped down and snatched
off his hat.
"What, do
you throw a fog in a friend's face." "Hey, Raven!
Give me my hat, I've
fog
to make." He cried.
Raven asked: "Why do you make fog anyway?"
"It's my job. It's what I do, I'm the Fog Man."
"Well do you know how the sea can be moved away from
the shore?" asked
Raven.
"I don't know," said Fog Man, "Please give me my hat,
the sun is
getting too
warm."
"Do you know someone I could ask?"
"Go ask the Man who sits on the Tide."
"What is the tide?" Raven asked, "And why does he sit
on it? Where do I
find
him?"
The Fog Man pleaded: "Please leave me my hat, and go
to where the sun
sleeps."
Raven laughed "I'll just take your hat. It's time we
had a sunny day"
Leaving the Fog Man cursing on the shore, Raven flew
towards the
setting
sun. For many days, he pursued the sun and was just
about to give up
his
search when he spotted a solitary rock crag, with sea
birds swooping
around
its head and shoulders. Raven was about to ask the
birds, when the crag
yawned, then it blinked. What looked like a rock, was
a giant man,
sitting
in the water.
Three times Raven asked him: "Have you seen the man
who sits on the
Tide?"
with no answer, but on the fourth occasion the Giant
roared, "I am the
man
who sits on the tide!" and his breath blew Raven back
several miles.
Avoiding his mouth, Raven shouted in his ear. "Do you
know the secret
of how
to move the sea aside?"
"I know many secrets, but can't remember them," said
the Giant.
"Well maybe if you told me one, it would jog your
memory," said Raven.
"Go away," roared the giant. "I can't remember any!"
"Well what is the tide, and why do you sit on it?"
asked Raven.
"I sit on it because it's my job; it's waht I do. I
am the man who
sits on
the tide," the Giant answered.
Curious, Raven tried to see what he was sitting on.
"Maybe if you
stood on
it," he suggested politely.
"No!! I have always sat on the tide - it's what I
do!!" answered the
giant.
"Come on," said Raven, "Get up."
"Go away," said the Giant. "You bother me!"
Raven began circling him. Raven spotted an exposed
portion of his
"backside"
and got an idea. Flying up high in the sky, he pointed
his sharp beak
right
at it and dropped like hawk, jabbing the giant real
good.
With a mighty roar, the giant rose up and started
howling in pain,
jumping
around and holding his "backside". But his wail was
drown out by the
sound
of a hundred waterfalls, as the sea poured into a
large hole where he
had
sat. The giant danced around in pain. The sea was
almost all gone,
leaving
sand and floundering fish as far as the eye could see.
Finally, rubbing
the
"tender spot" the giant sat down. As he did the sea
spurted up and
refilled
to its former water line. Raven knew the giant's
secret. "So that's
what
the tide is, now if we can just teach him some new
habits."
Raven perched on his shoulder and with his most
persuasive trickster
voice
suggested, "From now on, how about taking a little
stretch twice a day
-
just a short one, so the people can gather food from
the sea."
"No," said the Giant. "Sitting is what I do. I am
the man who sits on
the
tide. I have always done this and always will. It's
my job."
"Come on, everybody needs a break now and then, just a
short stretch
twice a
day?"
"Go away, your'e upsetting me!"
"I know, it's my job. It's what I do. I am the Raven.
I upset things. I
upset the darkness when I stole the
sun and put it in the sky. I upset the cold when I
stole fire from Owl
and
gave it to the people, and now I will upset you twice
a day."
As Raven began circling for another jab, the giant
roared, "Why, I can
swat
you like a mosquito! You are no bigger to me than a
minnow is to a
whale!"
And he began to swing his arms wildly at the circling
Raven. Giant
waves
were formed. As the two struggled, Raven trying to jab
the giant, the
giant
trying to crush the Raven, a great storm struck the
shores, and they
say
that this was when Mountain Goat first tasted salt and
why sea shells
are
found in the mountains.
Trying as hard as he could Raven could not get near a
tender spot on
the
Giant. Then Raven remembered Fog Man's hat. Raven
pulled the hat down
on his
head. Fog began pouring out, thicker and thicker.
A fog bank enveloped the Giant. He looked around,
trying to spot Raven,
but
all he could see was Fog. Then, "YEOWWW!" Raven jabbed
him good. For a
little while, he jumped and danced around, then
settled back on his
spot.
Meanwhile as the waters receded, Raven was able to
gather food from the
sea
shore. The waters were shallow enough to fish, and
there were oysters
and
clams and mussels and crabs. The Sandpipers and gulls
and cormorants
found
plenty to eat. Then as the giant had settled down, the
waters returned
to
their former level.
Raven began to visit the giant twice a day at
different times to catch
him
by surprise, upsetting him each time. Sometimes he
used Fog Man's hat,
or
came in the dark of the moon. And as the tide went out
and
came in, there was plenty of food to eat. Finally,
one day, as the
Raven
was about to pull on the fog man's hat, he saw a
surprising sight. All
by
himself, without Raven's reminder, the Giant stood up,
stretched,
looked
around and after a bit, sat down.
Raven was puzzled. He disguised himself as a sea bird
and flew to the
giant's shoulder. "Why did you just stand up and sit
down?"
"It's my job; it's what I do. As long as I remember
it's what I have
done.
I am the man who makes the tide go out and come in."
And as Raven flew off, relieved he would have to upset
the Giant no
longer,
he laughed. "I am the Raven. I upset things. It's my
job. It's what I
do!"

by James Running Turtle
(Indian-Outlaw)