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The Goose Wife is a mythical female character that appears in tales from the Inuit and other ethnic groups that dwell across the circumpolar Arctic region. The usual story is that the geese alight on land, become women by taking off their goose-skins and bathe in a lake. However, they are unaware that a human hunter is spying on them, and he steals the goose-skin of one of them, forcing her to be his wife. Due to the great similarities between both characters, the goose wife has been compared to the swan maiden, another female that alternates between human and bird forms.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fienup-Riordan, Ann (September 1, 1995). Boundaries and Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup'ik Eskimo Oral Tradition. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806126463.
- 1 2 Hill, Erica (2012), "The Nonempirical Past: Enculturated Landscapes and Other-than-Human Persons in Southwest Alaska", Arctic Anthropology, 49 (2), University of Wisconsin Press: 41–57, doi:10.1353/arc.2012.0021, JSTOR 24475856, S2CID 162283778
- 1 2 Benedict, Adam. "Folklore Profile: The Amikuk". The Pine Barrens Institute. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
- 1 2 3 4 Jacobson, Steven (2013). Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary Second Edition. The University of Chicago Press. p. 78. ISBN 9781555001155.
- ↑ Mahoney, Jane (August 12, 2007). "MESSAGE BEHIND THE MASK ; Work of 2006 Artists' Choice award-winner conveys lessons, beliefs of his culture". Albuquerque Journal . p. 38.