Rainbow crow

Last updated

The story of the Rainbow Crow is a supposed Lenape legend, symbolizing the value of selflessness and service. However, the Lenape origins of this myth are denied by the Lenape-Nanticoke Museum, which attributes the myth to a recent modification of a Cherokee story known as the "First Fire". And in fact, the museum states that the crow has no significant role in traditional Lenape culture. [1] No source for a Lenape version of this story is known to exist prior to a 1989 book of the same name supposedly "retold" by Penguin Random House author Nancy Van Laan. [2] Van Laan ultimately attributes this story to a Chief Bill "Whippoorwill" Thompson.

Contents

Plot

After a long period of cold weather, the animals of the community become worried. They decide to send a messenger to the Great Sky Spirit to ask for relief. The Rainbow Crow, the most beautifully feathered bird, offers to make the arduous journey. He travels safely, and is rewarded by the Great Spirit with the gift of fire. He carries the gift in his beak back to his people, but upon his return, he does not appear to be the same bird that he once was. The fire has scorched his plumage black, with only hints of his previous color, and his voice has been made rough and hoarse by the smoke. In this way, his sacrifice is commemorated.

Another name for Rainbow Crow is Many Colored Crow.[ citation needed ] This is in reference to the iridescent feathers created from the fire that scorched his plumage black, with only hints of his previous color that reflect when sun light strikes them.

Adaptations

This legend is the basis of multiple American animated short films, including one by online media platform HitRecord [3] and another by Baobab Studios titled Crow: The Legend, with singer John Legend voicing the titular crow. [4] [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenix (mythology)</span> Immortal bird that is cyclically reborn

The phoenix is an immortal bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. While it is part of Greek mythology, it has analogs in many cultures such as Egyptian and Persian. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, others that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again. In the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, a tool used by folklorists, the phoenix is classified as motif B32.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horned Serpent</span> Mythological serpent found in the mythology of many cultures

The Horned Serpent appears in the mythologies of many cultures including Native American peoples, European, and Near Eastern mythology. Details vary among cultures, with many of the stories associating the mystical figure with water, rain, lightning, thunder, and rebirth. Horned Serpents were major components of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex of North American prehistory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee spiritual beliefs</span> Spiritual beliefs of the Cherokee people

Cherokee spiritual beliefs are held in common among the Cherokee people – Native American peoples who are Indigenous to the Southeastern Woodlands, and today live primarily in communities in North Carolina, and Oklahoma. Some of the beliefs, and the stories and songs in which they have been preserved, exist in slightly different forms in the different communities in which they have been preserved. But for the most part, they still form a unified system of theology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iroquois mythology</span> Legendary beliefs of the Haudenosaunee

Mythology of the Haudenosaunee includes the creation stories and folktales of the Native Americans who formed the confederacy of the Five Nations, later the Six Nations (Iroquois). Historically, these stories were recorded in wampum and recited, only being written down later. In the written versions, the spellings of names differ due to transliteration and spelling variations in European languages that were not yet standardized. Variants of the stories exist, reflecting different localities and times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas</span>

The Indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise numerous different cultures. Each has its own mythologies, many of which share certain themes across cultural boundaries. In North American mythologies, common themes include a close relation to nature and animals as well as belief in a Great Spirit that is conceived of in various ways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden pheasant</span> Species of bird

The golden pheasant, also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek khrusolophos, "with golden crest", and pictus is Latin for "painted" from pingere, "to paint".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firebird (Slavic folklore)</span> Magical glowing bird in Slavic folklore

In Slavic mythology and folklore, the Firebird is a magical and prophetic glowing or burning bird from a faraway land which is both a blessing and a harbinger of doom to its captor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raven Tales</span> Traditional creation stories of indigenous peoples of North America

Raven Tales are the traditional human and animal creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They are also found among Athabaskan-speaking peoples and others. Raven stories exist in nearly all of the First Nations throughout the region but are most prominent in the tales of the Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit and Tahltan people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coyote (mythology)</span> Mythological character

Coyote is a mythological character common to many cultures of the Indigenous peoples of North America, based on the coyote animal. This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic, although he may have some coyote-like physical features such as fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes, a tail and blunt claws. The myths and legends which include Coyote vary widely from culture to culture.

Eric Darnell is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, screenwriter, songwriter and occasional voice actor best known for co-directing Antz with Tim Johnson, as well as co-directing and co-writing Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted with Tom McGrath, as well as the spin off Penguins of Madagascar (2014) with Simon J. Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of ravens</span> Depictions of ravens in literature and cultures

Many references to ravens exist in world lore and literature. Most depictions allude to the appearance and behavior of the wide-ranging common raven. Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven is often associated with loss and ill omen. Yet, its symbolism is complex. As a talking bird, the raven also represents prophecy and insight. Ravens in stories often act as psychopomps, connecting the material world with the world of spirits.

<i>Sword Quest</i>

Sword Quest is a 2008 children's adventure novel by Nancy Yi Fan. It is a prequel to Swordbird which was published in February 2007.

<i>Hagoromo</i> (play) Noh play

Hagoromo is among the most-performed Japanese Noh plays. It is an example of the traditional swan maiden motif.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crow (Australian Aboriginal mythology)</span> Trickster, culture hero and ancestral being in Australian Aboriginal mythology

In Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Crow is a trickster, culture hero and ancestral being. In the Kulin nation in central Victoria he is known as Waang and is regarded as one of two moiety ancestors, the other being the more sombre eaglehawk Bunjil. Legends relating to Crow have been observed in various Aboriginal language groups and cultures across Australia.

The Nachtkrapp is a South German and Austrian bugbear creature, cautionary tales about which are used to scare children into going to bed. Similar legends exist in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Russia.

In Turkic folklore, Korbolko is a firebird. He brought fire to earth and taught the people to burn the fire.

Fairer-than-a-Fairy is a literary fairy tale published anonymously in the 1718 fairy tale collection Nouveaux contes de fées. It is attributed to the Chevalier de Mailly. Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Clarke</span> American paleontologist

Julia Allison Clarke is an American paleontologist and evolutionary biologist who studies the evolution of birds and the dinosaurs most closely related to living birds. She is the John A. Wilson Professor in Vertebrate Paleontology in the Jackson School of Geosciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Der Sohn der Teriel is a Berber folktale, first collected in Kabylia in German by ethnologist Leo Frobenius and published in 1922.

The Story of Princess Zeineb and King Leopard is a French language fairy tale published in the 18th century. The tale belongs to the international cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom as a subtype, with few variants reported across Europe.

References

  1. "Non-Historical Stories and "Prophesies" – Fiction and Fairy Tales".
  2. Van Laan, Nancy (1989). Rainbow Crow. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN   978-0394895772.
  3. "Rainbow Crow". HitRecord.
  4. "'Crow: The Legend' Review: John Legend Leads a Musical Tale of Native American Mythology". Collider. 2018-11-15. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  5. "Crow: The Legend". baobab studios. Retrieved 2018-11-27.