Traditions

The tales told on this day were: How Coyote was Moon, How Spring Defeated Winter, The Earth On Turtle's Back, The Creation Story of the Apache(?), and the Tale of the Tanada Lake Monster.

Each of these tales is from a different Native American Tribe; Cherokee(?), Apache, Ahtna... Each of these tribes have different traditions.

With a wooden flute, drums and a voice rising in the background we, as tale tellers, tried to connect with our audience. The polyphony of the act; the voice, the audience, the culture, the music, the times, all of these things come together to adjust a tale.

I first heard the story of the Tanada Lake Monster from the first woman to pioneer the Wrangell Mountain area around Tanada Lake. The lake itself is surrounded on all sides by mountains and dormant volcanoes. Black, volcanic sand beaches and clear green water. One mile across and six miles long the lake is somewhat oblong. The village that this particular story comes from was called Batzulnetas by the Ahtna or as they are also known, the Nabesna, "People of Ice," or the people of the Copper River. The Ahtna had settled the area over 7,000 years ago, apparently, and left the village around the time of the Russian settlement.

The only place the legend is written down, that I know of, is in a book by Conkle called "The Wind on the Water" which is what Tanada means in Athabascan, which is the Ahtna language. As I said in class i was dumped off on Tanda lake, accessible only by float plane, with my family when i was about nine years old. He vaguely commented that there was a monster in the lake and then left us there. I didn't sleep that night. That week was spent fending off moose, grizzly- which tore out our doorstep, and eyeballing the lake for monsters. It was fun!

Mrs. Conkle, whose family settled the area and still remains there today, told me the legend of the lake monster that she had heard from the tribes people when we went to visit her after the week was over. She dedicated her book to them as well. Apparently the Monster is supposed to be a Giant Lake Trout. She, her husband, my family and other visitors have seed it with our own eyes. One lady visitor hooked a ten inch trout that was swallowed by a fourteen foot one(no, it was not a pike.) The thing I and my father saw had to be at least that if not bigger. Needless to say I refused to get in a boat after that. I'd rather contend with the grizzlies.

But here is the story as I remember it.


In a place far to the north where the winter is a one great night and the summer one long day the Nabesna, or ahtna, the “People of Ice” watched from their village of Batzulnetasas on the southern shore of the copper river as their chief returned from peace talks with a neighboring village. Their princess would marry the other tribes chief’s son the messenger had said. As the chief crossed the Tanada, “Wind on the water,” in it’s clear green depths the great monster that had lived there quietly for so long stirred and with a heave of its great tail sent the waters rising and crashing to all shores, tipping the canoes tossing the men and their chief overboard. They drowned. The waters quieted.

The villagers wailed their grief and searched the shores for days for their bodies but they were never discovered. The people believed that the monster, the great lake beast, had eaten their chief and his men in revenge for having been ignored and insulted by the people for so long.
The new chief, son of the old chief consulted with the shaman who stated that the wedding between the princess and the neighboring prince would occur, that the monster of “wind on the water” was appeased by his father’s death.

But it was not.

The princess and her guards set out on a great canoe to cross the lake that her father had died in. She knew that she would not survive the crossing but wished for her guards to. She prayed to the creator that they might be spared if she went to appease the beast. The creator, knowing that she was much beloved by her people, answered her prayers and called up a great mist. In that mist she stepped from the boat and was greeted by the Tanada beast. “In exchange for their lives you will give yours to me.” The beast demanded. She agreed immediately and was dragged into the clear green depths of the lake.

Once the mist cleared the warriors realized that their princess had vanished from the canoes. They searched the waters, they searched the shores and the woods and the mountains and the rivers but found no sign of her. Like her father they believed that she too had drowned and died, the Tanada monster having stolen her from the canoes.

The young chief grieved and forbid all of the tribes people from ever crossing the lake of the “wind on the water.”

It holds true to this day.


Some facts about Tanada and the people.

“Wind on the Water” = Tanada in Athabascan which is Ahtna lang.
Lake is clear green water, 1 mile wide and 6 miles long, 180 ft. deep
Lake Monster large enough to slap its tail and have the waves wash out the shores
It ate those who crossed that it dumped
A chief who crossed and a princess who was going to be married to another tribe on the other side of the lake
Her village of Batzulnetas on southern of the copper River shore
Nabesna People, also called Ahtna or “People of Ice”