the suitor (Myth 44)

Role: husband · First appears: Myth 44 · The Owl Gets Married

In Myth 44, after the widow said only a good hunter could have her daughter, the widow consented to the courtship, and the girl agreed to take him. He went to live with her, but the next morning she followed him to the river and saw him change into an owl and catch a crawfish. She said, “I thought I had married a man, but my husband is only an owl.”

When the girl accused him of being the owl, she drove him from the house. He went into the woods and pined away with grief and love until only his head had flesh left.

Relationship record

Life events

• The widow consented to the suitor courting the girl, and the girl agreed to take him.(Myth 44 · The Owl Gets Married)
  • With: the widow (Myth 44) the girl (Myth 44)
  • “So the mother went to the girl and told her a young man had come a-courting, and as he said he was a good hunter she advised her daughter to take him. ‘Just as you say,’ said the girl.”
• The suitor went to live with the girl.(Myth 44 · The Owl Gets Married)
  • With: the girl (Myth 44)
  • “So when he came again the matter was all arranged, and he went to live with the girl.”
• The girl discovered that her husband changed into an owl and caught a crawfish.(Myth 44 · The Owl Gets Married · 📍 the river)
  • With: the girl (Myth 44)
  • “The girl followed through the woods and kept him in sight until he came down to the river, where she saw her husband change to a hooting owl (uguku') and fly over to a pile of driftwood in the water and cry, ‘U-gu-ku! hu! hu! u! u!’ She was surprised and very angry and said to herself, ‘I thought I had married a man, but my husband is only an owl.’ She watched and saw the owl look into the water for a long time and at last swoop down and bring up in his claws a handful of sand, from which he picked out a crawfish.”
• The girl accused her husband of being an owl and drove him out of the house.(Myth 44 · The Owl Gets Married)
  • With: the girl (Myth 44)
  • “‘I think you are the owl,’ said his wife, and drove him out of the house.”
• The owl pined away until only his head had flesh left.(Myth 44 · The Owl Gets Married · 📍 the woods)
  • “The owl went into the woods and there he pined away with grief and love until there was no flesh left on any part of his body except his head.”

Myth 44 · The Owl Gets Married

• admired: the girl (Myth 44) “At last a suitor came to ask the mother for the girl, but the widow told him that only a good hunter could have her daughter.”
• married with the girl (Myth 44) “She was surprised and very angry and said to herself, ‘I thought I had married a man, but my husband is only an owl.’”
• enemies with the girl (Myth 44) “‘I think you are the owl,’ said his wife, and drove him out of the house.”

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Extracted from the original text of Myths of the Cherokee. Made with Rho MD.