"Raven and the Man Who Sits on the Tide"

Now Raven knew that there were lots of good things to eat in the sea -- oysters and clams, muscles and crabs, and wonderful tasty fish -- but how to get to them was the problem.

Raven, being Raven, was lazy and didn't want to work at getting them (besides, he was better at stirring up mischief). But he had a fertile mind, and he reasoned, that if somehow the water could be moved out of the way, he could get to all of that food.

But Raven knew very little about the sea, so he decided to visit the Fog Man and ask him. First he asked the sandpipers where the Fog Man was, and the whole flock darted and swooped in different directions . . . but Raven couldn't figure out what they were trying to tell him. Next he asked the seagulls, but they all seemed lost, flying in all sorts of directions. Then he asked the cormorants on the rocks, but they just sat there. Finally he reasoned that since most fogs came from the north, that might be the best direction to search.

Raven searched for a long time and eventually saw a white island that floated like a raft. On it was a wrinkled old man with a long straggly beard. When the Fog Man (for certainly it was he) saw Raven, he quickly snatched up his hat and clapped it on his head.

As soon as he did so, fog began to billow out from under his hat, obscuring himself and the island -- but Raven had marked his bearings well, and, swooping in, he snatched the hat off of the Fog Man's head.

"Raven," said the Fog Man, "Give me back my hat. I have to make fog."

"Why?" asked Raven.

"It's my job. It's what I do. I'm the Fog Man."

"Fine" nodded Raven, "But do you know the secret of how to move the sea water away from the shore?"

"No, I don't. Now give me back my hat. The sun is getting too hot."

"Do you know someone I could ask?"

"Maybe the Man Who Sits on the Tide would know."

"What is the Tide? Why does he sit on it? And where do I find him?" asked Raven (not waiting for the answers).

"I don't know. I don't know. There, where the Sun sleeps" said the Fog Man, pointing West. "Now give me back my hat!"

"No, I'll just keep it for a while -- besides, we need some sunny days."

Now it's a good thing that Raven flew quickly because the Fog Man hurled many strong curses at Raven, but none of them reached him.

So Raven flew west seeking the place where the Sun sleeps. He flew and flew and flew. He was very tired, but there was nothing to be seen but ocean, ocean, ocean in all directions.

Finally, he spied a tall rocky crag jutting up out of the water with many birds swooping about it. He decided to ask the birds -- but as he got closer, the crag moved! In fact, it yawned and blinked. What Raven had thought was an island was a huge giant man, sitting in the water.

"Have you seen the Man Sho Sits on the Tide?" Raven asked. There was no answer, so Raven asked again and again. Finally, the Giant opened his mouth and replied.

"I AM THE MAN WHO SITS ON THE TIDE." And he was so huge that his breath blew Raven back several miles. (from then on Raven avoided the Giant's mouth.

"Do you know the secret of how to move the sea aside?"

"I KNOW MANY SECRETS. BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER THEM."

"Well, maybe if you told me one it would jog your memory."

"GO AWAY. I CAN'T REMEMBER ANY."

"Well, tell me what a 'tide' is . . . and why do you sit on it?"

"IT'S MY JOB. IT'S WHAT I DO. I AM THE MAN WHO SITS ON THE TIDE."

Now Raven is always curious, so he tried to see what the Giant was sitting on, but he couldn't. (Well, after all, there was a Giant in the way). So, in order to get a better look, he suggested that the Giant stand on the tide instead of sitting on it.

"NO. I HAVE ALWAYS SAT ON THE TIDE. IT'S MY JOB. IT'S WHAT I DO."

"Come on, stand up"

"NO. GO AWAY. YOU'RE BOTHERING ME."

Now Raven is not only full of mischief, but he's very persistant. He circled the Giant trying to get him to stand up. Then Raven spotted an exposed portion of the Giant's "backside" and got an idea. He flew up very high, pointed his sharp beak at his target and dropped like a hawk, jabbing the Giant in a very tender spot.

"YEOW!" The Giant screamed in pain and leapt to his feet. But his cries of pain were drowned out by the sounds of hundreds of waterfalls as the sea poured into the huge hole left where he had been sitting.

As the Giant danced about in pain, so much seawater poured into the hole, that the ocean level dropped and Raven saw large stretches of sand which abounded with oysters and clams and mussels and crabs and lots of tasty stranded fish. But before Raven could feast on all this food, the Giant sat down again, causing the seawater to spurt back up and refill the ocean.

But now Raven knew the Giant's secret. He figured that all he needed to do was to teach the Giant some new habits. So he perched on the Giant's shoulder and, in his most persuasive voice, suggested:

"From now on, why don't you take a little stretch about twice a day -- just a short one -- so that people can gather food from the sea?"

"NO. 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 little short stretch twice a day."

"GO AWAY. YOU ARE UPSETTING ME."

"I know. It's MY job. It's what I do. I am 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 the Owls and gave it to the people. And now I will upset you twice a day. It's my job."

So Raven started circling the Giant, looking to jab him again. But the Giant swung his arms wildly at Raven, causing great waves in the water. In fact these waves resulted in great storms hitting the shore. This, they say, is when Mountain Goat first tasted salt and why sea shells are sometimes 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. Up jumped the Giant and he 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 also 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!"

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This page was updated on March 9, 2006

This page was created on October 6, 2000