When Darren Blaney received an order for a boardroom table from International Forest Products, he wanted to make sure the piece of furniture was something special. The Homalco artist wanted to tell the story of the origins of the famous winds that have blown out of Bute Inlet for centuries. It was one of those winds that destroyed the village of Mushkin on the east coast of Sonora Island over a century ago and caused the Xwemahlkwu people to move to Church House, the traditional home of the Homalco.

Raven and the Wind-Maker

As told by the late Noel George Harry

Our people have always lived here and the wind has always blown.

Once, there was a very strong wind blowing. Raven and the other people were getting tired of this strong wind, as they were unable to travel. They decided to hold a meeting, so Raven invited Heron, Seagull, Crow and Grebe. They wanted to know which way the wind was coming from. Thinking it was from the north, they headed off on that course.

Seagull, who was top-heavy, had a hard time travelling. Finally, they all had to stop because of the wind. This made Raven very angry. He was so angry that he wanted to kill whoever was making this wind.

Finally, they managed to carry on and they reached the northern country where Wind-Maker lived with his wife and young boy. Raven and the others knew this was where the wind was coming from. The people didn’t wear clothes in those days, thus they noticed that Wind-Maker’s ribs were starting to ripple – he was going to make the wind blow.

“It is strange that you don’t kill him,” Heron said to the others. Then he ran straight at Wind-Maker, ramming through his stomach with his sharp beak. Wind-Maker died. Heron ran after the woman and killed her too.

“We will keep the boy as a slave,” Raven told Heron. “We won’t kill him.”

They started travelling back home, but on the way the little boy’s ribs began to ripple as he lay in the canoe. The wind began to blow and they had to head for shore. So Raven started to pound on the boy’s stomach. The rippling of his ribs subsided and immediately the wind died down too. Now Raven knew for sure where the wind was coming from.

Yet Raven did not kill the boy. He took him home, although they had to stop several times along the way to pound the boy’s stomach.

Today there are many winds because Raven took Wind-Maker’s boy home with him.