Storytelling: The Woman Stolen by Killer Whales

There was once a woman named Nakoma who lived alone near the sea. She had been married before, but her husband passed and she hadn't found another man who she could see herself being with. So, she lived alone. Nakoma was a strong woman and had learned to be independent. She missed her husband, but she didn't mind living alone. She knew how to take care of herself.

One day she was out at sea fishing for future meals. Her husband had been a fisherman and taught her his trade before he had passed. Nakoma was very grateful to him for this because she didn't know how she would have survived other wise. She was sitting out at sea thinking about her gratitude for her late husband when she felt something extremely heavy on her hook. Nakoma tried to pull it up, but to no avail. So, she tied the line to her boat and paddled back to shore. Once she got back to the beach she tried to pull the fish onto the shore and through much struggle she finally succeeded. It was a strange looking fish. She had never seen anything like it before. It was black and white and very large. It would feed her for week! Nakoma quickly killed it and set to work cutting it up and hanging it out to dry.

When her work was finished, she went to the edge of the shore to wash her hands in the water. As soon as she dipped her fingers in the sea, something quickly grabbed her and dragged her underneath the water. It was the Killer-Whales who had taken Nakoma because they wanted to get revenge on her for killing their friend.

News of the kidnapping soon became the talk of the underwater scene. It soon found the ears of the Shark. He knew exactly who Nakoma was, for he had watched her many times. After her husband died he took pity on her and was going to help take care of her, but soon realized she didn't need help from anyone. He liked this about Nakoma and so he observed her instead. After a while, Shark began to fall in love with Nakoma. So, when he heard of her kidnapping he wasted no time jumping into action to save her.

He arrived at the place the Killer-Whales resided right as night was falling. He waited until they fell asleep and snuck into their house to rescue Nakoma. He untied the rope that the Killer-Whales had bound her with. "Stay quiet and hold on to my fin," he whispered. Nakoma nodded her head and did as she was told. Once she had secured herself, Shark took off and swam as quickly as he could to Nakoma's house.

When they arrived on the beach, Nakoma laid on the sand overwhelmed with the events of the day. However, she felt strangely calm and safe. She hadn't truly felt that way since her husband died. She realized it was because of Shark and that his selfless rescue of her might have made her develop feelings for him. "Thank you for rescuing me," she said. "I haven't felt this safe since my husband passed. I don't mean to be forward, but would you mind staying with me? It doesn't have to be forever, just until we are sure the Killer-Whales won't return."

Shark was overjoyed. He had been in love with Nakoma for a while and this gave him hope that she might fall for him to. "I will stay with you as long as you would like," he said. "I must confess something. I have watched you since your husband passed away. I wanted to help take care of you, but I soon discovered that you did not need my help. So, instead I just observed you and ended up falling for you. That being said, I will be happy to stay with you for as long as you please."

Nakoma was surprised by Shark's confession, but it made her smile. "After tonight I think it is safe to say that I have started developing similar feelings for you as well and would like you to stay with me for as long as I am living." The two smiled at each other and embraced. They went on to live a happy life and were never again bothered by the Killer-Whales.

Author's Note: In the original story it was a married couple and the husband was the one who killed the whale. The Killer-Whales took his wife as revenge for killing their friend. So, the husband follows their trail and winds up at the house of the Fish Chief and asked where his wife was and if anyone would help him save her. The shark volunteers and takes the man to their house. The man waits outside while the Shark distracts them and he fends them off while the couple gets away. I wanted to change it more into a love story to go with my theme. So, I made the woman into a widow and the Shark in to her lover. I wanted to make the transition of her falling in love with Shark as seamless as possible and so I decided to go with the feeling of being safe first. I think that in a relationship that is very important and I thought that it would be a good basis for her love of Shark. I chose the name Nakoma because I wanted a strong name since she was independent. I researched Native American names and found Nakoma which was said to mean "Great warrior" or "Great Spirit." I chose this image because I wanted to give a visual of what I thought her cottage would look like. This is definitely a more modern version, but it does give a good sense of a lone cottage on the beach.

Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson; Mythology and Folklore Untextbook

Image Information: Taken from the High Tide Cottages rental website