PLACES AND SPACES: Raven Stealing the Sun Totem Pole

Ketchikan, Alaska - Located in front of the Ketchikan Public Library, the Raven Stealing the Sun Totem Pole is a Native legend/Story pole. 

According to legend, the story is about an old chief & his daughter. It is said that the chief kept the sun hidden away in a box. Raven wanted to have this sun and had tried to get it many times without success. He noticed that the daughter went to the well every day for water, so he transformed himself into a pine needle, dropped into her water and was swallowed. She became pregnant and in due time Raven was reborn as the chief's grandson. 

Raven became the old chief's favorite and let him have anything he asked for. One day he asked to play with the sun box, but he refused. Raven cried & cried and finally his grandfather let him play with it. Raven quickly took the box and rolled it outside. Then dashing the box to pieces, he took the sun in his beak and placed it in the sky, where it has been giving light to the world ever since.