Deer Woman, or Deer Lady, appears in the legends of numerous Native American traditions, and similar figures appear in various cultures around the world. Notably she is found in stories of the Eastern Woodland, Central Plains, and Pacific Northwest Indians. Though Deer Woman is sometimes a helpful spirit for women’s fertility, she more commonly represents a dangerous figure who seduces men and leads them either to death or loss of their path in life. Stories of Deer Woman thus serve as cautionary tales designed to bring about personal transformation, especially for promiscuous, unfaithful men. Other Deer Woman stories revolve around hunting and family life, including marriage and child rearing.
Deer Woman may be described as a shape-shifter, able to change between deer and woman; as having the upper half of a human and the lower half of a white-tailed deer; or as all human except for her telltale hooves (and doe eyes). She often appears just off a trail or behind a tree or bush, beckoning a man to come to her. The eager man may be trampled to death, or may go off and live with her for a time, only to be abandoned far from home.
In some traditions (e.g., that of the Ojibwe), Deer Woman can be warded off with tobacco and prescribed chanting. Also, once she is recognized (usually by noticing her hooves), she runs away. She is also known to be fond of dancing, sometimes appearing unnoticed at communal dances and then leaving after the drumming stops.
In some versions of the story, Deer Woman is a woman who has been raped or murdered and takes out her revenge on wayward men. One Oklahoma version of the story recounts a young Indian man who had danced all night at a local powwow. Taking a break, he looked out into the adjacent field and saw a lone figure. Moving closer, he realized that this was a woman dancing by herself. Coming closer, he found her attractive and beautifully dressed. Entranced by her beauty and her dancing, he followed her as she seemed to beckon him with her arms. Finally, the man caught up with Deer Woman and became even more enchanted by her beauty—particularly her fawn eyes, lovely hair, and tawny skin. Hearing the dance’s drums faintly, he turned to look back and realized that he was indeed very far from his starting point. Turning back to the woman, the young man found that she was running away, though she looked back smiling, enticing him to follow. He was amazed at her ability to dash through the woods and grew weary trying to follow her. Finally, he stopped. Bending over to catch his breath, he saw deer hooves. Looking up, he saw the woman standing before him, offering her hand to help him up. He pulled her close to kiss her, but a tear ran down her cheek and her face began to transform. Deer Woman began striking the man’s face and body as he screamed out in pain and confusion. She knocked him onto his back, and as he looked up, the young man saw a large doe standing on his chest. The powerful animal began stomping and pounding. Finally, as the man neared death from the pummeling, he looked up to see the woman (now half human, half deer) smiling at him as she walked away into the woods, leaving him to his lonely death.
A more positive depiction of the Deer Woman figure comes from the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Their myths involve a baby who was abandoned by his mother, a girl of the village. Deer Woman found the boy in the field and raised him as her own. The boy grew up frolicking with his fawn brothers and sisters. After some years, Deer Woman knew that the time had come for Deer Boy to return to his people. She prepared him to be caught by a hunter, who would return him unharmed to his village. She told Deer Boy to instruct his birth mother that he must stay alone and unseen in a room for four days. The villagers and his human mother rejoiced at his miraculous return. The boy instructed his family that he must remain isolated and unseen to stay with them. But his mother was unable to hold back from stealing a look at him before the four days were up. Immediately the boy was transformed into a deer and ran off to join Deer Woman, where he lived out his life among the Deer People.
Douglas J. King
See also Bear Man of the Cherokee; Skinwalker; White Buffalo Woman; White Deer; Women in Folklore
Further Reading
Berk, Ari. 2003. “Where the White Stag Runs: Boundary and Transformation in Deer Myths, Legends, and Songs.” The Endicott Studio for the Mythic Arts website. http://www.endicott-studio.com/articleslist/where-the-white-stag-runs-boundary-and-transformation-in-deer-myth-by-ari-berk.html. Accessed March 21, 2015.
Dunn, Carolyn. 2003. “Deer Woman and the Living Myth of the Dreamtime.” The Endicott Studio for the Mythic Arts website. http://endicottstudio.typepad.com/jomahome/. Accessed March 21, 2015.
Hacker, Tonya. 2013. “Oklahoma’s Deer Woman.” Ghouli website. http://www.ghouliok.blogspot.com/2012/11/oklahomas-deer-woman.html. Accessed March 21, 2015.
Leland, Charles G. 2012. Algonquin Legends. New York: Dover.