Rainbow Crow is a Native American Lenni-Lenape legend that explains how the once beautiful crow came to be black and lost his sweet-sounding voice by bringing fire back from the Creator to the woodland animals to prevent them from being buried by a snowstorm. The tale teaches values of sacrifice, courage, survival, and respect for community.
The tale is set in the time before the Lenape appeared, when only the woodland animals inhabited the earth, living in happiness and warm weather. But then suddenly the earth became cold, and the animals experienced snow for the first time. Despite not having seen snow before, they were not initially worried or frightened. As the snow continued to accumulate, however, the animals started to grow more concerned, especially when all that could be seen of Mouse was his tail tip, and all that could be seen of Rabbit was the tips of his ears. The animals called a meeting in a clearing of the forest to discuss what might be done to rectify the impending dilemma, and it was determined that one of them should travel to the Creator’s home and ask that he stop the snow.
At the gathering, the animals had a great discussion in which various species initially thought to be good for the journey were ruled out one by one. It was determined that Owl should not be the one to go, even though he was the wisest, since he could get lost in the daytime due to light. Raccoon, likewise, was not the one to go since “he might follow his tail instead of his nose” (Hìtakonanu’laxk 2005, 72). It was also determined that the Coyote must not be the one to travel on this journey since his cleverness and love for playing tricks might distract him from his purpose. The animals were in despair in their inability to decide who would be the best choice to send. Meanwhile, the snow continued to pile up so that the smaller animals had to position themselves on top of the taller ones.
The animals were thrilled, then, when Rainbow Crow, Mànàka’has, who had been sitting at the top of a tree, flew down and announced “in the sweetest voice they had ever heard from a bird” that he would go on the journey (Hìtakonanu’laxk 2005, 73). Two traits that distinguished Rainbow Crow were his sweet-sounding voice and his beautiful rainbow-colored feathers. It took him three days to fly to the twelfth heaven where the Creator dwells, but upon arriving the Creator was busy and didn’t notice him. It was only upon hearing Rainbow Crow sing that the Creator was taken with his voice and stopped to listen to him.
Showing gratitude upon seeing Rainbow Crow, the Creator told him, “Such a gift of song as you have given to me, I now give a gift to you. Tell me what you would choose to have” (Hìtakonanu’laxk 2005, 73). Knowing that the snow would eventually bury all the animals below, Rainbow Crow asked the Creator to stop the snow but was told that he couldn’t since the snow had a Spirit of its own. Eventually, the Creator went on, the Spirit would leave to visit the Wind Spirit, at which point the Earth would simply be left cold. Rainbow Crow then asked the Creator to stop the cold but was told at this request that he couldn’t do so. Instead, the Creator offered fire, which would melt the snow and keep the animals from being buried until the warm weather returned. The Creator then used the Sun to light a stick on fire and gave it to Rainbow Crow, telling him that the gift of fire would be given to him only once and that he must hurry on his journey back to the earth.
Just as the journey to the Creator’s dwelling took three days, it took three days for Rainbow Crow to return to Earth. On each of the three days, Rainbow Crow suffered irreparable harm to his body, altering his appearance and his once sweet-sounding voice. On day one of the return journey, the stick of fire gave off sparks that burned and darkened his tail feathers. On day two, the fire once again damaged Rainbow Crow’s feathers, causing them to become black. And on day three, smoke and ash blew into his mouth from the heat of the fire so that he could now only croak “Caw, caw.”
When Rainbow Crow arrived back at the forest, he discovered that only the tops of the tallest trees remained above the snow and that his animal friends could not be seen. He used the fire to melt the snow and saw that his animal friends were now safe. All the woodland animals sang praise to Crow for providing them with what is thought to be the “grandfather of all fires” (Hìtakonanu’laxk 2005, 74). However, Crow was in despair, knowing that he had lost his beauty and his sweet-sounding singing voice; his rainbow-colored feathers would be no more. He would now forever be plain and black. Even after the Snow Spirit joined Wind Spirit and the snow stopped, Crow continued to weep at his loss.
The Creator came down from the sky once he heard that Crow was inconsolable to tell him that once man arrived on Earth he would use the fire and be master over all the animals, but that man would have no desire for Crow. The Creator granted Crow the gift of freedom for his bravery and lack of selfishness in bringing fire to the woodland animals. The very attributes Crow now had as a result of his journey to the twelfth heaven and his return carrying the stick of fire were the very reasons man would have no desire for him: his meat tastes like fire and smoke, thus man will never want to hurt him; his voice is crackly and hoarse, thus man will never want to capture him; and his feathers are black, so they will not be valued for their beauty.
There is one final consolation that the Creator brought to Crow’s attention. He told him that his black feathers shine and reflect all the other colors. Once Crow looked, he saw many tiny rainbows shining in his black feathers. The tale closes with the Creator’s return to his dwelling and Crow feeling very satisfied and proud in his being just a black Crow, since he is able to reflect many tiny rainbows through his black feathers.
Pennie Pflueger
See also Animal Tales; Cetan; Great Spirit; Kind Hawk, The; Piasa; Thunderbird
Further Reading
Adams, Richard. 2000. Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writing. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
Bierhorst, John. 1995. Mythology of the Lenape: Guide and Texts. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Bruchac, Joseph. 1992. Native American Animal Stories. Golden, CO: Fulcrum.
Hìtakonanu’laxk (Tree Beard). 2005. The Grandfathers Speak: Native American Folk Tales of the Lenapé People. New York: Interlink Books.
Lake-Thom, Robert. 1997. Spirits of the Earth: A Guide to Native American Nature Symbols, Stories, and Ceremonies. New York: Plume.