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The Hunter and the Wolf - 1

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  • Title The Hunter and the Wolf - 1
  • Category Print
  • Medium Serigraph
  • Medium Native, Pacific Northwest (subject or artist)
  • Dimensions 21"h x 28"w
  • Framed Dimensions 26.75"h x 33.75"w
  • Year Completed 1990
  • Description Eskimo serigraph print; one of five prints in pictorial myth series. (ed. 45/80)
  • Notes Greg Colfax: The Hunter and the Wolf There was once a very successful hairseal hunter. He knew of a rock where seals always sleep at night. He would go there and get one or two seals at any time. One day the hunter went there and there were no seals, only traces of blood leading to water’s edge. After two nights of this he decided to catch who, or whatever, is beating him to the catch. The next night the hunter went there, he hid his canoe and climbed a tree and watched. Suddenly he noticed something approaching on the smooth clear water, a V-shaped thing indicating a submerged object moving along. It got to the rock where the seal was sleeping and out jumped a wolf, who killed the seal! The next night the man thought he would set a trap as way to get rid of the wolf. He waited until the wolf came and killed the seal and buried it in the beach as it had done the night before. After the wolf had howled to its mates and left, the man went down to the beach and dug up the seal. After a while the wolves began to emerge from the bush and sat in a circle where the buried seal was supposed to be. The wolf that buried the seal started to dig in the sand but could not find the seal, as he had done the night before when the wolves feasted on his catch. This time the wolf had nothing, so the other wolves surrounded him and killed him for that. That is how the hunter got rid of his competitor and also had his revenge. --as told by Nuu-chah-nulth elder John Thomas
  • Artist Gregory Colfax Native American, Makah nation b. 1948
  • Credit Carlson Collection
  • Location The Pines Cafe
  • Accession Number 1991.0002
  • Status Checked Out
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