Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Birds That Say Their Own Names
Common Poorwill, male
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • BirdNote Daily
    • Bring Birds Back
    • Threatened
    • BirdNote Presents
    • Sound Escapes
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • The Team
    • Board Members
    • DEI/IDEA Commitment
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

How Raven Made the Tide

August 19, 2017
Those clever ravens!
Listen Now
Subscribe
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Common Raven viewing her world Expand Image
© Tom Grey

Long ago the tide stayed close to shore. The people went hungry because the clams lay hidden under water. Then Raven had a plan. He put on his cloak and flew along the shore to the house of the old woman who held the tide-line firmly in her hand. Raven fooled her, and she let go of the tide-line, and the tide rushed out. All the people joined Raven to feast on clams. Finally the old woman promised to let go of the tide-line twice each day. And that is how Raven made the tides.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

How Raven Made the Tide

Written by Frances Wood

This is BirdNote!
[Call of the Common Raven]
Northwest Coast Indians often focused on the Raven in their myths and legends. Here is a myth explaining how Raven made the tides.
Many years ago the tide did not come in and go out. The sea would stay up very high and close to shore. The people were often hungry because all the good clams and seaweed lay hidden under the water.
Raven decided to change that. He put on his cloak of black feathers and flew along the tide-line. [Raven call] After many miles, he came to the house of a very old woman. She was the reason the tide was close to shore, because she held the tide-line firmly in her hand.
Raven sat down next to her and said, “Ah, those clams were so good to eat.”
“What clams?” demanded the old woman.
“The clams on the beach,” Raven teased.
Then the woman jumped up to see the beach, and just then Raven pushed her down and threw dust in her eyes to blind her. She let go of the tide-line, and the tide rushed out.
All the people joined Raven to feast on clams and seaweed.
Finally Raven returned to the old woman to make a deal. He agreed to heal her eyes, if she would promise to let go of the tide-line twice each day.
And that is how Raven made the tides.
[Call of the Raven]
Would you like to introduce your friends to BirdNote? It's easy! Begin at our website, BirdNote.org.
###
Calls of the Common Raven provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by G.A. Keller
Ambient track recorded by C. Peterson on Lopez Island
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org   August 2017   Narrator: Michael Stein

ID#081205CORAKPLU                     CORA-01b

Michael Stein
Narrator
Frances Wood
Writer
Tom Grey
Photographer
Tags: myth

Related Resources

Learn more about the Common Raven

More About These Birds

Common Raven (Corvus corax)

Corvus corax

Sights & Sounds

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • About
  • Annual Report
  • Contact
  • Science Advisory Council
  • Pitch Page
  • Sights & Sounds
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy