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Seasons
12. The Gathering
April 8, 2008
The First People return to their village, which has been destroyed by the great flood. They struggle to work, but days go by but they make little progress by themselves. After many days they are exhausted and hungry with much still to be done. Frog reminds them that they have many friends, they just need to call on them. Q'os calls to Kulos, who helps them to rebuild their homes. Gwai calls to the Sea Wolf, who brings them food from the sea. Still they find they are falling behind, trying to take care of the kids and rebuild. Frog reminds them of Dzunakwa, who comes to take the children into the forest. They begin to make progress, but fall is coming too fast. Frog suggests that they ask the animals of the forest. The people are skeptical, but they call out to the animals who come from out of the forest and begin to help the people rebuild. Just as the first snow begins to fall they are finished and one by one they say goodbye to their friends. The animals look on and begin to slink back into the forest, assuming they will not be thanked. At this, Raven steps forward and asks them all to stay. There is so much food and they have warm homes and the animals have had no time to ready themselves for winter. We must celebrate this time, says Frog, and the people agree happily. They celebrate the first Potlatch by giving gifts of food to the animals.
11. The Flood
April 1, 2008
Spring has arrived and the children are at play. They see a tiny mouse who warns the children that a great flood is coming, and that they must go to higher ground. Over the next few days, they try to warn their parents, who remain skeptical. Raven and Eagle just laugh at them, and Frog simply advised them that they were told to do it themselves, so they should find a way. That night, everything of value is taken from the village as the people sleep. Suddenly all the parents wake up and see that not only has everything been stolen, but also the children are missing and crying out to them. They run toward the cries of help, up to the top of a great hill where they find the children surrounding a pile of their possessions. They begin to get angry when down the hill the Sea erupts in great waves that destroy the village. They look down at the children. You tried to warn us, and we wouldn't listen. The mouse appears and transforms into Mouse woman. You have lost your village, but you have been saved, she squeaks, but the adults cannot understand her. A child turns to them and explains that she is saying you must learn to listen to even the smallest among you. Even a mouse can roar.
10. Raven Gets Sick
March 25, 2008
It is a cold winter and everybody is sick. Frog arrives and tells them how long ago, the animals called the Great Spirit to meet with them. They complain that humans have all of the advantages, including hands, the ability to walk upright, master fire and create shelter, while they suffer each winter; the bears sniffling in dark caves, the bugs aching joints, the snakes sore bellies and the birds aching throats. The Great Spirit decides that during the winter the people will suffer like the bear and the snake and the insect and will be silenced as the birds, but Frog counsels him, and he decrees that the people may find a cure for these ills in the roots, the leaves and the bark of the plants if the people are smart enough to find them, and wise enough to remember them.
9. Raven and Coyote
March 18, 2008
Raven overhears Frog talking about the trickster Coyote and decides to head south to find him. Coyote asks Raven to teach him to fly, so Raven suggests he grab Coyote's nose and carry him high into the air. Coyote squirms in pain and his nose begins to stretch. Raven warns him to stop, but Coyote wriggles free, falling so quickly his tail catches fire and he hits the ground in a puff of dust. Coyote's red skin is now covered in dust, his nose is long with holes from Raven's talons and his tail has a black singe mark at the end. Raven laughs, but in fact, Coyote wanted to change his appearance because the creatures of the desert have come to know his old form, so he tricked Raven into transforming him!
8. Howl at the Moon
March 13, 2008
The people in the village are tired because the wolves howl all night, so the men head off into the woods to flush them out. Wina chases a pair of wolves to a high shelf of rock but he decides to lower his spear rather than harm them. That night he becomes lost in a sudden winter storm and the people fear he has perished, but he returns the next day covered with a warm deer fur, rested and fed. He explains that he was cared for by two shadowy strangers in a cave, who revealed themselves as the wolves from the hunt who decided to show him mercy as he had done for them. They tell him that they only cry out in the night to tell the people of the village that all is well. Wina announces that he has decided to be of the wolf clan, and to wear the symbol of the wolf and build them totems.
7. Child of Tears
October 4, 2006
Igis and Q'os are trying to have a child without success. Frog comes upon Igis crying in the forest, and she tells her to visit Dzunukwa, the witch of the forest. Dzunukwa takes Igis' tears and combines them with mud to create a little boy, Klundux. Igis and Q'os are happy, but the people mistreat Klundux because he is different, and he runs away. Dzunukwa returns to the village and takes all the children away. With raven's help the people track Dzunukwa to her home where they find the children playing happily, learning the secrets of the forest. She allows them to take the children but only if they return in the summer to visit, which is why it rains in spring before summer returns.
6. Bald Eagle
October 10, 2006
Eagle and Raven tell their own versions of how, before the light, Eagle and Raven carried the Great Spirit across the world. As they travelled he ate and drank, becoming heavier, and Raven, sneaking food and drink for himself, became too tired to help. Tired and frustrated, Eagle angrily drops them from his back and they fall to the ground. Worried he has killed his friends, Eagle flies down to their motionless bodies but the Great Spirit reaches up and grabs his head-feathers, turning them white. Eagle is horrified, but Great Spirit tells him that is what he gets for having no sense of humor.
5. Love and War
October 11, 2006
Q'os is in love with Igis, but Igis is too much in love with herself. He goes to Raven for advice, who tells him to make a snowman, and dress it with Igis' clothes. Raven transforms the snowman into Moowis, a brave, handsome warrior with whom Igis falls immediately in love. Q'os complains that the trick hasn't worked, but Raven tells him to be patient. Soon Igis stands ready to wed Moowis. Standing with her in the sun he melts into a pool of water leaving Igis to look at her reflection. Raven tells her that she has always only loved herself, even though someone else has loved her. Q'os steps forward and Igis agrees to marry him instead.
4. Gone Fishing
October 17, 2006
The first people build Eagle a totem because he catches so much fish for them. Raven becomes jealous, and decides to try and win all the fish in the village for himself. He makes up a story of a mystery bird that he has seen catching huge fish from the ocean. Eagle boasts he can catch the biggest fish, and so Raven snares him into a fishing contest. Secretly, he bets on Eagle and plans to throw the contest, dressing up in a silly costume as the mystery bird. Raven leaps down and hits a rock, losing his costume and falling into the water, but is saved when the real mystery bird, the Kulos appears.
3. Sea Wolf
October 23, 2006
Gwai is having a hard time catching fish, so Frog tells him to find the greatest hunter of all, the Sea Wolf. The Sea Wolf offers to help, but only if Gwai agrees to carve him a totem. Gwai agrees, and the Sea Wolf fills his nets with fish, but Gwai takes credit for the catch himself and forgets to build the totem. Angry, the Sea Wolf takes all the fish from the village in the middle of the night. The other men decide to hunt the Sea Wolf, but Gwai goes back into the woods, and working day and night, creates a totem for the Sea-Wolf, who forgives him and returns the fish.
2. The First People
October 6, 2006
Bored and frustrated with the new animals, Raven and Eagle find a giant clam shell with the first men inside. Raven takes charge of the men, teaching them to hunt and make fire, but they are useless and he grows tired of them. They find another shell, this time with the first women inside, but they just make things worse. Raven decides to get rid of them, and coaxing them back into the shell he pushes it back out to sea. A year passes and Raven and Eagle find the clam shells empty on the beach, and beyond, a village of the first people with their children.
1. How Raven Stole the Sun
January 28, 2004
Frog tells Raven about an old man who keeps the light of the world in a box in his hut by the river. Curious, Raven transforms himself into a spruce needle that is swallowed by the old man's daughter and he is reborn as a Raven-child. Using all his powers of persuasion and the odd temper tantrum, he persuades the old man to open the box and light is released into the world, awakening the plants and animals. When Raven assumes his true form to escape through the smoke hole, it blackens his feathers.
Description
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Genres
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CastEvan AdamsCarmen MooreIan Reid
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Channel
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Premiere DateJanuary 28, 2004
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IMDB Rating7.4 (37)
