Meaning of kushtaka | Babel Free

Definitions

A mythical part-otter, part-human shapeshifter, in Tlingit and Tsimshian folklore, sometimes represented as tricksters and at other times as helpful beings who save (and turn) drowning victims.

Examples

“Written by a non-native scholar, this book contains nine Tlingit and Haida tales concerned with shamans and kushtakas. Land⟳ otters were fearful hybrid beings of the spirit world. Able to live⟳ on land⟳ and in water, they had the special mission of ...”

“Ordinarily they can't be seen at all, but sometimes kushtakas reveal⟳ themselves in elusive shadowy forms; sometimes they are only heard; sometimes the contaminated victim experiences their reality in the furriness of his own⟳ arms and legs ...”

“If a body could not be recovered and cremated, a drowning victim might become⟳ a kushtaka, a half-man, half-otter changeling that occupies the realm between life and death.”

“I learned that kushtakas “saved” drowned people by transforming them into their own⟳ kind. Most of the stories told of drowning victims who used their newly acquired supernatural powers to help⟳ their living relatives. That seemed pretty benign.”

CEFR level