Wolf, Fox, Bear, Wolverine, Mouse, Owl, Dog, Seal, Walrus and a host of other spirits. Many of these interactions involve some sort of trickery in which Kutkh comes out on top about as often as he is made a fool of. An example of these contradictions is given to the Chukchi legend of Kutkh and the Mice. The great and mighty raven Kutkh was flying through the cosmos. Tired from constant flight, he regurgitated the Earth from his gut, transformed into an old man, and alighted on the empty land to rest. Out of his first footsteps emerged the first Mice. Curious, playful and fearless, they entered the sleeping Kutkh's nose. The fury of the subsequent sneeze buckled the earth and created the mountains and the valleys. Attempts to stamp them out led to the formation of the ocean. Further harassments led to a great battle between the forces of snow and fire which created the seasons. Thus, the variable world recognizable to people emerged from the dynamic interaction between the mighty Kutkh and the small but numerous Mice. Attitudes Although Kutkh is supposed to have given mankind variously light, fire, language, fresh water and skills such as net-weaving and copulation, he is also often portrayed as a laughing-stock, hungry, thieving and selfish. In its contradictions, his character is similar that of other trickster gods, such as Coyote. The early Russian explorer and ethnographer of Kamchatka Stepan Krasheninnikov (1711–1755) summarizes the Itelmen's relationship to Kutkh as follows: The image of Kutkh remains popular and iconic in Kamchatka, used often in advertising and promotional materials. Stylized carvings of Kutkh by Koryak artisans, often adorned with beads and lined with fur, are sold widely as souvenirs. The Chukchi creator-deity, roughly analogous to Bai-Ulgan of the Turkic pantheon. The Koryaks refer to him as Quikinna'qu ("Big Raven") and in Kamchadal (Itelmens) mythology he is called Kutkhu. See also Cultural depictions of ravens Raven Tales Notes References D. Koester (2002) "When the fat raven sings: mimesis and environmental alterity in Kamchatka's environmental age." in People and the Land, Pathways to Reform in Post-Soviet Siberia, ed. E. Kasten. Berlin: Dietrich Reiner Verlag. W. Jochelson (1908). The Koryak. Leiden, E.J. Brill. D.S. Worth (1961). Kamchadal Texts Collected by W. Jochelson 's Gravenhage: Mouton. External links Animated film of Kutkh and the Mice (in Russian) "Meeting the New Shamans" by Rachel Mann, PhD. The Raven's Gift: A