text: [Themes: edutainment, socially important, serious]
  
  There are many stories on the Northwest Coast about Raven and his adventures when the world was young. Raven shaped the world, and and then set about discovering what it was that he shaped. He is the consummate trickster, and often gets what he wants through thievery and deception. However, while Raven regularly suffers the consequences of his misdeeds, mankind benefits both from his actions and from the lessons contained in his stories.
  
  In this game you Are Raven, on a walk along the shore. You are here on the Earth once again, to see and discover new and wonderous things, or just something that looks like fun to you. You carry with you, your fire sticks, which you can not leave here on Earth, or loose at any cost. Man is not ready to discover these yet.
  
  [Author's Note: You are Raven, Trickster/Creator God of the Northwestern tribes, particularly the Inuits of Alaska and Canada areas. You are walking on the earth, going here and there, doing this and that. Encounters are not always dangerous, and not always fun, but you make the best of you time on Earth, after all, you created it as a joke :-)]
  
  > begin the Game
  Walking on the shore you see many things you have seen before. The woods, the ice in the water, the bears walking through the pines to go fishing in the salmon rivers.
  
  While you are walking you see a kayak that is not being watched, and tied to a large trunk of driftwood on the shore. You say to yourself, "I've never been out in the ocean on a kayak before, and the one who left this here doesn't seem to need it right now.
  
  > take the Kayak out into the Ocean
  It takes you a few minutes to figure out how everything works, but soon you are out in the sea and paddling around. You can see with your sharp eyes, fish under the water. Then you see a whale surface. It is huge and beautiful. You think to yourself, "I've never been inside a whale before. If I could get her to open her mouth I could fly right in.".
  
  > get the whale to open her mouth
  You call out to the Whale "Next time you come up for air Whale, open your mouth and I will give you a big surprise".
  
  The Whale surfaces and opens her mouth really wide and you fly inside.
  
  There is a light inside, down in the belly. You walk down the mouth to see what you can see.
  
  Inside you can see the whale's belly, and the large ribs. You also find a huge amount of fish from the sea that the whale has eaten. There is a small lamp there, lighting everything.
  
  After eating your fill you look at the lamp. There is a tube that leads from the Whales hear down to the lamp and keeps it filled with oil.
  
  Then you hear a voice. "Hello, you are welcome, and can eat anything you wish. But please don't drink from the lamps oil tube."
  
  You turn and see a young woman. She is very pretty and she has a flute.
  
  > ask her who she is
  You ask her who she is and she tells you that she is the Soul of the Whale. You are very impressed and pleased to meet her.
  
  She thanks you for your greeting and plays a song on her flute and begins to dance with the music. She is very good and you sit down and relax, having a full belly and such beautiful music playing you soon fall asleep.
  
  When you wake up she is no longer there, but the lamp is still lit and the oil is still dripping into the lamps bowl.
  
  > taste the oil
  Bored and feeling mischief you taste the oil. It's sweet and wonderful, and so you taste it again. Soon you are sucking on the tube and leaving none for the lamp. You can't get enough of the wonderful oil, and you don't notice that the whale is thrashing about in the water. In your greed you pull hard on the tube and something breaks. You hear a loud cry from the whale and it suddenly goes very still.
  
  You know it has died. You are now drifting at sea inside a dead whale drifting from place to place.
  
  Then you sing: "Let the one who wants to be high-born like me cut the whale open and let me out, and he will be as high as I am."
  
  And you also sing: "Let the whale go ashore. Let the whale go ashore on a long sandy beach.."
  
  Finally you hear waves breaking on a sandy beach, and he sing again: "Let the one who wants to be high-born like me cut the whale open and let me out, and he will be as high as I am."
  
  Suddenly your hear the voices of children. These children heard your voice, went home and informed their parents. Then the people all came there and cut the whale open, and you fly off into the woods crying "Q!one', q!one', q!one'."
  
  > clean yourself off and go back to the whale
  Raven stays up in the woods a long time in order to get the grease and smell off of your feathers, and, when you come down again, you see boxes and boxes of whale grease.
  
  Making believe you are surprised you asked the people where they got all of it.
  
  They say: "We found a whale that had come right in here where we could get it easily. So we are making oil out of it."
  
  You ask: "Did you hear anything inside when it first came ashore."
  
  "Yes! there was some strange sound in there, and something flew out calling itself q!one'."
  
  Then you answer. "Years ago just such a thing as this happened, and all of the people of that town that heard the noise died. It brings bad luck to hear such a noise in a whale. You people must leave this right away. Don't eat any of it. Leave it here."
  
  Then all of the people believe you and left their oil there. It became yours.
  
  > continue walking on the shore
  You continue walking up the shore, it is a good day and you begin to think of things, like how the people could get more food. And how you could get more food as well.
  
  The ocean has no tides and the shores no shallows. You know there is lots of food in the sea - oysters and clams, mussels and crabs. But how to get to it? You are lazy and prefer getting into mischief, so you wonder "If only there was a way to move the water out of the way, so I could gather food from the sea!"
  
  You know nothing about the sea though, but you know Fog Man does.
  
  > go find Fog Man
  You decide to find Fog man and ask him. You are not really sure where Fog man is, so you start to ask around
  
  > ask Sandpipers
  As one bird the flock of Sandpipers flys through the air this way and that, and you can't tell which way they think you should go.
  
  They are fast and amazing, but they are of no use to you.
  
  > ask Sea Gulls
  You Ask the Seagulls to tell you where Fog Man is, but they are lost souls and are endlessly searching themselves for things they can not even describe. They are no help to you.
  
  > ask Cormorants
  You ask the Cormorants, perched like lonely sentinels on the offshore rocks but they didn't know where The Fog Man is to be found either.
  
  They can not help you.
  
  > search Far to the North
  Finally you decide to look far to the north, where the fog comes from. You search all day and the next and the next until one day you see an island bouncing from wave to wave like a raft free from its moorings. On it is a wrinkled old man with a long straggly beard. When he sees you coming he snatches up his hat, and pulls it down on his head. Fog begins to pour out from under it's brim hiding the fog man and his island.
  
  > snatch the hat from his head
  You swoop down and snatch off his hat. "What, do you throw a fog in a friend's face."
  
  "Hey, Raven! Give me my hat, I've fog to make." He cries.
  
  You ask: "Why do you make fog anyway?"
  
  "It's my job. It's what I do, I'm the Fog Man."
  
  "Well do you know how the sea can be moved away from the shore?"
  
  "I don't know, please give me my hat, the sun is getting too warm."
  
  "Do you know someone I could ask?"
  
  "Go ask the Man who sits on the Tide."
  
  "What is the tide? And why does he sit on it? Where do I find him?"
  
  The Fog Man pleads: "Please leave me my hat, and go to where the sun sleeps."
  
  > leave him his hat and Go to where Sun Sleeps
  Leaving the Fog Man cursing on the shore, you fly towards the setting sun.
  
  For many days, you pursue the sun and you are just about to give up the search when you spot a solitary Rock crag, with sea birds swooping around its head and shoulders.
  
  You are just about to ask the birds, when the crag yawns, then it blinks.
  
  What looks like a rock, is a giant man, sitting in the water.
  
  > ask him "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  You ask "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  
  But the big man says nothing to you.
  
  > ask him again "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  You ask again "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?" This time louder!
  
  Still the giant man says nothing to you.
  
  > ask him yet again "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  You yell this time very loud "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?!"
  
  Still he says nothing but his eyes are looking at you. Maybe you are getting through that thick skull of his.
  
  > ask once more "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  You are just about to ask when the giant roars "I AM THE MAN WHO SITS ON THE TIDE!!" and His breath blows you back several miles.
  
  Avoiding his mouth, you shout in his ear. "Do you know the secret of how to move the sea aside?"
  
  "Well maybe if you told me one, it would jog your memory."
  
  "Well what is the tide, and why do you sit on it?"
  
  Curious, you try to see what he was sitting on. "Maybe if you stood on it"
  
  "Come on, get up."
  
  You begin circling him, and after a while you spot an exposed portion of his "backside" and get an idea.
  
  > poke the Giant in the backside with your strong beak
  Flying up high in the sky, you point your sharp beak right at the exposed spont and drop like hawk, jabbing the giant real good.
  
  With a mighty roar, the giant rises up and starts howling in pain, jumping around and holding his "backside".
  
  But his wail is drown out by the sound of a hundred waterfalls, as the sea pours into a large hole where he sat.
  
  The giant dances around in pain. The sea is almost all gone, leaving sand and floundering fish as far as the eye can see. Finally, rubbing the "tender spot" the giant sits back down. As he does the sea spurts up and refills to its former water line.
  
  Now you know the giant's secret. "So that's what the tide is, now if we can just teach him some new habits."
  
  > teach the Gaint some new habits.
  You perch on his shoulder and with your most persuasive trickster voice suggest:
  
  "From now on, how about taking a little stretch twice a day - just a short one, so the people can gather food from the sea."
  
  "Come on, everybody needs a break now and then, just a short stretch twice a day?"
  
  "I know, it's my job. It's what I do. I am the Raven. I upset things. I upset the darkness when I stole the sun and put it in the sky. I upset the cold when I stole fire from Owl and gave it to the people, and now I will upset you twice a day."
  
  You swoop down and snatch off his hat. "What, do you throw a fog in a friend's face."
  
  "Hey, Raven! Give me my hat, I've fog to make." He cries.
  
  You ask: "Why do you make fog anyway?"
  
  "It's my job. It's what I do, I'm the Fog Man."
  
  "Well do you know how the sea can be moved away from the shore?"
  
  "I don't know, please give me my hat, the sun is getting too warm."
  
  "Do you know someone I could ask?"
  
  "Go ask the Man who sits on the Tide."
  
  "What is the tide? And why does he sit on it? Where do I find him?"
  
  The Fog Man pleads: "Please leave me my hat, and go to where the sun sleeps."
  
  > take his hat and go to where Sun sleeps
  You laugh and say "I'll just take your hat. It's time we had a sunny day"
  
  For many days, you pursue the sun and you are just about to give up the search when you spot a solitary Rock crag, with sea birds swooping around its head and shoulders.
  
  You are just about to ask the birds, when the crag yawns, then it blinks.
  
  What looks like a rock, is a giant man, sitting in the water.
  
  > ask the Giant "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  You ask "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  
  But the big man says nothing to you.
  You ask "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  
  But the big man says nothing to you.
  
  > ask the Giant again "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  You ask again "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?" This time louder!
  
  Still the giant man says nothing to you.
  
  > ask the Giant yet again "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?"
  You yell this time very loud "Have you seen the man who sits on the Tide?!"
  
  Still he says nothing but his eyes are looking at you. Maybe you are getting through that thick skull of his.
  
  > yell at the Giant One More Time
  You are just about to ask when the giant roars "I AM THE MAN WHO SITS ON THE TIDE!!" and His breath blows you back several miles.
  
  Avoiding his mouth, you shout in his ear. "Do you know the secret of how to move the sea aside?"
  
  "Well maybe if you told me one, it would jog your memory."
  
  "Well what is the tide, and why do you sit on it?"
  
  Curious, you try to see what he was sitting on. "Maybe if you stood on it"
  
  "Come on, get up."
  
  You begin circling him, and after a while you spot an exposed portion of his "backside" and get an idea.
  
  > poke the Giant in his backside with your strong beak
  Flying up high in the sky, you point your sharp beak right at the exposed spot and drop like hawk, jabbing the giant real good.
  
  With a mighty roar, the giant rises up and starts howling in pain, jumping around and holding his "backside".
  
  But his wail is drown out by the sound of a hundred waterfalls, as the sea pours into a large hole where he sat.
  
  The giant dances around in pain. The sea is almost all gone, leaving sand and floundering fish as far as the eye can see. Finally, rubbing the "tender spot" the giant sits back down. As he does the sea spurts up and refills to its former water line.
  
  Now you know the giant's secret. "So that's what the tide is, now if we can just teach him some new habits."
  
  > teach the Giant a few new habits
  You perch on his shoulder and with your most persuasive trickster voice suggest:
  
  "From now on, how about taking a little stretch twice a day - just a short one, so the people can gather food from the sea."
  
  "Come on, everybody needs a break now and then, just a short stretch twice a day?"
  
  "I know, it's my job. It's what I do. I am the Raven. I upset things. I upset the darkness when I stole the sun and put it in the sky. I upset the cold when I stole fire from Owl and gave it to the people, and now I will upset you twice a day."
  
  > circle the Giant for another jab in the backside.
  As you begin circling for another jab, the giant roared "WHY I CAN SWAT YOU LIKE A MOSQUITO! YOU ARE NO BIGGER TO ME THAN A MINNOW TO A WHALE."
  
  He begins to swing his arms wildly at you as you circle and dodge. Giant waves were formed. As you two struggle, you trying to jab the giant, the giant trying to crush you, a great storm strikes the shores, and they say that this is when Mountain Goat first tastes salt and why sea shells are found in the mountains.
  
  Trying as hard as you can you can not get near a tender spot on the Giant.
  
  You need something to distract him.
  
  > use Fog Man's Hat
  Trying as hard as you can you can not get near a tender spot on the Giant. Then you remember Fog Man's hat. You pull the hat down on your head, just like you saw Fog man do. Fog begins pouring out, thicker and thicker. A fog bank envelopes the Giant. He looks around, trying to spot You, but all he can see is Fog. Then, "YEOWWW!" You jab him good. For a little while, he jumps and dances around, then settles back on his spot.
  
  Meanwhile as the waters receded, you were able to gather food from the sea shore. The waters were shallow enough to fish, and there were oysters and clams and mussels and crabs. The Sandpipers and gulls and cormorants found plenty to eat. Then, as the giant settled down, the waters returned to their former level. You visit the giant twice a day at different times to catch him by surprise, upsetting him each time. Sometimes you use Fog Man's hat, or come in the dark of the moon. And as the tide goes out and comes in, there is plenty of food to eat.
  
  Finally, one day, as you are about to pull on the fog man's hat, you see a surprising sight. All by himself, without your reminder, the Giant stood up, stretched, looked around and after a bit, sat down.
  
  You are puzzled. So you disguise youself as a sea bird and fly to the giant's shoulder. "Why did you just stand up and sit down?"
  
  And as you fly off, relieved you would have to upset the Giant no longer, you laugh. "I am the Raven. I upset things. It's my job. It's what I do!"