On the Copper River in south-central Alaska, a celebrated chief named Ltaxda'x (EL-tax-da) once owned a dish hewn from the horn of a giant moose. When Ltaxda'x died, four brothers fought over this ceremonial platter of the Raven clan. According to some tellings of the ancient story, one brother who lost gathered the people who sided with him and led them away from their ancestral home into the unknown. They journeyed for many years, crossing a glacier and nearly starving. When they followed what looked like a rabbit on the snowy horizon, it turned out to be the distant peak of Mount St. Elias. From the top, they could see the deep blue sea, and they built their home on an island. They prospered under the protection of the mountain with the glacier spirit that adopted them and taught them how to hunt seals living there.
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