We heard this story from a totem carver at the Alaskan Wildlife Sanctuary. Apparently it is a frequently utilized motif in totem poles and the myth is of Tlingit origin:
Long long ago, back when ravens were white, an old tribal chief stole the sun and put it in a box and the entire world was covered with darkness. However, the Raven grew tired of stumbling around in the shadows and went in search of the light. As he came near the house of the old chief, he overheard the chief talking with his daughter, and the Raven learned that the chief kept all the sun of the world locked away in a box. Predictably, he promptly devised a plan to steal the box. The Raven had the ability to turn himself into any living thing, so he transformed himself into a needle from a hemlock tree and landed himself into the river. Every evening, the chief’s daughter would ladle water out of the river to drink and unknowingly drank the Raven. Soon afterwards, she became pregnant and in time gave birth to a son — the Raven in human form. The chief loved his new grandson greatly and indulged his every whim. Eventually, the Raven worked out the sun was being kept hidden in a box, and began begging the chief to give him the box as a toy. When his grandfather refused, Raven began crying and screaming and throwing tantrums and pleading for the box. But the chief refused.
Despondent, the Raven stopped eating and i hurt the old chief to see his grandson like this. After several days, the chief reluctantly gave him the box, with the strict instructions that the boy could play with the box but that he must, must not open it. Raven gave his word that he would not open the box, but he lied to the old chief. Raven immediately changed back to his bird form, and opened the box releasing the sun. When the chief saw this he placed guards to the entrance of the clan house to stop Raven from escaping, so Raven carried the sun up to the smokehole at the top of the clan house, but the sun was too large to fit out the smokehole. Raven pushed and pushed the sun breaking off pieces of light that formed the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky, until eventually the sun burst out of the smokehole and filled up the earth. Because there were guards at the door to the clan house, Raven was trapped. Eventually he flew out of the smokehole too, where he was covered in soot and coal dust turning him black forevermore.
