Storytelling for Week 10: How Iagoo Became so Smart

How Iagoo became so smart

Prologue: Iagoo was one of the best storytellers in the world. Those of you that may have already heard about him know that he was a very wise man.  This contributed to him being such a great storyteller. Have you ever wondered why Iagoo was so smart? Or have you ever wanted to learn more about his origin? Well, I have the story for you. I grew up with Iagoo long ago. I knew him since I was at the age of 2. My Name is Lindi and I am going to tell you a little more about Iagoo and how he came to be today.

Iagoo was the first-born son from our Mother and Father, and I was the second. We are 2 years apart, but people could hardly tell the difference since was so much bigger than Iagoo. I was the BIG little brother. Growing up, Iagoo and I shared a close bond that most siblings do. We did everything together like farming, hunting, and dancing. We loved for each other very much, but one day we went our separate paths. We were both intelligent for our age and when we became teenagers, we were allowed to choose our own paths. I was interested more in hunting and gathering. Iagoo, on the other hand was more interested in Knowledge. He wanted to get out into the vast world and explore. He wanted to learn about knew things, and one day come back and tell the tribe what he had learned. Since Iagoo was older than I was, he decided what he wanted to do. He chose to leave the tribe and live out on his own.

On his own, Iagoo was able to explore the world and truly live among the animals. He traveled from village to village, and met many different people and tribes along the way. He also listened to several ancient stories that he never heard of. He found himself within a village far up north where it was very cold and frigid. Here, he learned about the story of  Shin-ge-bis and the North Wind. He leaned about the weather and seasons. They were determined by these Kings or Queens, such as the North and South Wind. Iagoo then traveled west and along the way heard stories about the eagles and bears. Further west he leaned about the little boy and girl in the clouds, from a large tribe in what is present day California. Basically, anywhere we traveled Iagoo heard the stories that come from that particular place, but stories is not the only thing Iagoo learned. Each village or tribe taught him of certain techniques or technologies that they knew. For example, far of in the North, Iagoo was shown how to surviving the harsh conditions by, making coats out of bull hide, and assembling huts out of pure snow if necessary.  In the East he learned how to fish and make various types of tools. Out West Iagoo learned how to swim and build a boat. Lastly, further down south, Iagoo learned how to make better-crafted weapons for hunting. He also learned how to scout out prey, and extract water from plans if necessary due to the extreme heat in the south. This is only a fraction of the knowledge Iagoo learned on his exploration, and after he was done, he came back to our tribe to spread his knowledge.

This is the Iagoo you see today. My brother, the wisest man to ever live amongst us. Iagoo spreads this knowledge he was learned not just for our entertainment. He is only one person, and we much remember that it is our job to keep this information alive. Iagoo will not be around forever and neither will you. It is up to us to spread the gift that Iagoo brought on us.

Three Horses by Edward S. Curtis

Author's Note:

This week I read American Indian Fairy Tales from the Un-textbook. I decided to base my storytelling post not from one of the stories listed, but from the storyteller himself, Iagoo. Iagoo is known to be the wisest and best storytellings in all of the Indian tribes.  Throughout the stories within the un-textbook, there are brief paragraphs that reference Iagoo. He is shown as an extremely all-knowing person. In my story I wanted to try and explain his origin from my perspective. It is completely made up, but I feel that it "could" be a valid fit for his origin. I just want to shed some light on him in particular since he is telling all of the stories.