Essay for Week 10: Native America Review

Native America Review

For the last couple of week’s I read the stories in the Native America section. I thought that the section was satisfactory. Overall I would give it a 7/10. I enjoyed the readings, and they were all very creative. The first story I read was called “Hero Tales (Thompson). This was my favorite story! Since I am already in love with Hero’s and epic adventures, it was only natural for me to choose this one, and I really enjoyed it. I like how most of the stories had a moral point. Besides the main plot, there was also an overall meaning of the stories.  In the Jealous Uncle story, the little boy had to look past his uncle’s wrong doing. Toward the end of the story however, the uncle crossed the line and the boy killed him. The story about the Bluejay was also great. The adventures were so random that it made the story fun.

My least favorite story was the one I read this week called “Indian Fairy Tales” These Stories just didn’t really stand out to me that much. Most of them were hard for me to follow. There was one story that I really enjoyed and that was the one with the North Wind. Other than that story, the most interesting think within this section was Iagoo. I chose to write my storytelling post over Iagoo because I feel like he is the most important part within the fairy tales. He makes it all happen, and without his stories, none of this would be possible.

I learned from this reading section that most of the Indian stories have deep meanings within the story. Basically the story is never just told for “fun.” Most of the stories were also pretty graphic and ruthless with the deaths of major or minor characters, but it wasn’t distracting or anything. It was just something I noticed. Overall, I was a little surprised about how well the section turned out. It was definitely enjoyable.

Tipi by: John C. Grabill

More info on Tipi's: Wikipedia

Reading Diary for Week 10: Fairy Tales

American Indian Fairy Tales

 Part 1:

• Iagoo is one of the oldest and wisets storytellers.
• All of the kids love him the most for his vivid storytelling.  Iagoo knew everything about the North Wind and the Animals.
• The best time to tell stories was during the winter.
• The king of the Land of Ice was a man named Ka-bib-on-okka, which in our language means the North Wind. That is a big name, I thought at first the North Wind was just the wind. Maybe I’ll use a word play when writing my story this week.
• Sha-Won-dasee: is the South Wind. It seems as if the two are oppisites so they both cancel each other out. One cannot fully take over the other.
• Shin-ge-bis wanted to take on the North Wind so he stayed where we was and fished. He was also known as the Diver because he could transform into a duck. He was always laughing and had a great positive attitude.
• I enjoyed the story of Shin-ge-bis and the north with. It reminded me of a Ying and Yang type battle, were one force is constantly against the other. What surprised me though was that Shin-ge-bis was the main protagonist. I thought for sure that the South Wind would be the one he is going against.
• The story of the little boy and clouds was a good heartwarming story! It moral of the story is that you don’t have to be the biggest, smartest, or the strongest person to accomplish wonders. All you have to is be brave and believe in yourself. This is what the worn did. He was able to climb all the way up the mountain and rescue the little boy and girl even though all the other bigger animals could not. It took him over one month to get there.

Part 2:

• In the Boy who Snared the sun, the world was a very different place than what it is now.
• The people and animals all lived together in harmony. Man did not kill beast for food, nor did the animals.
• Since there was so many animals the people all died out and all that was left were a brother and a sister. The brother was a dwarf, so the sister had to do everything.
• After receiving a gift form his sister, the boy began to hunt the birds and make a fur coat.
• He is now trying to pull the Sun down in a noose. There is no way he can accomplish this I think.
• The Dormouse had to save the day, and according to the other animals he was the dumbest. I guess as the saying goes “The bigger they are the harder they fall.”
• As the Dormouse nibbled off the cord to set the sun free, He began to burn, and turn into what a normal looking mouse is today.
• I didn’t really live the story of how summer came to me. I don’t know, for some reason it was just boring to me. What was interesting though was the fisherman and how he traveled and gathered some people to end the winter.