Monday, October 17, 2016

Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales Part A

There was a man who lived in a village and was known to all as the Unnatural Uncle. He would kill all of his nephews when they became two years old. The wife of the uncle went to the mother of the children and planned to keep the next child alive. They decided when another child was born, they would lie to the uncle and say it was a girl. The next child was a boy and the wife to the uncle lied about the child’s gender. They dressed the child as a girl and told the child to act like a girl. The uncle was suspicious of the child’s boyish looks. One day the uncle discovered the boy to be a boy. He asked to see the boy so that he could kill him like the others. The boy knew the uncle would try to murder him. They went into the woods together to gather wood. The uncle left the boy to die trapped in a log but the boy escaped. The uncle failed attempt one to kill him. The next day the boy again was summoned by the Uncle. Next the uncle tried to push the child off a cliff but the child survived by using a contraption he had. He returned with the ducks and eggs and the uncle was upset. The next attempt was to go collect clams and have a giant one swallow the child. The plan went as wanted but the child escaped by cutting the clam’s tendon. He returned to home and the uncle was angry. Next the uncle built a box and put the child in the box and floated him out to see. He washed up on some shore. The box was opened by two girls and he was in Eagle Land with the Eagle people. The chief let the child put on the eagle skin and fly home to get his parents. He did but his parents weren’t home. He realized the torture his uncle was putting his parents through so he swooped down and grabbed his uncle. He told the uncle if he could swim to shore he would be spared but the uncle could not swim. The boy then gathered his parents and flew them back to eagle land to live happily.

Fledging Eagle
By KetaDesign found on Wiki

Bibliography:
Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929). Link

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