Week 11: Reading Notes Part A

This week I decided to read stories about the Inuit mythology. I thought these stories were interesting because they place in the times of the Inuit people, while using magic and animate animals to convey stories. My favorite story from the first half of the unit was about the Rabbit and Bear with the Flint Body.

Notes:

• Rabbit and his grandmother had an issue, because they did not have any more arrows for the hunt
• Rabbit could make arrow sticks fine, but did not have anything for the arrow heads
• The only place he could get flint was the great bear chief, who had all of the flint in the world in his body
• The Bear told rabbit to strike off flint, and Rabbit kept taking very small pieces, to which the Bear grew impatient.
• Rabbit then struck hard, and the Bear split in two, leaving only the flint part.
• The bears got mad, and rabbit was forced to kill them, which is why there are not very many bears left.

I always enjoy stories that reveal the reason for a natural phenomenon, although this one turned out to be quite dark.

original image in book

Story source: Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie McLaughlin (1916).