Week 11 Reading Notes Part B

For the second part of the Inuit unit, there were many stories about the interactions between certain animals and humans. One in particular stuck out to me, as it was about a spider (Unktomi) who was attempting to be a trickster.

Notes:

• Unktomi, the spider, had found some bright red plums, and decided to trick the widows down the street with them.
• The widows asked where the plums were from, and he pointed to a great red cloud far away.
• The widows proclaimed how they wished someone could take care of their babies while they got some plums.
• Unktomi said that he would, and as soon as they left, he cut the babies heads off.
• He then replaced their bodies with old blankets, and put the heads back
• He took the baby bodies and made a soup with them
• When the widows came back, he told them that he made soup and that the babies were sleeping, so they shouldn't awake them.
• When they had finished the soup, they realized their babies were dead, and that Unktomi was the culprit.
• By then, Unktomi was already gone down a hole.
• He painted his face in disguise, and pretended to be a stranger worried about what had happened.
• When the widows told him, he vowed to fight "Unktomi", and returned with scratches proclaiming victory.
• The widows believed him, and Unktomi was able to bait them into the hole and kill them as well.

Red plums, from Andreii

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