Week 11 Extra Reading

For extra reading this week, I read stories from the Eskimo unit. I had read Inuit stories, which I really enjoyed, and I wanted to learn more about myths from the region. My favorite story was one called "The Wife Who Lied."

Notes:

• Navaranapulak was a woman who came from a tribe of man-eaters, and was married into a tribe without man-eaters
• She returned to her home village with mittens on her feet to make it look like her husband had mutilated her
• Her home tribe was mad, and agreed to declare war against the new tribe
• As the tribe circled the new tribe, a woman had a strange dream that they were being attacked
• As the attack actually commenced, she was happy, but then two men dragged her away
• They cut off her arms, and she was left to die for lying.

I thought this story was especially interesting because it was a very callous way of teaching a moral. There were elements of "Boy Who Cried Wolf" to the story, and it is interesting to see how different cultures tell similar morals differently.

Ekimo mode of transportation

This story is part of the Eskimo Folk Tales unit. Story source: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

Week 11 Story

The rush of it was about to hit her. This was why she loved what she did; why she continued to live such a dangerous lifestyle. The feeling that you got right before you were about to do something outrageous was unparalleled, and she knew that she'd gotten this one just right. This was about to be one of the largest diamond robberies in history, and the agency could trust no one else.

When she got in, she did all the things she needed to, and she had done this many times before. She checked for laser sensors, she scanned for heat signatures, and she fixed her hair. There was a routine she followed every time, and so far she had never failed. The agency gave her word that she was clear to go. She had complete confidence that she would be successful, and it's possible that she got cocky. Because when she reached for the crystal, it seemed that every alarm in the world went off.

WAA-WAA-WAA

She didn't know how this happened, as she had been thorough, but she had no time to think. This had not gone as planned, and she had to somehow get out. As she turned the corned, diamond in hand, 15 guards burst through the doors. She had always worked peacefully, but she feared that this was different. She took a deep breath, and began to work her way through the men, one by one, until the floor was littered with bodies. As she looked back, a single tear fell from her left eye, but she wiped it away as soon as it fell. This was not a job for the weak, and she had completed the mission. And since that day, diamonds have always been guarded by machine at all times, to prevent fate from repeating itself.

Author's Note: This story is based on the story of the Rabbit and the Flint Bear from the Inuit unit. I really enjoyed the story, and I thought it was a very creative way of telling the story. I changed the Rabbit to a jewel thief, because I thought it would make an interesting dynamic, and I think it worked out well. The Rabbit never had malicious intentions to the bear, but he ended up having to kill many bears. This was the same thing that happened in my story.

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

Diamond

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).

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).