Reading Diary B: Native American Hero Tales

Eagle by, pixabay

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Another story in this unit is The Attack on the Giant Elk and the Great Eagle: this story starts out telling of giant animals that ate everything, even men, until the Gods decided to intervene. They made a man, Jonayaíyin, who, upon reaching manhood sought out the giant Elk. He finds the Elk in a desert, but cannot stealthily approach easily. A lizard offers Jonayaíyin his coat to blend in with the surroundings, which he does. Then a gopher appears, and advises Jonayaíyin to also dig his way to the Elk. Using the gopher's hole, Jonayaíyin is able to hit the Elk with his arrows. Even though the arrows pierced the heart of the Elk, it didn't die and instead threw itself into a tantrum at Jonayaíyin (creating mountains).But it was no use: thanks to the additional help of the other animals (including a spider), Jonayaíyin was able to beat the Elk.


A follow-up story in the unit is The Son-in-Law Tests, which is about an animal trickster named Wemicus, whose daughter is married to a man that Wemicus constantly tested in feats of skill, strength, and dexterity to prove his fitness to be his daughter's husband. When Wemicus and the man went out to hunt beaver, the daughter told the man that Wemicus would try and burn his moccasins. Anticipating this, the man switched his moccasins with Wemicus', and consequently Wemicus throws his own moccasins in the fire by mistake.
    The next challenge Wemicus puts to the man is one of sliding down a snowy hill. The daughter tells the man that the hill has many poisonous snakes on it, and gives him magical chewing tobacco to spit in front of him so the snakes won't attack.
    After this Wemicus tries to trick the man into being bitten by poisonous lizards in berry bushes, but the wife warns him of this which allows him to survive.
    Another test that Wemicus has the man do is jump over a ravine, but his wife tells him that the ravine will "widen" or "close" depending on what someone says. So when the man easily makes it over, he tells the ravine to "widen", which it does, causing Wemicus to fall (But he doesn't die).
    The final test that Wemicus makes the man undergo is that of a canoeing race. Wemicus however, has his canoe overturned, and is forever transformed into a pike.

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