Essay: Heros in American Indian Fairy Tales

Iagoo Telling Stories to the Children, by John Rae (1921)

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   The heroes featured in this unit seem to possess some characteristics that span across all the stories. They all have a sense of innocence, which is exemplified by characters like Shin-ge-bis or the children on the mountain. Interestingly, all of these characters are innocent as a function of driving the story forward: they have a "get-up-and-go" attitude whereas many of their fellow characters  in their respective stories would likely shirk the responsibility and risk of moving forward. Keeping this transition in mind, it's also interesting to note that this quality of innocence also seems to replace the Westernized-hero quality of bravery. By this, I mean that heroes in the American Indian Fairy Tales rarely seem to question their own abilities, as if their confidence was "a given". They do not doubt their ability to be responsible for their choices, so they simply do as they please.
   Another characteristic of heroes that carries across many stories is the quality of being tricksters: they often employ shenanigans on others to get what they want. However, these little pranks rarely, if ever, cause any real harm. And the tricks themselves appear to move the stories forward as well, because they force other peripheral, or at least less central, characters into action where they might not have engaged with the main plot at all. However, their reaction to the heroes' jests or tricks makes them intervene.
   Possibly the most universal trait of the heroes of the American Indian Fairy Tales was that of having an affinity with wildlife and nature in general. This is not surprising, however, because of the obvious traditional important that the Native Americans place on the treatment of and co-existence with nature. All of the characters are able to communicate and befriend animals to come to their aid if needed, and some of the characters can even transform into animals themselves with magic. The heroes further show their affinity with nature by showing a high level of interaction with spirits of nature. However, these relationships with the spirits are not always friendly, and the spirits themselves are often regarded as higher, more powerful beings, so there's occasionally tension between the heroes and supernatural beings as well.

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Storytelling Week 9: Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind

The North Wind, by John Rae (1921)

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It was a tough time for the Fisher Tribe of the Ice: they had wrangled a large batch of fish the month before, but the spirit of the North Wind had become even more intense and the cold over the land prevented anyone from fishing except for Shin-ge-bis. Shin-ge-bis was the best fisherman in the village, as well as a magical shaman and the most intelligent warrior in his village. He had seen the form of the North Wind spirit face to face, and told the spirit in the previous year that he would show his tribe how to survive even the most dire cold that the spirit could muster. However, the spirit did not like to be questioned in his prowess, and he made the cold over the World of Ice slightly more intense every day.
   However, Shin-ge-bis was anticipating that the spirit was watching his tribe suffer, sadistically enjoying that he was able to show his power over them. Shin-ge-bis knew how proud the North Wind was, and so he unveiled his new idea to further enrage the North Wind. He went out into the frozen lake where all the fishermen of the village used to fish (none had been here since it froze completely over), and used a large saw to cut a hole in the ice. Viola! In no time he was able to fish for his village and no one would starve.
   Enraged, the North Wind saw this as a sign of disrespect and called out to Shin-ge-bis as he was setting his wigwam up around the ice-fishing hole, "You dare mock me, little fisherman? I will bring a new blizzard to blow over your fishing hole!" And so a blizzard came, but the snow instead powdered over the wigwam and instead kept Shin-ge-bis out of the wailing wind. Then, as another affront to the spirit, Shin-ge-bis then lit a  fire, which turned into a massive bonfire. Shin-ge-bis knew this was further angering the North Wind, and so he challenged the spirit,"Yoohoo! If you wish to stop me, you must deal with me yourself. Your usual tricks aren't working!" The North Wind then took his man-like form and the two began to wrestle. Despite Shin-ge-bis putting up a admirable struggle, the North Wind threw him against the windward side of the wigwam, and Shin-ge-bis slumped to the ground.
   "I think you're going to need a blow stronger than that to keep me down." Shin-ge-bis boasted, taking out a heavy fur coat and putting it on. The North Wind charged at Shin-ge-bis, riding the waves of his blizzard and slamming Shin-ge-bis against the side of the wigwam. Shin-ge-bis, barely able to stand, murmurs, "Like I said, you'll need to hit me with your best." The North Wind gathered all of his strength and charged Shin-ge-bis, preparing to end it all. But Shin-ge-bis rolled out of the way, allowing the spirit to crash through the wall of the wigwam and into the blazing inferno on the other side. The North Wind spirit yelled in agony and anger, realizing that he had been tricked. As he fled into the Southeast, Summer came to the Land of Ice for the first time ever and Shin-ge-bis saved his village from starvation. Shin-ge-bis also made sure that from then on when the Winter from the North Wind came, the spirit never stayed too long.

Author's Note: I kept most of the narrative points of the original story. However, I made my version into a little bit more of a showdown fight, where Shin-ge-bis had to be more tactical with his decisions. In the original, Shin-ge-bis was more of a natural trickster who was just really clever and managed to beat the North Wind by the exact same method: making him fall into a fire pit. I just wanted to make my rendition more action-based to help keep the reader's attention. I also made the fight between Shin-ge-bis more personal between them, whereas in the original he simply outwitted the North Wind because he thought it would have been fun (even though his village's livelihood was still at stake).

Bibliography: "Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind" from American Indian Fairy Tales, by W.T. Larned
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Reading Diary B: American Indian Fairy Tales

"O-jeeg as the Fisher", by John Rae (1921)

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The next story told by Iagoo was that of the Boy Who Snared the Sun. Iagoo starts out by telling the story of the Dormouse, a creature that was bigger than all others, and he also tells about a younger world when there were a lot more animals around. At this time, there were only two people left on Earth: a boy and his sister. The boy was disabled because of dwarfism, and one day his sister made him a bow and some arrows to help him take care of himself. He takes to it well, killing enough birds for his sister to make him a coat from. The boy soon developed the spirit to travel the world, which he did but not before the Sun itself played a trick on him. The Sun burnt his bird coat as it was setting beyond the horizon, so the boy thought of a way to get back at the sun: make an aparatus to stop the sun where it was. After realizing the sun wasn't rising the rest of the animals of nature became worried and called upon the Dormouse to free the sun from its bindings. The Dormouse agrees, but is burnt down to little more than a common mouse after being under the sun's rays while freeing it.

Following this tale, Iagoo moves on to tell of How the Summer Came for Morning Glory, who has gotten tire of winter. The story is specifically about a magic man (who could transform into a Fisher (fox)) named O-jeeg who found a way to bring summer. O-jeeg was a hunter, who heard from his elders about a place called Summer, where there wasn't constantly snow and ice like where he lived. O-jeeg's son gets information from a talking squirrel on how to bring Summer through the sky to their lands, and tells O-jeeg about it. O-jeeg and his animal friends set out to find a mountain that reaches beyond the clouds to bring Summer through, and they partake the help of a Manito who shows them to the mountain after allowing the group to stay at his lodge. All of O-jeeg's friends fail in making a dent in the sky until the wolverine tries, and O-jeeg follows: they see a land with warmth, greenery, and light. They had found Summer, and as they both tried to release all of the splendor of Spring, Autumn and Summer while getting back to their world, O-jeeg did not make it back. The skydwellers shot O-jeeg through the tail while he was in the form of a fisher, and he dies soon after: his constellation lines makes up the very one Morning Glory asked about in the first place.

Reading Diary A: American Indian Fairy Tales

"The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds", by John Rae (1921)

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The first story in this unit is Iagoo the Story Teller, which introduces the muse of the stories that play out for the rest of the unit. Iagoo was a wonderfully worldly old man with a fantastic imagination, with knowledge that he was willing to share with anyone who was willing to listen. These qualities allow him to come up with tales to enthrall the children of his tribe with. During the tribe's winter hiatus, the first tale he decides to tell the children is that of the North wind and how it was fooled by a magical diver named Shin-ge-bis.

In the proceeding tale of how Shin-ge-bis Fools in the North Wind, Shin-ge-bis is called upon by his tribe to stop Ka-bib-on-okka, the North Wind, after Sha-won-dasee, the South Wind, failed to stop the North Wind from making winter come. Despite his fellow fishermen in his tribe becoming worried about how they would fish when all the lakes were frozen, Shin-ge-bis simply laughs, fishes through a hole in the ice, and pays no regard to the North Wind.
   Even though he successfully builds a large, moon-long bonfire that allows him to fish for a long time, Shin-ge-bis is forced into a confrontation with Ka-bib-on-okka. However, when the North Wind tries to send a blizzard in Shin-ge-bis' way, his wigwam collects the powder snow and actually makes a warm shelter for him. Shin-ge-bis then goads the North Wind inside where the fire is roaring away. Ka-bib-on-okka falls for the trick and Shin-ge-bis' fire melts him.

The next story, Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds, is prompted to be told by Iagoo by a young indian girl named Morning Glory who asks him if the mountains were always there (?) Iagoo tells of a Big Rock and how it lifted a girl and and boy into the clouds. Initially these two children wandered the plains of the land with the animals and the plants, at one with nature. One day, when out froliking with their animal friends, they see a big mossy rock that they both agree would be fun to climb. However, as they climbed the rock grew for some unknown reason. Tired from their efforts, they fell asleep as the rock grew, and the animals and the childrens' parents wondered where they were. Even though all animals tried to get the children down, all failed until the measuring worm tried his effort. It took a month, but the measuring worm made it to the top of the rock, found the children, and brought them back home.