Week 11: Reading Notes B
The Boy who Snared the Sun: The story begins with Lagoo telling a story of ancient times to a little boy and girl. Lagoo talks about a time of a mastodon that ate all the food and the only people left on earth were a little girl and her dwarf brother. The older and bigger girl was tired of doing all the work so she gave her brother a bow and arrow and told him to learn how to use it. The boy became cold and decided to kill some snow birds to make himself and he ended up killing 10. His sister sewed the bird skins together and made him a warm coat. The boy then decided to go wander the world din search of other people. On his adventure he realized the sun was shrinking his coat and he was so angry at the sun. He slept on his side for 10 straight day and 10 straight days on his other side and then decided to get revenge on the sun. The girl got some tough grass and made a rope then used her hair to make a cord. The boy made a snare and a noose. He sat on a hill at night and waited for the sun to rise. As it rose he caught it with a noose. When the sun did not rise all of the animals were super confused and needed the sun to be cut loose in order to survive. Many animals tried but were only burned by the sun's rays. The coyote decided to trick the dormouse to do it since he was the biggest of them all. It took a lot to walk him from his slumber but when they were successful he agreed to free the sun. The dormouse nibbled at the rope forever and was severely burned partly to ashes. That is why the mouse we know today is so small.
How the Summer Came: Morning Glory yearned for summer and was expressing her feelings to Lagoo. Lagoo began to tell her the story of how summer came. It began with a hunter name O-jeeg, he was one of the greatest and some believed him to be magical. He could also turn himself into a Fisher so he became friends with many other animals. O-jeeg had a wife and son. The hunter was teaching his son how to be a great hunter and so the boy showed great potential. One day the boy came across a squirrel and the squirrel told him about summer and begged him to convince O-jeeg to find it and bring it back. The boy did as the squirrel said and pleaded for his dad's help. O-jeeg gathered his animal friends and they began to make a game plan. They set out on their journey and came to the Manito. The Manito allowed O-jeeg and his friends to stay the night and feed them dinner. The next morning the Manito told them exactly where to go and what to do. O-jeeg and his friends did exactly as he said and came across the hill. They had to jump up and crack into the other earth. All of them tried and was not successful until the wolverine did it. O-jeeg saw all the birds caged and went to release them but he transformed into the fisher to be faster. He saw many birds that he knew his son would want to see so he had to release them as well. He climbed up a tall tree but was struck by a fatal blow and sis not survive. O-jeeg kept his promise and returned summer for his son and all of the people on earth.
The Fairy Bride: This is the story of an Indian Chief's daughter who loved to wander in the forest and wished of a happy land. There was fairies that lived in the forest the were very mischievous and she longed to live in that land with them. The girl composed a song and when she sang she heard it echoed back but did not know why. Her mother requested that she marry a hunter that could take care of her but she despised the way of living for hunters. She held off her mother and long as possible but finally the day came where she must marry the hunter. She went off into the forest to say one last farewell to the happy land that she loved so much. Back at the wedding she never showed and nobody knew where she went. Later, the hunter went off into the forest to try and find her and he saw her but as a more angelic figure. He also saw a fairy man walking off holding her hand. She got her dreams of being a fairy bride in the happy land.
Bibliography: American Indian Fairytales, Longfellow. Un-Textbook
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