Monday, October 26, 2020

Week 10 Reading Notes: British North America Part B

  • Turtle lived alone in a lake

  • Turtle would get hit by something several times, but didn’t know what it was (couldn’t see it)

  • Turtle goes to the woods to get help; Deer agrees to help

  • Turtle asks to see Deer’s fighting ability; Deer fights a tree and breaks his antlers

  • Turtle says Deer won’t last long enough; Bear offers to help

  • Bear fights a tree, looks clumsy jumping around while fighting

  • Turtle says Bear won’t last long enough; crowd of small turtles come out and offer to help

  • Crowd of turtles fight Turtle to prove abilities; Turtle approves of their fighting

  • Turtle leads small turtles to the lake; Turtle leaves them and goes home

  • Big stone falls on the small turtles, killing them

  • Turtle runs outside to see commotion, sees big Thunderbird

  • Muskrat explains that is the Thunderbird and he is very scary

  • Turtle now stays in the water during a thunderstorm


The Making of Lakes and Mountains

  • Group of bears steal a woman; made to obey them

  • Woman comes up with a plan to escape

  • Woman combs/gathers their hair in a pile; also gathered hair oil, sharpening stone, red Earth pigment

  • Bear/Woman gather wood, Bear walking slow because he has a lot on his back, Woman has small bundle in her arms

  • Woman runs back to the house ahead of Bear, grabs hair/oil/stone/pigment and runs away

  • Bears notice she’s gone and chase her; when bears get close, woman pours out some hair oil, and it turns into a lake

  • Runs some more, breaks off some sharpening stone, it turns into a mountain

  • Snowbirds surround her, pours red Earth pigment; snowbirds flock to it to paint their faces

  • Throws hair on ground, turns into a mass of fallen trees to impede the Bears

  • Bears get closer; woman shoves the comb into the ground, turns into a bunch of mountains

  • Bears cannot get over them, so they have to go around

  • Snowbirds surround her; does the same pigment trick

  • Makes another mountain with whetstone

  • Birds surround her again; combines hair/oil to create a lake with fallen trees in it

  • Woman gets to the seashore, asks a man in a canoe to let her go with him

  • She gets in; Bears catch up, jump in water and swim after her

  • Man puts a carved club in the water, killing all the Bears


Coyote and Fox

  • Coyote comes across an underground house

  • Rock Rabbit People live there- very small and short

  • Coyote wants to eat them; kills them, ties them up, and carries them off

  • Coyote finds a tree, makes a fire pit of rocks, puts in rabbits, covers it with leaves and dirt; takes a nap while they cook

  • Fox sees Coyote/fire pit, digs up the rabbits and eats half

  • Coyote awakens, tells Fox to leave him some

  • Coyote too sleepy/lazy to stop him, Fox eats all of them

  • Coyote wakes up and is mad at Fox, follows him to see Fox sleeping under a tree

  • Coyote uses magic to make tree fall on Fox, tree misses Fox though

  • Fox leaves and falls asleep in thick/tall rye grass

  • Coyote sets grass on fire, Fox wakes up and leaves before fire gets him

  • Fox goes to where a lot of rabbits are; Coyote sets another fire- rabbits run out everywhere

  • Fox leaves, Coyote goes for the rabbits

  • Coyote travels to a magpie area, catches many magpies, makes a robe of their skins

  • Coyote sees Fox wearing a beautiful robe of silver-fox skins and golden eagle feathers

  • Coyote offers to trade robes, Fox refuses; Coyote steals robe and runs away

  • Fox makes magic wind blow; Robe blows off of Coyote’s body and comes back to Fox

  • Coyote goes to find his old magpie robe, which is gross and broken

  • Fox wore his silver robe until he became an ordinary fox, robe turns into his beautiful silver fur


Silver Fox, via the Untextbook


Story Source: Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson (1917)

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