Week 10 Reading Notes: British North America Part B

Turtle and Thunder

• 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)

Extra Credit Reading Notes, Week 10: British North America Part A

Creation of the World

• Wyandots- people who lived beyond the sky

• Shaman tells Indians to dig around a tree by chief’s lodge; break through the Sky Land floor

• Tree and chief’s daughter fall through into a sheet of water

• Swans see her falling, catch her on their back, go to Big Turtle to ask what to do with her

• Animal Council gathers, suggest divers go down to get some Earth from its roots to create an island for the girl

• They all go to where the tree fell, have to dive down into water to collect the Earth

• Otter dives down, drowns. Muskrat tries, drowns. Beaver tries, drowns.

• Old Toad offers to try, the animals laugh at her. Big Turtle tells her to go for it

• Old Toad comes up with a few grains of Earth, spits them out and dies as well

• Small Turtle rubs the grains on the edges of Big Turtle’s shell

• Shell begins to grow into an island; becomes large enough for woman to live on

• Island grows larger and larger until it becomes the Earth we know today

• Earthquakes occur when Big Turtle moves his foot

Creation of Light

• The whole world was dark, except inside the tepee of an old chief

• Chief owns all light, fire, and water- didn’t share light

• Animals go and try to steal the light

• Everyone puts on masks and dancing aprons- goes to chief’s lodge for a dance

• Each animal sang their own song, they all sang for Light in their own way

• Chief constantly refused to give them light

• Animals sang for light loudly and steadily; light begins to steal up into the sky

• Chief notices, starts shouting “let there not be” to stop it (but he didn’t say “light” at the end so it didn’t work)

• Animals keep dancing/singing, Chief shouts “Let there be light!” in a panic

• Light shone throughout the sky; Men have had light ever since

Origin of Light and Fire

• Raven/Seagull were friends who lived near one another

• World was constantly dark; Seagull owned the daylight that stayed in a box

• Seagull only let the light out for his own personal use

• Raven thought that was selfish; planned to steal it/let it out

• Puts thorn branches outside Seagull’s house; tells Seagull his canoe has been set adrift

• Seagull runs out of his house barefoot; gets thorns in his feet

• Raven offers to pull thorns out; says Seagull needs to let some daylight out of box so he can see

• Raven pushes Seagull’s arm, breaking the box and letting the light out

• Raven cleans himself, paints face black

• After four days, Raven sees smoke on the south shore of the sea

• Raven’s servants try to paddle in canoe to the smoke, but it was swamped

• Borrows Seagull’s canoe; goes to house of the Fire People

• Steals the baby in the home and runs away

• Sturgeon, Whale, Seal and others go search for Raven and his boat

• Raven returns to his home with the baby

• Fire People try to give Raven presents in exchange for the baby

• Raven refuses all gifts, but agrees to return the baby for some fire

• Fire People give Raven fire, and teach him how to make fire

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

Picture of Old Toad, via the Untextbook