Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Reading Notes: Great Plains, Part B

Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913).

The Man Who Shot a Ghost
A man is traveling, and hunts several rabbits. He builds a fire that night and cooks a rabbit to eat, when he hears the ghosts coming. He leaves and hides under a tree, listening to the ghosts. They end up surrounding the man, and when one of them kicks him, he shoots them through the head. They run away, and he goes to where they were screaming from. One of the bodies buried there has been unearthed by a wolf, and has a hole in its skull.

The Indian Who Wrestled With a Ghost
A man is traveling, and stops in the woods for the night. He hears a woman, and pretends to be dead when she comes near, only showing life when she's about to remove his foot. The next night, he stops in the woods again, and after feeding and sharing tobacco with a ghost, wrestles him, having been told if he wins, he will be successful in battle. They wrestle all night, and eventually wins, using the fire's ability to weaken the ghost to gain the advantage. He then wins the battle, gaining horses and killing the enemy.

The Wakanda, or Water God
A man and his wife lost their only child, a son when he drowned. This left the man depressed, and two men who were sacred were sent on a journey to find him. They found him alive, but were told he would die if he left the water, as he ate the food of the Wakanda. The father still wished to see his son, so they exchanged for the boy, who died when he left the water, and was buried. Later, the same couple lost their daughter, however, she lived as she did not eat the Wakanda food.

The next few stories focused on how things came to be. They included a crow sowing pebbles that became mountains, dust that became the land, and twigs becoming massive forests. We also learn why possums play dead when they sense danger. It's always interesting to see how others interpret the creation, and why animals have the instincts they do. The following story explained the dangers of snakes, and how even the smallest things we cannot feel can be the most deadly. This was followed by explaining why different animals are lean or fat, based on how the creator decided they looked in each state.
Is this Possum dead or alive?
Source: Flickr

How the Rabbit Killed the Giant
The rabbit travels to a village, where people are afraid of a giant that takes all of the food. He visits the giant, and eats there, but in the following days, was unable to get his own food, as hunters were afraid of the giant and would not take the meat for themselves or split it. After a few nights, he convinces an insect to bite the giant while he sleeps, and he later dies from this bite.

Legend of the Head of Gold
A man sends one of his sons with Wakantanka to attempt to give him something to do, rather than staying idle. He is given a job tending to the horses, and told not to look into the little house. One of the horses tells him to look into the house, and dip his head into the gold. He does so, and they escape while Wakantanka chases, saying they will die for their actions. They end up successfully escaping, and were able to defend against all future attacks from others.

Ictinike
The first story about Ictinike involves a turtle that he comes across, and he questions why it stays where it is. He convinces it to travel with him, and tricks it into sticking its head out farther than normal, and beats it with a bone, killing it. He cooks the turtle, and falls asleep before eating it, and a coyote eats all the meat while he is asleep.
Drawing of Ictinike
Source: Wikipedia

In the second story, Ictinike visits the beavers, who feed him their youngest son. Ictinike breaks one of the toe bones while eating, and when the youngest is reborn in the water, he now has a toe that appears broken. Ictinike left his tobacco pouch when he left the beavers, so they return it to him, and he wished to eat one of his children, which beaver refused. Ictinike then goes to visit the muskrat, and is fed wild rice that came out of a pot instead of rice. He asks for the same thing from the muskrats after leaving his tobacco pouch there as well, and attempts to turn water into rice, but is unable to. He does the same thing with a Kingfisher, with similar results.

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