Reading Notes: Great Plains, Unit A
This week I read from some of the Great Plains tales, which overall, I found more clear and more easy to follow than the Blackfoot stories I read last week. Here were some of my favorites from this unit:
Sacred Legend: Omaha
I really enjoyed this creation/origin story — it was very natural and easy to follow. I feel like a story that stretches this far back could very easily be told from the perspective of an elderly grandmother with grandchildren and great-grandchildren on her knee. They could interject with questions to prompt her explanations of how so many inventions came to be.
The Sacred Pole
I actually think the grandmother/grandfather idea could be used with this story too. The pole would be an object central to this Omaha tribe, so maybe a child could one day question where the pole came from and their grandfather could sit them down and explain to them how the superstitions surrounding the pole came to be, and why the tree was maimed in the first place. He could end up being the young man/son in the story who originally found the beautiful tree.
The Buffalo and the Grizzly Bear
I think this story about a grizzly bear anxious for a rivalry could be about two human high school students. One minds his own business in the school hallways; one is pushy and teases the other. One day, the more docile student finally pays the bullying student back and the bully actually gains some respect for him, like the bear does for the buffalo. This story seems to be an example of some toxic masculine behavior, so where better to reset that tale than in high school?
Bibliography: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913).
Sacred Legend: Omaha
I really enjoyed this creation/origin story — it was very natural and easy to follow. I feel like a story that stretches this far back could very easily be told from the perspective of an elderly grandmother with grandchildren and great-grandchildren on her knee. They could interject with questions to prompt her explanations of how so many inventions came to be.
The Sacred Pole
I actually think the grandmother/grandfather idea could be used with this story too. The pole would be an object central to this Omaha tribe, so maybe a child could one day question where the pole came from and their grandfather could sit them down and explain to them how the superstitions surrounding the pole came to be, and why the tree was maimed in the first place. He could end up being the young man/son in the story who originally found the beautiful tree.
The Buffalo and the Grizzly Bear
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| American Bison. Courtesy of Jack Dykinga. Source: Wikipedia. |
I think this story about a grizzly bear anxious for a rivalry could be about two human high school students. One minds his own business in the school hallways; one is pushy and teases the other. One day, the more docile student finally pays the bullying student back and the bully actually gains some respect for him, like the bear does for the buffalo. This story seems to be an example of some toxic masculine behavior, so where better to reset that tale than in high school?
Bibliography: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913).
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