Reading Notes: American Indian Fairy tails Part A

This week I chose to read American Indian Fairy Tails.

I like the cockiness of Shin-ge-bis and how confident he is that he can outsmart the North Wind. He is very clever and knowing how to fish in the winter and being bundled up but I had a feeling from the start that his confidence could be his downfall if he wasn't humble enough. This story had the moral that positive, happy energy can over come even the coldest and darkest of times (i.e., the North wind). This was a cute telling of it because it was not straight away obvious that the lesson would be about positivity winning out over darkness. It made an even great impact that the other fishermen left Shin-ge-bis because they did not believe they or even he could over come to North wind. It goes to show that even when others doubt themselves and you, there is still hope.

Iagoo is such an interesting character. He is old and wise and a story teller and would make for a fun narrator for one of my story telling assignments. One thing that had me curious though is why he seemed so spaced out before Morning Glory came over to snap him out of it so he would tell the children a bed time story. It would have been interesting to hear what his thoughts were at that moment; if they were something deep or if he was pondering what story he wanted to share with the children next.

Honestly, one of the reasons I chose this section to read for the week was because in my portfolio review group from this past weekend I read a storytelling based on The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds. The story peaked my interest enough that I decided to go through and read the original story for myself. I guess you could say that student did a top notch job of engaging the readers. I think it was funny how the Coyote won't answer the parents question of how their son and daughter got up on the rock since he doesn't know the answer. Very political, he changes the question to be more about how to get them down, which I can't argue is a very important question in their circumstance.

Native American Storytelling

Bibliography:
American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae (1921).