Reading Diary B: Native American Hero Tales

The second half of the Native American Hero Tales was also great. I believe that this is my favorite unit by far. They are all similar in having animal personification, which makes the story very interesting because they are all symbolic. My favorite story in the second half of the unit was The Jealous Father, cont. In the story, there was an old man named Aioswé who had two wives. Of those two wives, one had a son and as that son grew older, the more Aioswé became jealous of him because he thought that he was having sexual relations with the wife. His suspicion and jealousy lead him to taking the son to hunt for eggs by the shore. But the father tricked the boy and took him far out to sea to then leave him there to die. A walrus that was conjured by his mother came to rescue him and take him to shore. But his father conjured up a thunderstorm and once the walrus got close enough for the boy to walk to shore, he was killed by lightning. His mother sent an old woman to head the boy for the journey ahead and what to do to survive. On his journey, he ran into two old blind witches with bones protruding out of their elbows. He made a stick and placed it between the two women, which were conjured by his father, and began to stab each other when they thought they were killing the boy. Then the boy ran into a village with bones hanging from trees. He dug a hole to hide because if something rustled the bones then the villagers would come out and kill who ever did it.  Once he escaped there, he went back home and set the trees and water on fire. He told his father that if he get into the barrel where he kept the fat and grease then he would be safe and he drew a ring around the mother. The father burned alive while the mother stayed safe. I really liked how the mother and father were able to conjure different animals and humans to do their bidding.

Grey Jay by Simon (2010).