For this reading diary, I am going to finish reading
Native American Fairy Tales.
The Boy Who Snared The Sun - Iagoo starts to tell the story of how there was a time that a thousand strong young boys would not have been a match against a mouse. In that time, people did not eat animals but instead ate berries and what the ground provided. The biggest animal there was was the Mastodon called Bosh-kwa-dosh. In that time there was a little girl and a boy who was a dwarf. The girl brought the boy everywhere with her. One day she decided to make him a bow and some arrows for him to practice with.
The Boy Who Snared The Sun (cont.) - Winter was coming and the boy was wondering how he would keep from freezing. So he learned how to shoot with the bow and arrow and killed ten snow birds. His sister then sewed the skins together to make a coat for him. He then decided to see if there were any other humans living on the earth. His sister was afraid that he would be hurt, but he went anyway. He walked and walked and found a flat area with no snow and fell asleep. The sun then shrank the feathers on the coat that the boy was so proud of. When he woke up and saw what happened, he vowed to take revenge on the sun. He spent 10 days laying in the grass on his back then 10 days on his stomach and decided to use a noose to capture it. His sister then created a rope using her hair for the noose. He then drew it between his lips and it became stronger and longer until it became a metal he would wrap around his body. He then put the noose where the sun would rise first thing in the morning and it was caught.
The Boy Who Snared The Sun (end) - The animals were all very confused by the fact the sun had not risen. The East Wind told the animals why the sun had not risen. Many animals tried to cut the rope but no one could get close enough. Finally the animals decided to wake up Dormouse to cut the rope. Their argument was that Dormouse was so big that if part of him burned up, there would still be enough of him left. So Dormouse started to chew the rope, and by the time he was done, he was no bigger than an ordinary mouse.
How The Summer Came - Morning Glory was sick of the snow and the winter. She asked Iagoo if there was ever a time that the North Wind just stayed and summer never came. Iagoo said there was a time and proceeded to start the story of how summer first came to the world. There one was a mighty hunter named O-jeeg who was able to hunt every type of animal. Everything he did, he did very well. He was also friends with all of the animals for he was able to turn himself into the fisher.
How The Summer Came (cont.) - O-jeeg had a wife and son whom he loved very much. His son was showing just as much skill at being a hunter as O-jeeg had. The son had heard a story about how the sky was also a floor for a world called Summer. The son often wondered if there was a way to bring the world of Summer to the land that they now lived in. One day the son was out in the woods and had been unsuccessful in his hunt. He saw a squirrel nearby and went to go shoot it. However, it told him that he, the squirrel, knew how to make Summer come to the Earth. The boy was shocked because the stories were true! The squirrel told of how the animals had known for a while and how O-jeeg could be the one to help because he was a Manito. The boy went home and bugged his father until he agreed. O-jeeg then gathered the animals to decide what to do. Lynx said that there was a very tall mountain that almost touches the sky. And there was also a Manito who was the size of a giant that could help them open the sky.
How Summer Came (end) - O-jeeg set off on this great journey, following the lynx. After a month they reached the tent of the other Manito. The Manito told them how to reach the mountain. Then he warned that O-jeeg would be able to reach the sky, but he may not make it back down again. The group, O-jeeg and the animals, set off for the mountain. They reached the mountain and began to climb. They climbed and climbed until they finally reached the top. After taking a break to smoke a pipe and celebrate their accomplishment. The animals then tried to break the sky. Otter first tried, the beaver and then lynx. Wolf then tried and he was able to start breaking the sky. O-jeeg had spent his entire life in winter, so he amazed by the beauty of summer when the sky finally broke. O-jeeg open cages to let birds out and soon the other seasons. The sky-people saw what was happening and started making noise. Wolf was able to jump through the hole and escape but O-jeeg was not as lucky. The sky-people chased him and eventually shot him in the one spot that was fatal to him. So O-jeeg was able to lay down in the ground and die peacefully, and now you can see the Fisher in the stars.
The Fairy Bride - Once there was a lovely girl named Neen-i-zu, who was the only daughter of the tribe chief. She was very much loved by her parents. Her parents did worry for her because she would wander into the forest and be there for hours. When she came back she would always have a dazed looked in her eyes. Her mother worried that she would not be able to marry and settle down like the other girls were. There were said to be mischievous fairies called Puk-Wudjies living in the sand hills where Neen-i-zu walked. No one had ever actually seen these fairies but everyone knew that they lived nearby. Many fisherman had been victim of the fairies tricks. Neen-i-zu wanted to find the fairies and have them take her to Happy Land. So she spent many days trying to search for them in the woods. One day she sat in the woods and sang herself a little song. After she finished, she thought she heard the Puk-Wudjies repeating her song.
The Fairy Bride (cont.) - Neen-i-zu stayed in the forest longer than she should have because she tried to find the Puk-Wujies. When she went home, her mother told her that she wanted her to marry a hunter. Neen-i-zu said she knew who her mother was talking about but she did not want to marry him because he only thought about hunting. Neen-i-zu then argued with her mother about whether or not she should marry and if Neen-i-zu knew what was best for herself. Then her mother picked a day for her to marry this man, even though Neen-i-zu did not like him. On the day of the wedding, Neen-i-zu prepared for the wedding. She went out one last time to the grove to say good-bye. Suddenly there was a slight shadow over the sun. After some time went by, Neen-i-zu had not returned. the guests went to look for her but she had disappeared. The hunter came back with a strange story that he had seen Neen-i-zu with a man that had to be a fairy. So she became a bride after all.
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