Week 10, Reading Diary, continued: Tales of the North American Indians

Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929)

"Every night he would change into human form, and lie with the girl, and, in the morning, before it was light, would turn back into his dog shape so no one knew anything about it."
This first tale, "The Dog Husband" is a very interesting tale about a dog that could turn into a human and even got a girl pregnant. Definitely an interesting tale to say the least.

"On the following morning he put large antlers on him and gave him the body of a buck in its prime. That day the hunter beat off all the rival bucks, and kept his wife and also all her sisters and cousins for himself."

"Like the extremely poor everywhere and at all times, she was humble, and by her longing for kindness, which she never received, she was made kind even to the creatures that depended upon her, and lavished this kindness upon the Turkeys she drove to and from the plains every day."

"The sun had scarce begun to decline when the Turkey of their own accord turned homeward, and the maiden followed them, light of heart"

These tales are so interesting to read and imagine life as an animal. Each tale makes you think what it would actually be like if this kind of stuff happened, like I can't even imagine if my dog turned into a human during the middle of the night. The way these tales are told is very intriguing and something I think a lot of people should consider adopting in their writing.

"The youngest man asked her to spit, but she felt insulted at the request. She was vain and haughty. She thought they were fooling her... At last she spat and the spittle turned into a toe-nail and smelled like toe-nails."

"When she was about to give birth, her step mother made a hole in the floor, placed the young woman over it and, when the child was born, she cut the navel-string and let the infant fall through the hole. Then she put a cat in its place, and when the mother sat up and asked for her child, the step mother put the cat in her arms. The woman said, "it is strange that I should give birth to a cat!"

"After running many days and nights, he came to the edge of the earth. There he saw a stretch of water and, on the other side, the house of the Sun."

Tales of the North American Indians, Stith Thompson