Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales, Part A
In the first story, I did not like the man. It clearly says that he took advantage of the buffalo-cow. If she had been a human, this would be called rape. Later, he tries to hit her with a stick from a fire. I would love to change the ending of this story. After the wife and child fled, and he pursued them, I would write that the child did not help his father. I would not have him be revived. Let him be trampled to death! Let the woman/buffalo-cow and her child live in peace.
In the next story, there was lots of senseless murder. I'm not sure why the characters had such hatred for one another. It would be fun to write this as a kind of diary entry of one of Doe's children.
The next story is about a beautiful girl who is wanted by a couple different men. They are not good to her, so she has to run from them. I would write this in a similar, but more modern way. A girl lives with her father and many brothers. Several men propose to her, but knowing that they are not good men, she refuses. They become angry and try to do her and her family harm. Eventually she would marry one of her brothers' good friends. He would be kind to her and no one else would be able to marry her after. In the next story there is a common theme.
I liked the story of the fox woman. She stood up for herself when she felt she was not being treated properly. She was not kidnapped or taken advantage of. She is a strong independent fox woman. I could rewrite this as a woman taking incredible care of her family, but her husband finding something to continuously complain about. He'd be awful sorry about saying anything when she left him.
The last couple of stories seemed to have no rhyme or reason. Everything felt random, like there was no point to half of the events in the stories. I found this very confusing and frustrating. I'll try to focus on the other stories from this section for my story this week.
Image Information: A Buffalo and Her Calf, Source: Pixabay
Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson, link to the reading online.
In the next story, there was lots of senseless murder. I'm not sure why the characters had such hatred for one another. It would be fun to write this as a kind of diary entry of one of Doe's children.
The next story is about a beautiful girl who is wanted by a couple different men. They are not good to her, so she has to run from them. I would write this in a similar, but more modern way. A girl lives with her father and many brothers. Several men propose to her, but knowing that they are not good men, she refuses. They become angry and try to do her and her family harm. Eventually she would marry one of her brothers' good friends. He would be kind to her and no one else would be able to marry her after. In the next story there is a common theme.
I liked the story of the fox woman. She stood up for herself when she felt she was not being treated properly. She was not kidnapped or taken advantage of. She is a strong independent fox woman. I could rewrite this as a woman taking incredible care of her family, but her husband finding something to continuously complain about. He'd be awful sorry about saying anything when she left him.
The last couple of stories seemed to have no rhyme or reason. Everything felt random, like there was no point to half of the events in the stories. I found this very confusing and frustrating. I'll try to focus on the other stories from this section for my story this week.
Image Information: A Buffalo and Her Calf, Source: Pixabay
Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson, link to the reading online.
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