Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales, Part B

(Native American in Ink: wsilver, Flickr)

The story starts out extremely strong and gruesome. It was definitely unexpected. Now I am really interested to see how this goes.

The boy’s name is kind of funny since he was actually thrown behind the curtain of the tipi. I could use a similar concept in my retelling.

I think it’s interesting and sad how the father doesn’t know that the boys are his sons.

I’m confused as to how the boys resurrected their dead mother. It’s not explained, so if I retell this part I will go into more detail.

It’s funny that the father keeps telling the boys not to do certain things because as a reader I know that they will always do the opposite of what he says.

I feel like the story comes to an abrupt ending. I will have an ending that has more closure for the reader if I retell this part of the story.

Wemicus seems like an over protective dad that shows up to the door with a shotgun in his hands to intimidate his daughter’s boyfriends.

I’m wondering if Wemicus’s daughter ever tried to warn any of her previous husbands.

I don’t like how repetitive the story is. As the reader, I know that the man is going to outsmart Wemicus every time. Some of it is comical, but it is too predictable.

I don’t like how the boy lied to the Walrus. It is understandable why he lied to the Walrus, but he should’ve been honest with him. It’s sad that the Walrus died, but then realizing it was conjured up by the mother makes it kind of a happier moment since it saved her son’s life.

It doesn’t make sense why the father would conjure two blind old women instead of ones that could at least see. It’s a plot hole that I don’t like.

The son drawing a circle in the ground and being safe reminds me of an episode of Spongebob where the exact same thing happens. 

I like how they decide who’s going to marry the chief’s daughter by having a shoot off. I could make this a more modern story and have them do some other type of event.

I feel bad for Dirty-Boy because he’s the rightful winner, but since people don’t like him they have another competition.

I like the younger daughter because she respects her father’s wishes and doesn’t care what other people think about her.

I like how the story ended because the younger daughter deserved it. It’s a good lesson to be learned about not judging a book by its cover. I do not know if I will retell this story, but I enjoyed it more than some of the others.

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