Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales (Part A)

 Native American Hero Tales

Bibliography: Native American Hero Tales by Stith Thompson myth-folklore-unit-native-american_10.html

There was a man known as the "unnatural Uncle. " He killed his nephews after they turned a couple years old and already had done it a couple times. The wife of this man planned to have a another child and lie about the fact if it was a boy and pretend that it was a girl.

The nephew was born and brought up like a girl but the unnatural uncle always thought she acted like a boy. The unnatural uncle found out that it was really a boy and told his wife to have him come meet him. Before he left his house he took three items with him, a sour cranberry, a piece of a knife, and some eagle-down. He said lets go find some wood to the boy. The uncle trapped him underneath a pile of wood but the boy used a sour cranberry he had to get himself out of the logs. He went back into town and brought his uncle wood and he was very confused and angry that his nephew got out and was determined to kill him. 

The next morning his uncle told him to come down again. He said they were going to look for ducks and eggs that day. They kept passing them and the boy would say lets get this one but the uncle insisted they keep going. The boy saw a trap and prepared the eagle-down and the uncle pushed him in there and said that theres no way he would get out. He got out with the eagle-down and brought back some ducks and eggs for his uncle. 

The third day the uncle again asked for the boy. The uncle said they were going to go looking for clams. He waited for the biggest clam and told the boy to get it but the boy used his knife to get out of the clam. He came back that night and brought clams to his uncle. The next morning the uncle said that he was making a plaything for his nephew. 

Here is a cranberry to represent the one he used to get out of the logs. 

Cranberry