Week 10 Story: Native American Hero Tales

Native American Hero Tales

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

The was an evil uncle who always killed the next nephew born into their family. His wife figure that when the next boy was born he could take the child right away and pretend it was a girl. The woman had the child and the uncle thought it was a girl so he let it be. A few years passed and the little boy was changing and the uncle found out that it was a boy. So he said tomorrow you will come with me into the woods. The wife was very upset and cried all night. The boy took three things from his room before he left. He took a small knife, a special juice, and blow up small raft. 

The uncle took the boy out into the woods. They went hunting and the boy kept seeing things to hunt but the uncle insisted they keep going. They came across a bear and the uncle let the bear eat the boy. The uncle went home and left the boy to die. The boy pulled out the knife he had the cut the bears stomach to get out of it. He hunted some birds and left them on his uncles porch. the uncle was furious but his mother was very happy. But the uncle said they could go out again in the morning. 

The next morning they went out collect some berries for the village. The boy kept saying lets collect these ones but the uncle insisted they keep going. Finally he said you try these berries. They were poisoned berries and once the boy ate them the uncle turned around and went home. Right before the boy fell dead he drank the special juice. He immediately felt better and collected some berries and went home and took them to his uncle. the uncle said that he would take him out again the next day. 

The uncle told him that they were going to go fishing on the boat the next day. He got on the boat and they drove off. The boy kept saying that each spot was good for fishing but the uncle said that they should go out further. they finally stoped and the uncle threw the boy off the boat to drown. The left and went back to the village. the boy blew up his raft and floated back to shore. He collected a couple fish along the way. he made it back and left the fish for his uncle. 

The next day the uncle built a play house for the boy and gave up on trying to kill him and that was the last time the uncle ever tried to kill his nephew. 

Here is a picture to represent the boy and the uncle on the boat. 

The boys on the boat

Authors note: 

This story is pretty similar to the original story but the only differences are the ways the uncle tries to kill the boy. In the original story he first tries to trap him under logs, then he tries to trap him in a ditch, and lastly he tries to push him into a clam but the boy gets out of everyone. It ends the same with the uncle giving up and building the boy a playhouse the next day.