Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales (Part B)

 Native American Marriage Tales

Bibliography: Native American Marriage Tales by Stith Thompson marriage-dog-husband.html

There was a girl in a village who owned a dog, she loved her dog so much. Every night her dog would change into human form and lay with the girl and then before daylight he would change back into a dog. The girl got pregnant and the family realized that it was because of the dog. The family was so ashamed they burned down their home with the girl inside. The crow felt bad for the girl and told her to hide out during the fire, so she did. She lived and had five dog puppies but had to care for them herself because her dog lover was killed. The mother would go out and get clams for the dogs to eat because it was the only way they could live. One day when she was collecting clams she heard a bunch of noise coming from the hut they lived in. So she pretended to keep getting clams while sneaking up ti see what they were doing. When she came up the dogs turned into human form and were dancing and singing. The mother scolded them and told them she was ashamed. The dogs felt bad and the mother threw the dog blanket into the fire so the dogs would remain in human form. When the boys were old enough the mother taught them how to make bow and arrows and made them hunt for food. The crow saw a fire from across the bay and decided to go over. The crow saw the boys and the boys fed the crow a lot of food. They told the crow not to tell the others but the crow told them about the whales. The people went over the bay to see and then the boys became the chiefs of everyone and made sure that everyone had lots of food. 

Here is a picture of the dog from the story looking out for whales. 

Dog searching for whales