Storytelling Week 10: The Surprise

A blue heron and a fox both lived near a great lake. Each of the animals felt great frustration due to the fact that they lived such separate lives. The fox would hunt all of the smaller animals that the blue heron was friends with. In turn, the blue heron would eat all of the small bugs that fed the fox's prey. This meant that the fox had to hunt much harder for food that was plump enough around the lake. After much fighting, the two decided to strike up a deal. They would race to the end of the lake and whoever won could keep the lake until the end of time.

The fox was sure that he would win, since all he had to do was sprint in a straight line. The blue heron was sure he would win since he had the ability to fly. 

It was early morning when the two set off. The fox started at a swift pace, running along the bank at a record breaking speed. The heron did the same, soaring through the sky across the middle of the lake. Now, each of them learned their lesson. About halfway to the end, they each had to stop and recover for they were so exhausted that they could not continue. The fox curled up in the tall grass against a small shrub for the night. The blue heron decided to fly closer to shore and land in order to preserve his strength for the next day.

The Hummingbird by Charles Sharp

The sunrise woke each of then up and each started off. They did go a bit of a slower pace than the other days, though. Several hours later, the edge of the lake was near and each pushed to beat the other. The blue heron reached the land first, and decided to gloat to the fox about his victory. Just as he was about to say something, though, he heard the hummingbird. 

"Excuse me, I was here first and this is now my land," the hummingbird argued. Now, the fox and the blue heron were not pleased by the hummingbird's statement and decided to argue back with him. However, it was then that the Great Spirit spoke and confirmed that the hummingbird was the true winner for he controls the Earth, not the fox or the blue heron. 

Each stared at each other in disbelief. They had been tricked! Dejectedly, they went home and gathered their things to move elsewhere and honor the Great Spirits wishes that the hummingbird be the true owner of the lake. Even today, that is why the hummingbirds build their nests around water while also enjoying the sweet nectar of the beautiful flowers surrounding the lake. 

Author's Note:

I changed several parts of this story while I was writing. The first was that a fox was not in the original. Rather, the hummingbird and the blue heron owned the lake and were racing and the winner was deemed the true owner. I decided to add in the fox because I thought it added an element of deceit and surprise since I wanted the hummingbird to have it all. I also changed the ending of the story. In the original, the hummingbird lost the race which meant he could not drink from the lake ever again. I decided to change this because I think hummingbirds are so beautiful and I wanted it to have the victory. 

Bibliography:

Why Hummingbirds Drink Only Dew from When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends.When the Storm God Rides was retold by Florence Stratton in 1936. 

Reading Diary, Week 10 continued: Tejas Legends

Why Hummingbirds Only Drink Dew reminded me of several of the stories I read yesterday. Each of the Tejas legend stories seem to include so many parts of their culture. This one included gambling, that the Great Spirit seems to be their God, and different animals that the Tejas people seem to cherish. I also learned that hummingbirds must not drinks water and must not fly at night from reading this story. This is two facts that I did not already know about them.  There must have been many hummingbirds around for them to write about them so much. Lucky them! They are very pretty birds.

The Maiden Who Loved a Star was really sweet to me. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet or some other forbidden love story. I did feel bad for the maiden, though, when she was turned into a tree. I thought she was going to be turned into a cool animal that could fly or something, but no. Once again, I was impressed by the creativity of the Tejas legends. When I first started reading the story, I would never know that it was going to be an explanation for how purple sage appeared in the desert.

How I imagined the star falling to the maiden
Photo by: Kenneth Lu

How Sickness Entered the World made me kind of sad. In reality, it kind of showed the downfall of human's existence. It also seemed to mirror the story of Adam and Eve and how they sinned and brought sickness and all things negative into the world. Rather than eating a fruit, the two Indians killed the messenger snake. Also, both stories included snakes. I wonder if this is because snakes are seen as deceitful? 

When the Rainbow Was Torn had a lot of personification. In my storytelling, I think it would be cool to change an inanimate object into something with actions and characteristics, like the legends did for the rainbow. I thought it was interesting how all of the bands except the yellow, red and orange got away. I understand that they chose these to stay because that's what color the flowers were. But, I also wonder why they chose the color source to be the rainbow? Maybe because it was one of the only bright things around in nature? 

These stories have intrigued me more than most of the folklore stories have. Like I have said before, the creativity and the almost randomness of how the different things in nature come to be makes me wonder about how the Tejas Indians thought. I wish I could travel back into time and be there when they told these stories in person. They seem so mystical and magical. 

Bibliography: 
When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton. 

Reading Diary, Week 10: Tejas Legends

How the North Wind Lost his Hair was a cool story because it explained two different things. The first was why the South is so much warmer than the North. I thought it was an interesting twist to think that one of the winds had beaten out the other. It also explained the Spanish moss in the trees. I wonder why they chose to combine the two stories? I want to research more about how the wind and the moss would be connected where it would make sense in their minds to combine the two. 

It sounds like to me that the Indians found drugs in the story When the Woodpecker Pecks. The fact that they ate buttons that gave them visions, caused them to forget about their children and work, and fall asleep definitely sounds like the effect of some kind of hallucinogen. Its curious to me that this would make it into their folk stories and be part of an explanation for something in nature, like a woodpecker. It makes me wonder whether drugs were a large part of Indian culture?

The Tejas legends seem to include a lot more creativity than some of the other legends. The stories are much more imaginative than some of the other one's I've read. They also seem to explain more than one thing. For example, in The Cloud That Was Lost, I first thought it was explaining fog since the cloud was down near the Earth. Then, it turns out it was explaining how the phlox got their color. 

Wild Flox
Photo by: Tim Ross 

I also like how the Tejas legends explain so much in nature. It was difficult for me to understand the purpose behind some of the other folklore stories we've read. I like how with the Tejas legends, it is very obvious what they're explaining. Yet, they do it in a very creative way. In my storytelling, I want to strive to be more creative. Truth be told, I could put more thought into some of my writing. I want to take the time to think up good ideas so that I can write more imagery and have more of a creative spin on my writing. This would not only strengthen my skill but also make my stories more interesting to read.

Bibliography:
When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton.