Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Week 10 Reading Diary A: Native American Marriage Tales


Image Information: A really cool image of Ursa Major. Source:MisfitsandHeroes
Rape of a cow. Birthed a boy human. Abandoned by the father—didn’t know about his cow-baby. Went out to find his brother. Found him and wanted to bring him back to meet his mother. Gave him strict instructions. He prevailed and the cow-mom turned into a woman. Lived happily forever after. One day he became angry at his wife and made like he was about to hit her, both she and her son turned back into cows. He would have to select his son out of a crowd of cow-babies to get his wife and child back. Failed and was killed by the herd. Man was restored. Beginning of Bull and the Horn Societies.


Both married to Chickenhawk-man. Oh, okay. The bear wife kills the deer wife by biting through her neck. Brought the head back to the house and burned it in the fire. Deer-wife’s children obviously recognized their mother’s head and freaked. In retaliation, the deer children kill the bear children. Children ran away and the bear mother ate her own children.

Splinter-Foot-Girl (1, 2, and 3):
Party setting. A bunch of people traveling on the way home. One hurt his leg on a hunting exhibition and a child burst free from the wound site. Super happy about the kid. Made clothes for the child out of animal skins. Named the child Foot-stuck-child. A buffalo man thing heard of her and asked for her hand in marriage. The men refused because she was too young. Eventually they conceded and sent her to live with the man buffalo. He dressed her in a painted buffalo robe.

Men sad without their daughter. Sent animals to see her only for the buffalo man to rebuke all of them. They urged her all to flee the buffalo man. So she tricked him and ran. Protected by a nice tree—a rowan. The buffalo attacked the tree and kept hurting his horns. Eventually got stuck and the men and their daughter shot him. The beginning of buffalo being hunted by humans.
Another man asked for the daughter’s hand in marriage. The man is actually a rock who acquires the most beautiful wives and then somehow they end up crippled and hurt. So the men refuse the offer, only for the rock man to insist. The messengers keep telling the family to leave. The rock threatens them if they don’t send her so they do and make a rescue plan. Came back and her and her fathers went to live in the stars safely and forever.


Two girls playing and imagining who they will marry. An eagle took one girl and a whale took the other. The eagle-wife escaped back to her parents and when he came for her, her parents shot him. The other girl escaped too.



A hunter who was without a wife but kept coming home to a house that had had a woman’s touch. He wanted to find out who was doing these duties for him. A fox entered his house, but when he came in he saw a beautiful woman near a fox skin. Said she was his wife? Uh, okay. Only to be scared away after he told her that she smelled.



One day caught a very big fish. His wife gutted it and hung it up. Strange, new fish. Went to wash off her hands in the sea and was seized by a killer whale who wished to get revenge for its fish friend. Taken as a slave. Got the help of a shark to get her back. Shark fought off the whales and they got home safe.


Small family unit. Man painted his wife’s face and body every time he left her to go hunting. A snake asked her to meet him, so she did. Got in the lake with it and it washed off the paint on her body. Man felt something was happening so he followed her, saw the snake, killed the snake, and then killed her. Cooked his wife and fed her to their children. Mother’s head rolled up to the children and told them that they had eaten her. Had their father killed by a lion.

The Bear-Woman (1 and 2):
Woman with many suitors who refused to marry. Lived with father and many children. Woman had a bear for a suitor and didn’t want anyone to know. Little sister became curious and discovered her sister’s secret. Immediately told her father. Bear husband, became angry. Told everyone to go out and try to kill him. Sister turned into a bear. Went on a rampage.
Little sister ran off after she angered her older sister again. Medicine woman. Revenge. The sister followed after them as a bear. Became the seven stars in the Ursa major.

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