The Giant Tree

Kyle Wilson

English

Myth

9/3/12

                                            The Giant Tree

In the beginning there was no light only the dark of the night. The moonlight the world and the stars guided the four sons of the great hunter.  When the father died he was turned in to the great tree. It stood taller than the mountains and touched the sky. The four young brothers where left by themselves to hunt and fish. They sharpened sticks into spears and hunted game. Their father had already created the animals and had put them on the land. Before he died he told his four sons that some day they would have to create a source of light so that they could create people to live on his land.

They lit a fire and burned the bottom of the tree to where it caught fire and was engulfed in flames. The flames rose to the skies and formed into a ball. The ball of fire stayed high in the sky to light the land. The tree was burnt to ashes and the four brothers collected the ashes of the tree and there father and placed them in four different directions across the land. The brothers turned into different animals. One a bear, the second an eagle, the third a coyote and the oldest brother a fox. The people were born and their father’s sprit lived with them and the four brothers watched over them as their chiefs. The lived of the land and were guided by the brothers and lived in peace among each other. 

Sedna

Kyle Wilson

Secretion Myth

            The Sedna Myth is a secretion myth because some of the animals like the Whales, Walruses, Bearded Ground Seals, and Ringed seals were created from Sedna’s bones and skin. “As her bones and flesh fell into the waves, these pieces of her fingers became bearded ground- seals, while her thumbs became walruses.” In the other two Myths animals where also created in this way. At the end of the myth Sedna, her father and dogs fell to the bottom of the sea and Sedna became the ruler of the underworld. She ruled over the animals that where created from her flesh and bone and when the Inuit people are bad and disobey Sedna she tells the animals to go away so they have no food and have to praise her to earn the food back.  “From that day to this, Sedna lives at the bottom of the sea, where she rules over the living and the dead.”

The Raven

Kyle Wilson

English

8/26/12

Myths           

                                                            Raven Myth

            In the Raven Myth there is a high value placed on the Raven disguised as a child. “The chief loved his grandson, and what ever the child wanted, his grandfather gave him.” When the Raven wanted to play with bags of stars he gave them to him to play with. His Grandfather also did this with the Moon and the Sun his most prized possession. “ So Raven transformed himself into a seed and floated on the surface of a nearby stream.” In this myth the seed is significant because when the Raven is disguised as the seed, which was his chance to enter into the castle so he could steel the sun, moon, and the stars. There is also transformation from animal to human with the help of the seed. The driving force in this myth is food. The hunters cannot hunt without any light so the Raven is forced to find the sun.” Raven was sad for his people, for he knew that without the sun the earth would not bring forth the food the Haida people needed to survive.” 

Lodge-boy and Thrown away

Kyle Wilson

English

8/27/12

Myth

                                                           

Lodge-boy and Thrown away

            This myth explain many things about the Indians that teal its story. The tribe who tells the myth holds children highly because of all of the things that the boys do that they are told not to do. “Another day the father said to his sons, You may play where ever you wish, but do not go near the man with the fiery moccasins “ the boys go to the man and wait till he is asleep. The steel the moccasins and then stomp on the man until he burns to death. The boys do this with all of the people and laces the are told not to go and always kill the person or animal that will harm them.

            The myth is magical because Thrown away is able to change from beaver to a boy by smelling the smoke that his father and brother give him. “ The father of the murdered woman returned home.”  It is also magical because the mom of the two boys comes back to life after the murderer had killed her. It is also magical because the boys are not harmed by any of the harmful things they are told by their dad.

             The boys are considered heroes by Campbell’s 12-step theory. The boys fallow the steps when the go out on their journeys to the places that there dad has told them not to go. “ They jumped on him, and burned him then took the moccasins home. “ The boys always returned with the elixir depending on where they went it was always different. 

             

Cration of the first Indians

Kyle Wilson

                                                Creation of the First Indians

The story of the Creation of the First Indians teaches the reader of the myth that God created the world that you live in. This story is related to the Bible in many ways. The people animals disobey him just like Adam and Eve. The animals wanted to change their names. The Great Chief Above told them no, because his word is law. This tells the animals that the Great Chief Above is the ruler. “"Because you have tried to change my law, I will not make the human being this time. Because you have disobeyed me, you have soiled what I brought with me.” The animals are also related closely to people. “When he had finished his work, the Creator called the animal people to him.” This myth also explains on the last page about human nature when the Great Chief Above had illustrated the bow and arrow and the salmon net on the wall at lake Chelan to explain how to hunt and catch fish to the new Indian tribes.“After twelve moons, the animal people gathered to meet the Creator as he had directed.” This quote also refers to the Bible as some day Jesus will return for all Christians to take them to Heaven like the creator did for the Coyote.

Caught by a Hair String

Kyle Wilson

English            

8/28/12           

Myth

                                                Caught by a Hair String

           

This myth only has small amounts of animals that have human traits. In other myths there is usually more of this used throughout. “ The Whale person asked the lazy and unattractive husband.”  This occurs when the lazy and unattractive husband dreamed the dreams of the whales and there songs. “ So it came to pass that the lazy and unattractive husband went alone to gather the whales bones.” The lazy and unattractive husband did this like he did to all the other things that he did for the chief’s son. He does this so that he can attract the whale so he can talk to him.

Yokut Myth

Kyle Wilson

English

Myth

8/23/12

Yokut Native American Creation Story

The Yokut Native American Creation story is an Earth Divers Myth. Eagle and Crow live together on a tree stump surrounded by water. They are constantly searching for land and have no luck finding any. So, everyday they have contests to see who can catch the most fish and they always share their meals. Then one day: “When Duck appeared on the surface after a deep dive, Eagle and Crow brushed off the mud from Duck's bill and his body with their wings. Progress was slow but steady.” The Duck who is in search of food, finds fish lying out from the Eagle and Crow. The birds do this because they notice that when duck goes on his deep dives he brings mud up to the surface. They pay Duck by putting fish on the edge of the stump and then he brings mud up to the birds in return for the food. Eagle places his fish on one side of the stump and Crow puts his on the other. Slowly but surely, Eagle and Crow are each creating their own land.

Duck continuously places mud equally between the two sides until one day when Eagle goes out in search of land. Eagle's half became taller and taller and hard packed by the hot sun. “Crow's share of the new world was still great, but never could become as large as Eagle's half of the new world.” “Another time, Eagle flew high and far in search of dry land, not returning until late. The sun set and darkness enveloped his world on the stump. Next morning, to Eagle's surprise, he saw how much more mud he had acquired, and he was pleased. But after looking across at Crow's mud pile, Eagle was astounded to see that Crow had given himself twice as much mud while Eagle was away.” While Eagle is gone Crow is able to set out a lot more fish for Duck, so his mud pile of land quickly grows higher than Eagle’s. Eagle returns to see what has happened and he and Crow argue. The birds decide to keep their land as it is, but Eagle starts placing out two fish at a time for Duck. Now Eagle’s land is higher than Crow’s. This creates two different mountain Ranges. “In retelling this creation story, Yokut tribal historians always claim that Eagle's half became the mighty Sierra Nevada Mountains. They also tell how Crow's half became known as the Coast Mountain Range.