Reading Notes: Week 10 "Eskimo Folk Tales" Part A

 

A Polar Bear in Manitoba Walking Toward the Camera. 9 November 2011. Emma. (Source: Flickr)

    There are four stories that caught my eye from this unit, although I was surprised to find I really liked all of them. The way they're formatted is really interesting. A lot of times when stories are translated from oral to written, details or the way it's told gets changed in some way. I really liked these stories because I felt I was listening to someone telling them to me after I had pestered them about it. The stories often ended in, "And this is all I know about it." or in a very similar way. It made me feel like whoever had been originally telling the stories was telling them to a child who had been bugging them. It was amazing how even the narrative style put me in the shoes of someone else.

The Story I'd Rewrite

    The story that caught my eye for the assignment in this class, in particular, was "The Coming of Men a Long, Long While Ago." This story is the creation story of the Earth and mankind. It includes light and death.

    One of my favorite parts was when mankind had the ability to think properly, their first collective thought was, "We should get dogs as our best friends." If that's not one of the most human things to exist...

    The other thing I really liked about it was as far as creation stories go, they're not technically too far off. There really was a whole bunch of stuff that came from the sky, crashed into the earth, and made Earth as it is today. It didn't create the Earth quickly, but that is essentially what happened. The story also talks about how mankind lived scattered around, foraging for food, and unable to really communicate with each other. That's also true to a certain extent until we developed farming and spoken communication.

    The one thing I loved most about this story though was the first guy who died. He dies. Everyone buries him under a whole bunch of stones but because he's the first person to die, he doesn't know how to be a dead person! He sticks his head out of his gravesite like, "Hey, whatcha guys doin'?" And this old lady presses his head back into his little cairn saying, "Hey, go back to  being dead, we have to go hunting."

    It's GREAT.

    Anyway, this could go either very humorous or very terrifying depending on the mood one wanted to create. Personally, I would lean toward comedy, but having it be scary would be also really good!

The Stories I'd Use as Source Material

    As someone who wants to become an author one day, and a good one at that, I like to take story inspiration from everywhere and anywhere. These stories really sparked my imagination into potential plots I could potentially write one day.

    

    1. "Nukúnguasik, who Escaped from the Tupilak"

            From this story, two things stuck out to me. The first was the monster, the Tupilak. It's a rather terrifying monster and not one I would want to run into. The fact it has to be created while telling it who the creator wants to be harmed is scary! The second was a loose plot where people get lost on an island with one of these things hunting them.

    2. "The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son"

            I loved this story so much. It focused on an aspect of love and family that I don't feel is touched on enough in mythology and folklore. Many times the love is between lovers and if it is parental love, it always seems to be twisted in some way. The love the old lady had for the polar bear was so motherly and so sweet and so pure. I absolutely loved it. What I thought of after reading this was perhaps the reincarnation of the old woman finding the polar bear again and going on adventures with him. I think a sweet adventure story around that would be very fun to write!

    3. "Atungait, Who Went A-Wandering"

            The character Atungait made me think of someone who would be very fun to follow in his adventures. It doesn't hurt he makes it a point for the strongest woman to be his journey companion. That seems like story material right there to me! Honestly, I'm surprised there aren't any stories I can find about him aside from the folktale. 

Bibliography

The Coming of Men a Long, Long While Ago from Eskimo folklore by Knud Rasmussen

Nukúnguasik, who Escaped from the Tupilak from Eskimo folklore by Knud Rasmussen

The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son from Eskimo folklore by Knud Rasmussen

Atungait, Who Went A-Wandering from Eskimo folklore by Knud Rasmussen