Week 11 Reading Notes: Fairytales A

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Story source: American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae (1921).

Old Iagoo was a well known storyteller. His grandfather had told him many tales and stories that he remembered. He was a favorite of the children, he was able to make beautiful necklaces and bows and arrows. Winter is when he told his stories. The kids were scared of how loud the wind was and they asked old Iagoo if he thought the wind could hurt them. He responded that the north wind could do no hard to those who are brave and cheerful. He realized he should tell the children a story about it. 

His story about the North wind began a long long time ago where there dwelt a tribe of fisherman. The land of ice stretched over the top of the world for miles. There was a limit to the wind's power, as strong as he was. He was no match for the south wind. The south wind was in the pleasant land of the sunflower. Where he dwelt, it was always summer. The summer days grew shorter in the North, the south wind would sit and smoke hour after hour during the summer and the world was wonderful. When the south wind fell asleep the north wind would swoop down on the fisherman and drive them away. Sure enough, this ended up happening and there was a frost sparkling in the sun. The fishermen ran crying, but shin-ge-bis the diver laughed. He told his friends it would be okay, and they could fish with a hole in the ice. Shin-ge-bis had magical powers where he could change into a duck. He believed he could take the winds, but his friends expected to never see him again.

Ka-bib-on-okka the North wind, found him, he had been cooking fish at night. He was amused that his friends feared the wind, so he just laughed and sang. An uproar of wind came and snow blew against his wigwam. It kept the air out and kept him warm instead. Ka-bib-on-okka realized his mistake and was furious. The north wind began to thaw, he was melting because the wigwam was warm inside. The north wind ran away and the diver realized that he must be wounded. They wrestled all night long and fought. Cheerfulness and courage overcome even the north wind.