Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Native American Folktale


The tale of the animals saving the village is one of my favorite s and is not very common. In short, its a long cold winter and he people of the village have no fire the animals of the forest know of the fire witches in the mountains that have control over all the fire. the animals, lead by the rabbit, decide to steal fire from the witches to save the people.In the end,the animals succeeded but only after being forever cured by the witches for what they had done, but fire is brought to the people of the village.

The universal archetypes from this tale could be, the cold and darkness of the forest at winter time. Another example could be the witches of the mountain; the mountain shows that the journey will be dangerous. Also, the dark and stillness of the night the animals execute their plan. Or, the fact that the animals are on a quest for fire, fire represents warmth and safety from the cold winter.

The tale is Indian in that the animals play a symbolic role. WE all know that chip monks, frogs,foxes,and rabbits working together sounds far fetched but to the people they were special. The colors and surroundings around them were defined by these such stories. Mysteries explained in this tale include why these animals look the way they do, how some bark is different then others, and many more. Making this my favorite folktale passed down through tribal oral tradition.

1 comment:

Caryn Kirk said...

Very nice insight into Indian culture. Good story choice. Will you pay a bit more attention to proofreading next time?