Week 9 Essay: Reviewing the Great Plains Unit

For week nine I choose the Great Plains Unit. I chose this unit because I am using one of the stories in my storybook. I am specifically using the first story called The Creation.

I am a big fan of Native American stories. I took a class called Native Peoples of North America which started my curiosity about different Native American cultures. That class is one of the reasons that I chose to do my storybook over Native American creation stories.

I really enjoyed the ghost stories in this unit. I was talking to one of my Native America friends about why this is the first unit that I have seen to include ghost stories. His input on the subject was that the Native American communities are so tight knit that they experience death more often than other communities. He was telling me that he has been to many more funerals than he has weddings or anything of that sort.

The explaining of phenomenon also intrigues my interest. The multiple stories about how corn came to the Native American people was really cool to read. There were all kinds of different explanations depending on the tribe.

(Corncobs: Wikipedia)

This unit was good at giving informative stories about a bunch of different tribes. That is one thing that I wish I had known before I chose the unit. For the next unit I will choose a specific tribe. I think that will give me a much more in depth learning experience. 

Overall I enjoyed this unit. I was happy to find that it included ghost stories, and a large amount of stories at that. I think the Native American relationship with the spirit world is a peculiar one. I would recommend people to read the Great Plains unit.

Storytelling Week 9: The Hungry Little Boy

"When I was your age there was this camp that I used to go to in the summer time." said the old man in his soft and raspy voice.

My parents had brought me to grandparents house, my mom's father's house specifically. We only visited them once or twice a year because of how far out in the country it was. As I looked around all I could see was the occasional flitting of light on my grandfathers dark and sullen face coming from the small fire in between us. He was a strange man, mostly kept to himself after my grandmother died.

As I sat across from my grandfather, I began to wonder how he spent his free time when he was just by himself. While I was wondering this he had continued his story. Realizing I wasn't fully paying attention he quickly snapped at me.

"One of the first nights that I was at the camp," he explained, "a small boy came to the window of my roommate and I's room asking for food."

"I told him I had none to give and went back to sleep thinking nothing of the encounter." said my Grandfather.

My grandfather then explained that the small boy came back the next two nights again asking for food. Each time the boy came, his roommate would be fast asleep. Eventually feeling sorry for the boy, my grandfather began to smuggle chips to their room from lunch.

"The first night that I gave the kid some chips to eat he continued to put his hand out asking for more even after all of the chips I had were gone. I had to tell him three times that I had nothing left!" he exclaimed.

This exchange of food continued to happen for the next few nights. My grandfather eventually told his roommate about the chips that he was giving away to his new friend. Hearing this, his roommate got really nervous and told him to never do that again. Later in the day, one of the adults that ran the camp came to my grandfather and explained to him the reason he should not do that. Apparently years ago that building was a school for a large amount of children. The leaders of the school were not good people, and over the years many different children died from malnutrition. There are many graves near the line of trees that go into the woods.

His roommate and himself were forced to switch to a different room because the little boy that was asking for food was a ghost of one of the children that had died. The room that the ended up switching too had a window that faced the edge of the trees.

"The night that we had to switch rooms, before I went to sleep, I looked out the window and could see a long line of children all holding hands at the edge of the trees. I immediately pulled the covers over my head. Not five minutes later I heard a tap tap tap on my window." said my Grandfather.

(Line of Trees Near a Plantation: Geograph)

Author's Note: This story was told to me by one of my friends a couple of years ago. Granted he was much better at telling the story. When I read the ghost stories in the Great Plain reading unit, I immediately thought of this story as something that I could use for my storytelling. I wish I could have found a picture of a treeline at night but I couldn't seem to find any.

Bibliography:

Story Title: Three Ghost Stories

Book Title: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains

Book Author: Katherine Berry Judson

Year: 1913

Source: Three Ghost Stories

Week 9 Reading Diary: Myth and Legends of the Great Plains

For week 9 I chose to do the Myth and Legends of the Great Plains.

The Creation story is one of my favorite stories in this unit. I am including this story in my storybook with the Elk telling the story from his point of view. I am excited to write that story.

The Sacred Pole sounds like it was the first creation of a totem pole. It doesn't ever specifically say that so I curious as if it is like a traditional totem pole. The tree that the create the pole out of reminds me of the tree that Prince Siddhartha sits under as he becomes the Buddha.

The Eagles Revenge was a cool story. I did not even consider that the man who was killing the people dancing could was the eagles brother. When I read the story I didn't feel that bad for the eagle because he was eating the deer that the hunter had caught.

I also really enjoyed the Three Ghost Stories. My roommate Jacob has a bunch of ghost stories that he tell time to time and these stories made me think of those. I especially liked the one about the tattoos that people needed in order to get on the correct path whenever they became ghosts.

I liked the story Wakanda, or Water God. It was a good to see a story tht depicts one of the Gods that the different tribes have. It was quite a sad story though. I honestly would have done the same thing as the father had done. Even if it was just to see my son one more time.

I always enjoy stories that explain phenomenon in real life. In the story Why the Possum Plays Dead we learned just that, why the possum plays dead. It was a nice seeing how they explain things.

The story How the Rabbit Killed the Giant reminded me of the Brer Rabbit stories. The rabbit that killed the giant was doing this deed for others which never really happened with the Brer Rabbit stories. It was nice to read about a trickster rabbit that helped others and not himself.