The Seal Oil Lamp is a folktale set in Alaska. The story is about a couple who had a child named Allugua, and they found he was blind at birth. When Allugua was seven years old there was a bleak winter. He found a mouse and took care of it even when there wasn’t enough food. After winter, everyone in the village was going fishing, and the people of the village told the couple to leave Allugua at home so he would fall asleep forever and wouldn’t be a burden on the village. Before they left, Allugua’s mother secretly lit a lamp for him using the last little bit of seal oil. After Allugua took a nap and woke up, the seal oil lamp was still burning. Even through the night the lamp was still burning. In the morning he heard a mouse, it was the Mouse Woman. The Mouse Woman’s child was the little mouse Allugua saved, and she said the mice would give him food and water and the seal oil lamp would continue to burn. Every day mice came and gave him food, water, told him stories, and danced on the back of his hand. One day Mouse Woman came and told …show more content…
This story is retold by Dale De Armond. In the beginning of this book there is a glossary. Contained in the glossary were some words that were in an Eskimo dialect. Since the Eskimos live in Alaska, this story must be from Alaska because folktales come from specific places. In the pictures of this book everyone is wearing very heavy jackets or parkas which shows that it’s really cold. This also give a clue on where the folktale came from. Eskimos live in the northern hemisphere, which is really cold. In the middle of this folktale when Allugua promises to return part of the animals that he kills so there will always be enough food show the culture of Eskimos. They believe that Inua(spirits) will create more animals out of the parts they return. One of the many morals of this story is if you are kind to someone they will be kind to
Daniel Boone was a 16 year-old boy who lived in Pennsylvania, which at the time still belonged to England. He always loved hunting and exploring. They moved to Yadkin Valley, in North Carolina. Daniel and a friend of his discussed over a campfire the beautiful land of Kentucky, and how it was full of rich farming soil and lots of deer, black bears, and other small animals for skin and food. They decided to travel there. Daniel brought 5 men with him to hunt and collect skins. One day while hunting, Daniel and his brother-in-law got captured by Indians. They told them to leave Kentucky and never come back. They weren’t scared, but the other 4 men were, so they went back to Pennsylvania. Two years later, they decided to go back to Pennsylvania to sell the skins they had collected, and when they were almost home, they got attacked by Indians and got their skins stolen. In the end, they were just happy they got to explore and live in the wild for 2 years. Two years later, Daniel decided he had been away from Kentucky for long enough and brought his family and six other families with h...
The Eskimo hold an annual Bladder Ceremony which demonstrates all of these things previously mentioned. To explain the complete meaning and symbolism behind this Bladder Ceremony in its entirety, is very difficult because every act that goes into this ceremony is meaningful and of concepts not easily understood. In the Eskimo society, the Kwakiutl men go hunting. To go and kill an animal is to kill the fleshed body of an ancestor's soul that is temporarily occupying it. So it is clear that this source of food (hunting of animals) connect the people to the ancestors or spirits of their pray. Therefore, extra care needs to exist in the approach and killing of the animal because each animal has the soul of an ancestor. The ideology of animals having souls runs much deeper. In fact, these souls are powerful forces in the Eskimo's lives and they determine the future's prosperous gain of game or the lack there of. For that reason, the hunters of Eskimo treat the physical body of these animals with the up most respect in order to keep harmony. The bladder of each hunted animal is hung in the Men's house because it is believed that the souls of these powerful forces are held within them (Gill, Native American Religion, p.122). During the ceremony, the men must become purified.
In the book, Things Fall Apart, there are a couple of folktales that are extended throughout the book. These folktales contributes to and comments on the central narrative of the story. Animals and folktales were important to the Igbo people. They used animals in fables and stories to demonstrate their beliefs and rituals. With all rituals, animals and symbols play a crucial role in Igbo society. The fable of the Tortoise and the Birds has uncanny similarities with Okonkwo and his rise and fall. The tortoise’s strength and cunningness eventually gets to be too much, which ends up crushing him. And Okonkwo’s inability to adapt to change leads to his demise. Both the tortoise and Okonkwo’s seek to be strong in society and they both want to be known as important. That is why I believe that the fable, The Tortoise and the Birds, is the closest fable to the central narrative of the story.
Two outdoorsmen are out in the wild of the north. They are on a mission to deliver the body and coffin of a famous person. Their dogs disappear as they are entised by a she-wolf and eaten by the rest of the pack. They only have three rounds of ammunition left and Bill, one of the men, uses them to try to save one of their dogs that is being attacked; he misses and is eaten by the pack with the dog. Only Henry and two dogs are left; he makes a fire with leaves and scattered branches, trying to drive away the wolves. They draw in close and he is almost eaten, saved only by a company of men who were traveling nearby. The wolves are in the midst of a starvation. They continue on running and hunting, lead by several wolves alongside the she-wolf, and when they finally find food the pack starts to split up. The she-wolf mates with one of the wolves and has a litter of pups inside an abandoned cave. Only one survives after several more famines and harsh weather, and he grows strong and is a feisty pup. The puppy learns the basics of hunting and survival. They come to an Indian village where the she-wolf's (who is actually half-wolf, half-dog) master is. He catches her again and White Fang, her pup, stays nearby. Soon, she is sold to another Indian, while White Fang stays with Gray Beaver, her master. White fang whines and cries but it does'nt help. The other dogs of the village terrorize White Fang, especially one named Lip-lip, who for now is bigger and stronger. White Fang becomes more and more vicious, more like a wolf than a dog, encouraged by his master who beats him. One day he meets is mother and is turned to a light-hearted pup but, his mother does'nt even notice him. He kills other dogs that used to terroize him. Gray Beaver goes to Fort Yukon to trade and discovers whiskey, which he calls sweet water. White Fang is passed into the hands of Beauty Smith, a monster of a man who got Grey Beaver drunk and tricked him into selling Whit Fang. Beaty Smith put White Fang ino dogfighting and he fights other dogs until he meets his match in a bulldog from the east and is saved only by a man named Scott.
“All About Wolves, The Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale.” IsleRoyaleWolf. n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
“Winter Dreams.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Carol Ullmann. Vol. 15. Detroit: Gale, 2002. N. pag. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
The strength of the old moose is impressive. On his death march, he nonetheless comes "lurching" and "stumbling" in ponderous and powerful strides to "the pole-fenced pasture''- the edge of civilization. A crowd quickly gathers, a crowd of men and women, old and young - all notable for their insensitivity and lack of respect. They confuse the moose with one of their own domesticated animals, like the cattle or collie or gelded moose or ox, failing to see the nobility and ancient wisdom of this moose from "the purple mist of trees." The scene becomes obscene as men "pry open his jaws with bottles" and "pour beer down his throat." The symbolic crown of thistles hammers home the innocent suffering perpetrated by these giggling and snickering buffoons.
"Wakiash and the First Totem Pole" is a story about a man named Wikiash, who has no dance in his tribe and so, decides to go find one. He is taken to a house where he sees animals (who have taken off their animal skin to reveal human bodies underneath) dancing around the place. Wikiash befriends a small mouse and gets her to help him sneak up on the animals in the house, so that he can learn a dance. Eventually, he bursts into the house in the middle of a dance. The animals are so ashamed that he has seen them without their animal skins that they will give him whatever he wants. He chooses to make them teach him some dances. However, he also asks for the house, a totem pole that is out front, and a mask. It was unclear to me why he asked for the latter 3 items, but ultimately he got them and was happy about it.
Tidwell, James N. "Folklore in the News." Western Folklore 14 (1955): 213-14. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.
The smoke floats through the air and surrounds the village people. The eyes of everyone is on the village elder and no one speaks a word. This is a time for sharing the great history that the new generation must learn. Without written langue history and important lessons are spoken to the children of Native American villages. These stories’ hold a special meaning to the children as they are all they know about their ancestors. Often these stories have elements of mystical beings that help the Native people. In this way the people not only get a history lesson, but also a way of practicing religion. Each story is unique to the village and tribe that it was developed; however similar concerts can be seen as the
When I heard this story, 12 years ago, it came from the mouth of my father’s good friend, an Ojibwa man, named Henry Meekis. I still remember everyone sitting in front of him while he told the story. His passion for the story permeated the room and we were all captivated by it.
The girl took great pride in the fact that she helped her father with the chores on the farm. Her main chore was to water the foxes. Laird would help with a small watering can though he would usually spill most of his water. The girl would also help her father when he would cut the long grass around the fox pens. He would cut it and she would rake it up. He would then throw the grass on top of the pens to keep the sun off of the foxes. The entire fox pen was well thought out and well made. The foxes were fed horsemeat, which could be bought very cheap. When a farmer had a dying horse her father would pay for the horse and slaughter it. Her father was very ingenious with his fox farm and the girl was obviously impressed. She was proud to work with her father. One time while her father was talking to a salesman he said, “Like you to meet my new hired man.” That comment made her so happy, only to have the salesman reply that he thought it was only a girl.
In conclusion the story is about a man’s struggle to make it in 75 below temp and making a fire is the only way for him to survive. London shows the theme of ruggedness by how the man seems to have no fear of a temperature of fifty below zero. The story teaches the readers that even though we may want to travel alone in the outdoors, we should always travel with some friends or stay within our limits. The man in the story is making a nine-hour trek across the frozen Yukon with only his dog in the biting cold, but after many calamities he freezes to death. He knew he was going to die if he didn’t get warm soon enough, but the cold got the best of him by freezing his arms.
This is a story about two mothers who go so far as fighting to help protect their children. The cow fights to protect her child from the Bear whereas the Bear is fighting so that her starving children can have some food. The Bear was being powerful for standing up to fight the Cow and the Cow was strong for keeping her ground and not being frightened by the Bear. In the end however, they eventually became the victims, dying and being killed instead of one of them being the true hero which reflects back to the comment in the chapter, “Diana’s have a way of dying” (). The Bear was only trying to fight the Cow because her cubs were starving and need some help. The Bear was trying to protect her children from starvation or in other words, the danger of starving to
‘She wanted to warm herself,’ the people in the town said. No one had the slightest suspicion of what beautiful things she had seen” (**). The little maiden saw the stars in Heaven, and one fell down and formed a long trail of fire (**). Before the maidens cold and freezing death, she dreamed of the roast goose steaming with stuffing, the apple pie, dried plums all sitting on a pure white table cloth (**). The matches brought comfort to the little girl for a little bit, but the short stick burnt fast. Lighting the match for the little girl was a small get away, away from her very miserable life. “The little maiden stretched out her hands towards them when-- the match went out” (**). Dreaming and visualizing the Christmas trees, roast goose, and the warm stove was a way for the maiden to cope with the harsh conditions she was living