Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales, Part A

(Bull Buffalo by George Catlin (1796-1872), taken from Wikimedia Commons)

Before formally picking up ideas from the reading, I think I should preface by saying I have not done much of a love story this semester, so maybe this reading will change that?

No one appears to question the ethics of interspecies romance in these stories. Perhaps that could make for an interesting conflict.

Let it be known that we can also tackle the elements of polygamy and tragedy in love stories, as evident in the story of Bear-Woman and Deer-Woman.

The animals and anthropomorphic or otherwise in these stories are more of the realistic species, but what if we could write a story around a mythological species? A phoenix could be a cool idea.

There's a dynamic present in some stories of a division between the world of man and beast. An interesting conflict that can be explored through the nature of humans, the nature of animals, or the natures of both.

Sometimes the above divide is written with character roles in mind, like hunters.

Other times it is by the behaviors or qualities of animals, such as the fox's odor in The Fox-Woman and the primal instincts of The Eagle and Whale Husbands. Because of the latter kind of story, we often see the animals in an antagonistic role. A sympathetic animal would be nice change of pace.

The Bear-Woman shows a blend of the worlds in a disastrous fashion by having a character transform into bear.

These stories also explain other natural phenomena like the British America Unit stories do, such as why the bulls and buffalo have short horns in Splinter-Foot-Girl.

As the the title implies, a marriage or marriage proposal is often at the center of every conflict in the stories. State of the family (The Piqued Buffalo-Wife) and implications of marriage (Splinter-Foot-Girl) are often at stake.

There is a sense of human as the dominant species be it in principle (The Piqued Buffalo-Wife) or quite literally (The Eagle and Whale Husbands).

Bibliography

Mythology & Folklore Native American Marriage Tales Unit, stories take from Tales of North American Indians by Stith Thompson