Activities from Class Wiki Board: Native American Works

The Rough Faced Girl: a journal entry from the sister of the Invisible Being

I remember when our mother first brought my brother into this world and was so astounded by his spirit. Never had her eyes lit up so brightly or her smiles been so sweet. When she discovered that only she, our father and myself could see him, she grew sad because he would not have a normal life; no young braves to play with or maidens to court. She grew so sad that even the trees let their branches droop with her sadness as she walked by. Finally, one day she grew so sad that she placed my brother in my arms and left for the spirit of the world. That is when I decided that my brother would not have a miserable and lonely life; he would make friends with the spirits and have all of the weapons of a brave, but better, and he would have a wife. This last decision was the most difficult to figure out how to find one, but when he grew older, he simply said that he would wait for a maiden who could see him. When he was of age, I announced that any maiden who could see my brother, The Invisible Being, would be his bride.

What a mess! Since then, I have had nothing, but vain, conceited, and self-righteous women coming to my wigwam. None could ever hope to see my brother! I am beginning to wonder if she will ever be found. I can only hope!


Rabbit and Fox

Well, the medicine man was obviously Rabbit. I believe that he decided to turn into a medicine man because he knew Fox would respect a person of that stature, trust him and believe what he said. Also, it helped Rabbit to turn into the medicine man because of the feathers many used to wear holding spiritual energy--his ears could blend in well.

Paragraph response to The Origins of the Buffalo Dance

I am blown away by this story. I remember listening to a story tape by Odds Bodkin when I was little and this story was on the tape along with many other Native American myths. The music from the story tape was in my head when I was reading this story. Hunter's Daughter is a very interesting character and I struggled with deciding what I thought of her. In the beginning, she was very likable because she was generous and caring towards her father and tribe. It was very big of her to offer herself as a bride to the buffalo in exchange for the health of her community. However, when Hunter's Daughter wavered at following through on her commitment to wed the Buffalo Warrior, I was thinking 'come on--you were the one who suggested it in the first place, now follow through!' . Though I am sure I would definitely react in a similar manner if I were in her moccasins. In the end, I was content with all of the characters and the agreements that they came to that served all alike. The idea of a young maiden sining a piece of bone into her living father is beautiful--not to mention unexpected. Now I want to go and find the Odds Bodkin tape of Native American tales so I can hear this story again. Very good selection!

Response to Dance of the Dead

I have never heard a similar story such as this one before, though I like it a lot. All of these tales are so interesting and make me want to sit in a wigwam/tipi/hut beside a fire on cold nights and watch the story teller move his/her hands when telling these stories. Really interesting tale. I think that the old man could not see the dead dancing because, as the story said, he was not allowed to--he would see them when he actually died, I think. However, I believe that he could hear the dead singing and dancing because he, himself, was close to death. His spirit was already beginning to drift over to the next world and then--snapped back to the land of the living when he looked out from his basket.