Week 10 Reading Notes: Song of Hiawatha B

Today we continue the Song of Hiawatha, the story of a legendary hero in Native American mythology. Overall, I found the story to be incredibly interesting and unique in comparison to "Old World" stories, featuring a deeper connection to nature and divinity than is expressed in most of the Western canon. Hiawatha himself originates many things, including the development of corn, where a woodpecker gets it red color, and more, and also shows himself to be the mighty warrior of legend in these tales.
Hiawatha slays the serpents

This week's specific story of interest was an easy choice. Continuing my love of heroism once again, we see Hiawatha defeat the evil sorcerer Pearl Feather, who had slain in vain the father of one of his own. Hiawatha prepares intricately, and sails to the home of Pearl Feather through the rot waters, past the fire serpents (which he kills with ease), to his evil grounds. Therein, he fights a losing battle against a seemingly invincible enemy, fighting until his strength begins to falter. As he leans against a tree in hiding, a woodpecker delivers to him the secret to slaying the evil magician: hit the top of his head. He finally slays the man, and decorates the woodpecker in red blood of the man as a decoration of triumph.
This tale is an excellent showing of defeating a seemingly impossible enemy through a deus ex machina of nature, finding a critical weakness at the most opportune moment. While this tale may seem generic at the front, many Western tales usually offer divine intervention, as opposed to Hiawatha's saving by nature.
I hope to try to integrate many of the nature tales in my story this week, perhaps in the survival of a people striving against nature itself.
Once again, I mostly avoided the romance tale for my discussion this week.
Bibliography: The Song of Hiawatha. Untextbook Link

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Introduction to Some Nerd

Image
The first thing post people say after I tell them my major is some variant of "Why?". "Why would you do that to yourself?" is a common one I get. My major being Mathematics. The other most common thing I get is "Ew, I hate math." It's always nice and peachy to be told by someone you just met that they hate your entire field. Despite the multiple all-nighters, mind-meltingly difficult concepts, and multiple nearly failed classes, I still love my degree and math as a whole. The sheer beauty and connectedness of it all is unique and intricate, almost like getting to see the hidden truths of the universe. Of course, some days, it can be like trying to use a brick to turn a screw, but I try not to think too hard about those. Enough about math, more about me! I'm Gage Robelen, in my last semester of college here at OU, and a tremendous nerd for most things. I'm from Moore, Oklahoma, I'm 20 years old, and I can turn my feet around backwards. My i...
Read more

Week 7 Story: The Dragonfly and the Baobab Tree

Image
Prelude: I highly recommend listening to this song,  La Libellule et le Baobab , whose name and sound gave me the inspiration for this story. No really, I promise it improves the story.  A Great Baobab Tree At the center of a great, seemingly unending plain, there was a large lake at which many different animals came together to drink. Against the strain of the food chain, the animals here did not fight - the watering hole was not just an oasis against the elements, but against violence as well. No matter the day, no matter the rain, no matter the famine, no one dared to break the peace of the watering hole, lest they become the victim of its inhabitants in retaliation. Just a hair north of the lake was a great baobab tree, thousands of years older than any of the animals there. This baobab was no ordinary tree, but a spirit of unknowable wisdom and age. It was the symbol of peace at the lake, and told tales from eons before any of the lake's inhabitants were born. All ...
Read more