The Once and Future Blog

An Empty Plain In the beginning, there was nothing more than a great, dusty plain with not even so much as grass upon it. In this plain, nothing changed and nothing was born, until at last the plain began to dream. Its dream was occupied by thoughts of grasses, bushes, trees, and birds, and soon, those things began to spread over the whole of the plain. The birds began to chatter amongst themselves, so lucky to have been given an infinite world of food and shade, but quickly found themselves parched. They echoed a cry to the plain, and soon, water began to flow over some parts of the plain, and the west of the plain became an infinite sea. The birds were happy, and they found themselves contented as before. This contentment did not last long, as the birds began to grow tired of eating, drinking, and flight from tree to tree. Once again, they expressed their discontent to the world, and once again, the world began to dream something new - the land itself began to leap up and fall d...

Today, we continue with the legends of the native people of Alaska, the Inuit people. Once again, they provide a long series of extremely unique stories that differ strongly in content and even moral from many of the common stories in American peoples, but with a tone and motifs very similar to their continental counterparts. The first story that stuck out to me in the context of writing was "The Land of the Dead". I hope to be able to explore, at the end of my storybook and perhaps in my weekly writing, the idea of a place after death and the people who guide you there. Right off the bat, this story hits with an interesting concept - being a shade of yourself in the very world you lived. It quickly turns around to show the various punishments being inflicted on people, such as taking the place of a beaten dog or being stuck in the grass for chewing stems. Eventually, she finds herself at the village of the dead, surrounded by the gifts of her people and her ancestors. She l...

This week, I will be taking a look at the legends from the native people of Alaska, the Inuit. This one stood out to me due to its disconnected connection to the continental United States' native people, being close yet far. Just glancing at the titles of the stories gives an obvious impression - the importance of the raven. The Raven Right off the bat, we are given an incredibly interesting, unique creation story in which man is the spawn of what feels to be a side project of this Raven god, emerging from the pod of a vine planted in whimsy. The Raven, almost as confused as the first man, guides him along in a cooperative path of discovery of all the world has to offer for man, including water, fruit, earth, hunting, and the creation of a companion. The Raven's explanations of purpose likely directly reflect the views of the societies that told these stories, like how a shrew isn't good for food but makes the plain more interesting, and integrates many "explanati...