Reading Notes: Reading B: Native American Hero

For the second part of the Native American Hero Tales, from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson, there were four tales in the reading. The first tale, Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away, was about twin boys who would be told by their fathers not to go somewhere because of a danger but the boys would not listen, go and defeat whatever it was. I could possibly add another place where the twin boys are “not supposed to go”, but then go off too and defeat a villain.  The second tale, The Son-In-Law Tests, was a funny story about a trickster, Wemicus, trying to kill off his son-in-law. I really enjoyed this tale and it reminded me of the movie, Meet the Parents, where Greg tries to impress his father-in-law who is trying to get rid of him the entire movie. I could possible change the tale into a modern theme, since there is still a joke about son-in-law needing to impress their father-in-law. The third tale, The Jealous Father, had a twisted beginning where a father had two wives and the son from his first wife was hooking up with his second wife so the father becomes jealous of the son and tries to get rid of him. The father tries to attempt to kill the son through different paths on the way home, but the son makes it with the help on an old woman his mother sends to help him. The part of the story I did not like is that the son makes it home and then kills his father, while I think the father was wrong to try and kill his own son, he at least had a good reason. I think the boy and other co-wife should have some repercussion for their actions at the start of the tale. The final tale, Dirty-Boy, is about two daughter of a chief that need to be married off. The chief holds a contest, where the men of the village, a coyote and a sickly boy (the sun, disguised) compete. The sickly boy wins and the two daughters must go to him, but the eldest marries a raven that she meets on the way instead. I really enjoyed this story because the younger daughter obeys her father and stays true to the sickly man and attends to him for three days. After that she is rewards by him revealing that he is the sun and she ends up with a better life. I would not wan to make any changes to the story but could try a gender swap between the characters.

The cover art for the movie Meet the Parents. Source: IMDb