Week 10: Reading Diary B

After reading what I had so far, I was extremely excited to finish up Eskimo Folk Tales. I sort of think that these stories have been my favorite thus far this semester. They are fairly easy to read, plus its very interesting to read stories that have to deal with Native America. From the second half of this reading, I was very interested in The Wife Who Lied. From the name of the story, it seems like this would be relatable in the real world. The first sentence was really what hooked me in. I mean how can you not get intrigued when you see that the individual in the story came from a tribe of man-eaters.

After reading on, this story seemed almost kind of graphic, but in a good way. Sometime for me, the more graphic and horror like, the better. I couldn't believe that almost everyone was killed in the village. Those three that hid were very lucky and I guess you would say smart for not getting caught by the killers. I was also kind of taken back that those three who lived worked so hard on arrows that their bones were showing. They were definitely dedicated to the cause of getting back at their enemies. Unfortunately, I do not think they did enough work for the hut was taken and the men were killed. In addition, those women who lived were taken and forced upon new husbands. I was very surprised that the lying wife died in the end, but it does make sense. This story definitely tells others that you should not lie.

(Inuit village near Frobisher Bay, from Hall's Arctic Researches and Life Among the Esquimaux, 1865)

Week 10: Reading Diary A

For this week, I decided it would be fun to read Eskimo Folk Tales. It sounded like a fun topic, especially since who wouldn't love eskimo's. The first story that I really enjoyed reading was The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son. The name itself interested me to begin with. I always enjoy reading about animals, a I've said time and time before. I think it was really great that the old woman took the bear in as her own. I was actually kind of surprised that the townspeople around her took so kindly to the bear; especially when he got so big that he made their children cry. Luckily after becoming too big, he had the adults to play with. It was really neat that the bear could live in unison with the townspeople and his foster mother.

The part of the story that I was sort of sad about was that the bear having to leave his home. I understood that he killed the man because the man probably tried to harm him first, but I don't necessarily think that he should have left his home. I guess the foster mother was just trying to protect him the best she could. I mean it does make sense that someone would come and try to kill the bear for revenge. This was a really cool folk tale, and probably my favorite out of all that I read so far in the Eskimo Folk Tales. I am really excited to read the second part.

(Brown bear cub head)