Storytelling Eskimo Folk Tales

Book Eskimo Folk Tales

Author Knud Rasmussen

Year 1921

Once upon a time in a land not so far away a young woman longed to be a mother.  The young woman lived in the woods all by her lonesome with no one to keep her company.  She ran out everyday to collect food, water, to hunt, and to search for someone to keep her company.  The woman watched the animal families run about and every spring she watched as the various animals became mothers, and she envied them for their children. 

One spring the young woman ran out to hunt for the day and she encountered a small wolf pup.  The pup was small in size, so small that he was likely the runt of the litter left out to die on his own.  The young woman scooped up the pup and took him in for herself.  She decided then and there that she would raise the pup on her own, that he would keep her company and she would no longer be alone.

Over the years the young woman, who was now a young mother became closer and closer to her newly fostered son.  The pup grew swift and strong.  She taught him the ways of the woods.  She taught the pup how to hunt as soon as he was able so that they might share the daily load of the work to be done.  The pup grew into a wolf, and as he grew so did his skills for hunting.  He began to go after bigger and bigger prey.  The woman was pleased with her sons efforts, and as he continued to hunt larger animals he too grew larger, the cycle was seemingly endless.

The young pup was no more and now the old woman had a full grown wolf with her.  She knew that he had to go out and be free to explore for himself.  For one day soon she would be gone.  She remembered how lonely she felt before finding her pup.  One night when the wolf came home from his hunt the woman told him that he must find someone else to hunt with and find a family on his own.  She explained that soon she would be gone from this world and that she would be walking amongst the stars.  The wolf obeyed, knowing his mother was wise and meant only to look out for him.  He ran out on his own in search of a family to provide for, still every now and then he howls towards the stars and the moon, knowing his mother is out there listening. 

Black Wolf Pup
Image from Wikipedia

Authors Note

This storytelling post is based on the Woman who had a Bear as a Foster Son. In the original story an old woman in a village is brought a bear cub and told to raise it as her own.  The bear grows big and strong and provides game for the whole village.  In the end of the story the bear is thought to have killed someone in a neighboring village and the mother must send him away for protection.  I made some changes to this story to see how it could be perceived through another perspective. 

Reading Diary B: Eskimo Stories

This week I read the Eskimo Stories unit for my first Native American story selection.  The first half of the reading was rather enjoyable, and so was the second half.  The second half was a little bit darker than the first half.  Most of the stories were teaching some kind of lesson.  Many of the stories were about the consequences of a certain behavior.  Stories about lying, killing, and deceitfulness were scattered throughout the second half of this unit making this segment much more cautionary than the first half.

I think the differences in the two halves of the reading are rather interesting.  Stories that are told more pleasure are always enjoyable and entertaining.  However, when you contrast those kinds of stories with lesson stories you can see clear differences.  Stories that are told to convey a moral or a lesson tend to be much more realistic.  I think as an adult the stories that convey lessons are much more enjoyable than I would have found them as a child.  The realistic aspect within a fantasy setting just makes the story seem like something you can connect more with.    

Igloo Village
From Travel Site

Reading Diary A: Eskimo Stories

This week I have selected the Eskimo Stories reading unit for my weekly reading.  I selected this unit because of the unit description.  Out of all of the potential units I thought that this one had a certain sort of unique draw to it that led me to decide to read it.

Thus far, I have really enjoyed this unit.  It is not my favorite unit that I have read for this class so far.  However, it is really unique and quite a nice change of pace to read.  The stories are all unconnected short stories from Eskimo culture.  The themes are somewhat similar throughout the various stories but there is no reoccurring character or plot.  I think this is somewhat refreshing as well.  The last several units I have read have all been longer stories so a nice break is a welcome change.

The stories have all managed to get a very well put together story told in a relatively short amount of time.  My favorite story in this unit so far was about a bear and its foster mother.  In this story an old woman in the village is given a bear cub who she raises as one of the tribe.  The bear lives peacefully among the villagers as their kin.  The bear even comes to hunt with the men and supports their way of life.  The story ends fairly sad because the woman is forced to send the bear away.  Even though the ending was sad I still liked this story best, I’m not too sure why, it just stood out to me.   

Polar Bear Cub
Taken from Blog