Reading Diary B: Blackfoot Stories

Myth-Folklore Native American Reading Unit: Blackfoot Stories

(Blackfoot Stories)

Reading Diary B:
1. The Smart Woman Chief

• So, all that about women not being "made as well" as men was really cool... (Can you feel the sarcasm?)
• The vegan in the class is loving all of the hunting in these stories. (Yes, more sarcasm, and hint: I am the vegan.)
• A divided society. Makes me think of the world that I have created for my Storybook in which the vampires and the humans are divided. What if there were some humans, or some vampires that did not know about the other and were shocked to find the other species?
• Yeah, so, don't mess with the other tribe, they will turn you into a pine tree.

2. Bobcat and Birch Tree

• More talking animals, awesome! (Sorry, this is the most sarcastic Reading Diary that I have ever typed up. I just want to read about Kut-O-Yis, he sounds interesting. He is the reason I picked these Blackfoot Stories.)
• There are so many stories with Old Man!
• "Teach me your ways" trope.
• Reminds me that ravens are used as an omen.

3. The Red-Eyed Duck

• Awesome, more talking animals and more of Old Man. But, last story before The Blood Boy!
• Imagery of a face full of ashes.

4. Kut-O-Yis, The Blood Boy

• A clot of blood fell from a buffalo's wound, and that clot became Kut-O-Yis, The Blood Boy!

5. Kut-O-Yis, The Blood Boy (cont.)

• The bit about the baby growing up to be his wife was extremely creepy, and I didn't quite follow what was going on. And the fact that they would kill it if it was a male was horrible! I am not like this myth thus far. When does he become the Hero figure?
• This doesn't seem very heroic, he is fighting his son-in-law?
• Hiding precious objects
• Bears--what about were-bears? Yes, that is a thing! I know them from Dungeons and Dragons.
• Kut-O-Yis is not the hero I had imagined him to be. They compared him to Jack the Giant Killer, and he is nothing like that. All he does is hunt. He's not a hero, he's a hunter.

6. Kut-O-Yis, The Blood Boy (cont. again)

• I like the idea of the cliff in these myths. A cliff is an excellent setting for a story, as it is dangerous. A cliff could also translate into a Urban Fantasy setting as a rooftop!

7. Kut-O-Yis, The Blood Boy (cont. yet again)

• Snake person, a shape-shifter, skin-walker, or a lamia!
• I don't think slaughtering the snake family was far at all or heroic for that matter! The snake didn't attack him.
• "Don't go there, there is danger!" "Okay, I'm going to go there!"

8. Kut-O-Yis, The Blood Boy (end)

• A woman who wrestles with men and then kills them.
• I suppose Kut-O-Yis is acting more heroic, in that he dashes towards danger like a knight in Arthurian Legend and Lore.
• "Oki" means welcome.
• Kut-O-Yis killed the big bad guy.
• He also arose from bones.
• Someone arising from bones. What supernatural creature could this be? A banshee, a ghost, ghoul, something of that nature.