Week 2 Reading Anthology

 Source: Katharine Berry Judson (1913), Myths and Legends of the Great Plains

The Indian Who Wrestled With a Ghost

Teton

Plot: Man heard owl. Man get disturbed by a woman and the woman pulled out a rusty knife; The man scared the woman away. Man heard singing and another man approached him; he revealed his skeleton and they wrestle. The man triumphed over the bony man as day breaks. 

Focus character: woman, mysterious, never said a word besides "yun," never to be seen again.

Point of View: entirely in third person

Dialogue: quotes and then description after (“What are you doing?” Then he shot at her suddenly)

Beautiful Sentences: "She wore a skin dress with long fringe. A buffalo robe was fastened around her at the waist. Her necklace was of very large beads, and her leggings were covered with beads or porcupine work. Her robe was drawn over her head and she was snuffing as she came." description of the woman.

Action Writing: "Then the ghost rushed at the man. He seized him with his bony hands, which was very painful; but this mattered not. The man tried to push off the ghost, whose legs were very powerful. When the ghost was pulled near the fire, he became weak; but when he pulled the young man toward the darkness, he became strong. As the fire got low, the strength of the ghost increased." descriptive action, with feelings, weakness, strength.

Starting Story: "A young man went alone on the warpath." start immediately, no setting up the scene until later, scenery not as important

Diction: "wasna, which was grease mixed with pounded buffalo meat, and wild cherry" add description of words reader less likely knows. 

 

Image Information: Man Skull at Pixabay

Source: John D. Batten (Illustrations, 1912), Joseph Jacobs (author), Indian Fairy Tales 

The Tiger, The Brahman, and The Jackal

India 

Plot: Brahman the Man saw Tiger in a cage pleading for help, man open the cage, tiger wanted to eat the man, man asked tree, buffalo, and road for the reason, man met jackal which the man lead back to the tiger, jackal pretended to be dumb and lure the tiger back in the cage, problem solved.

Lessons: kindness can be misleading, Sometimes life is cruel (tree provides shade but get cut down, buffalo provides milk but get fed back food, road provides fast transportation but gets trample on). 

Point of View: entirely third person

Dialogue: quotes and description after ("Nay, my friend," replied the Brahman mildly, "you would probably eat me if I did.") some continuous dialogue. A lot of dialogue ends in exclamation point (!) for emphasis.

Starting Story: "Once upon a time." like a storybook, get straight to the point "a tiger was caught in a trap"

Repetitions: Adds comedic relief, emphasize that the jackal is following the story but not really.

"Yes, my lord! "

"And that is the Brahman — "

"Yes, my lord!"

"And that is the cage — "

"Yes, my lord!"

"And I was in the cage — do you understand?"

"Yes — no — please, my lord — "

 

Image Information: Indian Jackal at Wikimedia