Week 9 Storytelling: Timeline of a Love Story

I would never see a living person again.

Looking at the infant before it was ready put a curse on the island and people and resulted in everyone being forbidden to go to the land of the spirits. I had sent for my mother so that she might see the beautiful half human, half spirit child that had been born to my beautiful lover. The only condition was that she wouldn’t look upon the baby until it was 10 days old, or else it would perish. She didn’t listen.

She gave birth to my child. My lover had visited me on the island every night, and every night she danced with me until the first light of day. The voices joined in song and the tom-tom beat of the dance drum could be heard across the river. Our love for each other only deepened with every passing night, and it didn’t matter to her that I wasn’t as I had once been. Her father prepared a boat for her every evening, and every evening she came to me. 

 (Spirits Dancing)

Her father was frightened of what would befall the tribe, yet he couldn’t stop her from coming. Ever since she came to me that first night, he believed that she would bring a curse on the people. She wanted to come again.

She paddled as fast as she could back across the river in an old boat that she had found on the shore. My appearance had changed drastically during the day. The first morning that my lover saw me after a night of dancing, she only saw my smiling remains staring back at her through the hollows where my eyes should have been. Around her were the rest of them that, like me, had come alive under the light of the moon. At night, I was completely different. I was a better, stronger, more beautiful version of myself. It was at night that we danced to the drums and singing and grew closer than we have ever been before.

She came to the island with her father, who dropped her off with four individuals at the edge of the island. Too afraid to come onto the land, he paddled back across the Columbia River, where he felt safe with his tribe. She was greeted by four spirit people, and then she was led to me. That’s when she first saw me since my passing.

She listened to the woman in her vision. She told her father of the vision, and he agreed to take her. The woman in the vision told her to come to Memaloose Island, where I was buried, and she would be able to be with me again.

I died wishing for more time with my dear lover. Our sweet time together was too short. My heart belonged to her, and I couldn’t bear to be apart from her for even an hour. I knew she felt the same love for me.

Author's Note: This week, I chose to read the Pacific Northwest unit. In this unit, the story that struck out to me the most was The Memaloose Islands. The original tells the tale of a young chief that dies suddenly. He is in love with a young maiden, and she sees a vision telling her to go to the island of the dead in order to see her deceased lover. She goes at night and finds him better than before. They end up dancing all night, but when she wakes up in the light of day, she finds her love and all of others on the island to be nothing but corpses and skeletons. She ends up going back, and in time gives birth to a half human, half spirit baby. The young chief sends for his mother so that she might see the child, but she looks at the child before she is allowed to, and as a result curses the island. After that, visitation to the island becomes forbidden. I chose to tell this story backwards and from the chief's point of view. I omitted some details as well because I figured it would be tricky enough keeping track of the plot as it was. I've never written a story like this, so this is my experiment. 
Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, Especially of Washington and Oregon by Katharine Berry Judson (1910). Web source: UN-Textbook

Famous Last Words for Week 9

My best writing for week 9 was probably my Storytelling post. I tried something new with my story telling, and I'm surprised that it wasn't completely awful! Telling stories backwards is something that I've always thought was really interesting, so I decided to give it a shot. I'll have to practice more with that, so I might have more stories like that in this class in the future!

The stories I read this week were great. I like that the stories for this week involve so many animals. Whether it is animals doing the telling or just being the main focus of the stories, they are fun to read about. I think the reading units this week were very good at inspiring people to think outside the box and really create something they could be proud of.

Reading about buffalo and fish and whatnot this week was really neat because it once again connected to my History of Western Cinema class. Reading about the different tribes was interesting for the same reason. This class helps put things into perspective in my film class. I'm also in a philosophy class, and it's interesting to observe how people rationalized what they believed and whatnot and compare it to the thoughts of Greek philosophers as well as those that grew up in civilized areas.

This week has been super exciting for me because I'm in Oregon. What's even cooler is that I got to see Memaloose Island in person. The island is what my storytelling post was essentially over, and it was just so great to be able to see the place I had read about. That doesn't happen too often, especially because a lot of the units deal with mythology from different countries, so this was incredibly memorable for me. I was able to tell my boyfriend about the background of the island and teach him something about the history of the area that he grew up in!

(Personal photo of Memaloose Island)

Essay: Recurring Motifs in the Tales of the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest unit has several recurring motifs in its stories, but one that really jumps out is the creation of the world. Each culture has their take on how the earth was created, and the tribes of the Pacific Northwest are no different.

What's interesting about the creation stories from the Northwest is the use of animals in some of the versions. For example, in How Silver-Fox Created the World, Coyote and Silver Fox live in the heavens above the earth's water. One day, Silver-Fox decided to descend to the world beneath the sky and created an island. From there, the tale describes in more detail how Silver-Fox expanded the earth and how Coyote helped him. Animals played an important role in the tribal communities, so it makes sense that they had animals represent the spirits of the other realm.

Another tale that deals with creation is How Kemush Created the World. In this tale, the central figure is not an animal, but an old man. However, his method for creation has some similarities to the first creation story mentioned. Just like Silver-Fox was responsible for creating everything on the land, was the old man in this tale. One difference is that Silver-Fox added land to a realm of just water, whereas Kemush added vegetation and animals to the world where land already existed.

Finally, the story How Old Man Above Created the World, has both aspects of the previous stories in it. Like the first tale, the Old Man Above has to bore a hole into the sky to get to the earth below. Like the second story, the old man walks around the earth and creates plants, animals, and humans. In this version of creation, though, the Old Man Above makes a teepee to live in on the earth, and the teepee is Mount Shasta.

(Mount Shasta)

Reading Diary B: Pacific Northwest

The second half of the reading of the Pacific Northwest unit had some stories that I was excited about reading because the locations in the titles and stories themselves are locations that I've visited! It was really cool to read about a place and its history knowing that I had been there and seen the settings with my own eyes.

One story I particularly enjoyed was The Memaloose Islands. From the additional article at the beginning of the story, I realized that I had passed the island on a kayaking trip last summer! I didn't see any Indian burial tombs, but I wasn't really paying attention. It was just such a neat connection! I think the story is a fascinating one. I'm a sucker for love stories, so of course this one was a really enjoyable read. I was saddened by the fact that the chief died in the beginning, but it was sweet that the maiden and her lover got to be together for one more night. It was also unfortunate that the maiden was impatient when it came to the supernatural baby. That part kind of reminded me of Pandora's box. Seeing these kinds of connections across tales from different cultures is always so fun to me.

Another story that I was particularly interested in was Falls of the Willamette. My boyfriend's alma mater is in the Willamette Valley, so of course the title jumped out at me. The story itself was very interesting. I love that natural geographical elements in this area have been attributed to the work of Tallapus. In my opinion, he could have built his fire and just ignored the full trap. I understand, though, that that's not usually how myths work, which in turn makes them more interesting and amusing to read.

(Leaping salmon at Willamette Falls)

Reading Diary A: Pacific Northwest

I chose the Pacific Northwest unit because I will be spending my Spring Break up in Oregon, and I'm so glad that I did! Right away, I knew I had made the right decision. I like the format of the stories, and they all are so entertaining!

One of my favorites is actually three tales in one: Three Coyote Stories. I was amused by the relationship of Coyote and Silver-Fox in the first story, because it reflected the dynamic of the two in the creation story at the beginning of this unit. For the second story in the Coyote series, I really liked the twists and turns of the story. It seemed throughout the tale that coyote wouldn't actually be the most cunning, but at the end, the coyote got something out of the deal after all! The third story about Coyote's death was just tragic. All he wanted to do was travel the world! I understand that he was somewhat of a controversial figure, but he wasn't all bad. I thought the Star could have at least warned him. I guess at least it wasn't a boring death...

(Coyote)

I thought it was interesting that there are so many different creation stories in this unit! I enjoyed reading each one to see how they differed.

I have always had a fascination with totem poles, so reading The First Totem Pole was really neat! I have to admit, the story was a little complicated, and I really had to focus throughout the whole thing in order to remember all of the details, but I loved how intricate the tale was!