Week 10 Reading Diary: Eskimo Folk Tales

I chose to read half of the Eskimo Folk Tales unit this week.

In The Coming of Men a Long, Long While Ago, I enjoyed the imagery of the Earth falling from the sky. But the thought of a woman finding children in the woods, dressing them, and bringing them home is sort of creepy.

I think it's interesting how many parallels are present between this creation story and the Christian creation stories. The creation of man and woman from the Earth and the flood.

It's cool that the Inuits believe that people become stars when they die.

I really didn't understand the story of Nukúnguasik, who Escaped from the Tupilak.

I love the idea of adopting a bear cub! That sounds like so much fun. I think it's really cool how the bear develops the mind of a human in the story of The Woman Who Had A Bear As A Foster-Son. I think this one would be fun to retell for my storytelling assignment.

In the story of Qalagánguasê, Who Passed to the Land of Ghosts, it's cool to think of the ghosts being able to give the boy back his strength. This story reminds of Pinocchio in the way that the boy's lies have physical ramifications.

In the story of Isigâligârssik, I didn't understand why the wizard took away the man's wife. So the rest of the story was very confusing.

Similarly, I didn't understand The Insects that Wooed a Wifeless Man. Why did insects offering to marry him change anything?

I was totally following the story of Makíte until he threatened to kill the lone-dweller over not knowing what the things that looked like candles were. That escalated quickly.

I understand that anything is possible in folk tales and myths, but I still think that the characters need to have believable motivations, and I just don't see those in this unit.