Week 12 Reading Notes: Beowulf, Part B

A depiction of the heroic Beowulf standing in the Great Mead Hall.

In this second half of Beowulf, Beowulf fights him unarmed, proving himself stronger than the demon, who is terrified. As Grendel struggles to escape, Beowulf tears the monster’s arm off. Mortally wounded, Grendel slinks back into the swamp to die. The severed arm is hung high in the mead-hall as a trophy of victory.

Overjoyed, Hrothgar showers Beowulf with gifts and treasure at a feast in his honor. Songs are sung in praise of Beowulf, and the celebration lasts late into the night. But another threat is approaching. Grendel’s mother, a swamp-hag who lives in a desolate lake, comes to Heorot seeking revenge for her son’s death. She murders Aeschere, one of Hrothgar’s most trusted advisers, before slinking away. To avenge Aeschere’s death, the company travels to the murky swamp, where Beowulf dives into the water and fights Grendel’s mother in her underwater lair. He kills her with a sword forged for a giant, then, finding Grendel’s corpse, decapitates it and brings the head as a prize to Hrothgar. The Danish countryside is now purged of its treacherous monsters.

The Danes are again overjoyed, and Beowulf’s fame spreads across the kingdom. Beowulf departs after a sorrowful goodbye to Hrothgar, who has treated him like a son. He returns to Geatland, where he and his men are reunited with their king and queen, Hygelac and Hygd, to whom Beowulf recounts his adventures in Denmark. Beowulf then hands over most of his treasure to Hygelac, who, in turn, rewards him.

In time, Hygelac is killed in a war against the Shylfings, and, after Hygelac’s son dies, Beowulf ascends to the throne of the Geats. He rules wisely for fifty years, bringing prosperity to Geatland. When Beowulf is an old man, however, a thief disturbs a barrow, or mound, where a great dragon lies guarding a horde of treasure. Enraged, the dragon emerges from the barrow and begins unleashing fiery destruction upon the Geats. Sensing his own death approaching, Beowulf goes to fight the dragon. With the aid of Wiglaf, he succeeds in killing the beast, but at a heavy cost. The dragon bites Beowulf in the neck, and its fiery venom kills him moments after their encounter. The Geats fear that their enemies will attack them now that Beowulf is dead. According to Beowulf’s wishes, they burn their departed king’s body on a huge funeral pyre and then bury him with a massive treasure in a barrow overlooking the sea.

Bibliography: The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs (prose adaptation in modern English). http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-beowulf.html

Week 12 Reading Notes: Beowulf, Part A

A depiction of Beowulf slaying the monstrous Grendel.

Beowulf is likely one of the most well-known and most influential pieces of literature in the world, and is especially important in the ancient canon of British and Celtic stories. It is one of the few surviving pieces of great literature from the Middle Ages. It is taught in many high school English classes around the United States, and the world, presumably. 

To open and preface this story: King Hrothgar of Denmark, a descendant of the great king Shield Sheafson, enjoys a prosperous and successful reign. He builds a great mead-hall, called Heorot, where his warriors can gather to drink, receive gifts from their lord, and listen to stories sung by the scops, or bards. But the jubilant noise from Heorot angers Grendel, a horrible demon who lives in the swamplands of Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendel terrorizes the Danes every night, killing them and defeating their efforts to fight back. The Danes suffer many years of fear, danger, and death at the hands of Grendel. Eventually, however, a young Geatish warrior named Beowulf hears of Hrothgar’s plight. Inspired by the challenge, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a small company of men, determined to defeat Grendel.

Hrothgar, who had once done a great favor for Beowulf’s father Ecgtheow, accepts Beowulf’s offer to fight Grendel and holds a feast in the hero’s honor. During the feast, an envious Dane named Unferth taunts Beowulf and accuses him of being unworthy of his reputation. Beowulf responds with a boastful description of some of his past accomplishments. His confidence cheers the Danish warriors, and the feast lasts merrily into the night.

Bibliography: The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs (prose adaptation in modern English). http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-beowulf.html

Week 11 Story: The Boy Who Became a Sheep and That's It

A photograph of the Navajo churro, the sheep that the Navajo tribe believe to be sacred.

The Tolchini, a clan of the Navajo, lived at Wind Mountains. They moved west after the young brother kept bring back food and pine boughs without rhyme or reason and the other brothers questioned his own sanity. After moving, since they had only been eating seed and grass to survive, the eldest brothers suggested that they go hunting to find food for themselves to be able to thrive and prosper instead scavenging for grass. They suggested that the youngest brother stay behind while they continued onward. After five days of no communication from his brothers, the youngest one set out on his own to find them. He camped at various caves and survived off of the land until he came across a large group of crows, that eventually morphed into Crow People that began speaking to the youngest brother in harsh whispers that terrified him. After overcoming the initial shock, he began listening to the voices and they told him about what had occurred with his brothers. They had become lost and killed 12 deer in their journey and they began telling the young brother where to go to find his family. After much walking and following their guidance, he found his brothers and told them of what the Crow People had told him. The details of their trip so closely matched the brother's retelling, that they realized that the brother had been very blessed and not gone crazy. In that moment, four ancient Gods appeared in the form of sheep and turned the young brother into a sheep much like them; however, the young brother felt no different, his form had merely just been altered. In a flash, the gods disappeared and the young brother was left in his form, a symbol of the sacred gods in Navajo culture, but no different from any other sheep. 

Author's Note: I started with the traditional Navajo story of the young boy who became a God in the form of a sheep after rescuing his brothers. I had a funny thought while reading this story that was essentially just "What if nothing else happened?" He would just be a sheep without godly powers or knowledge that improve the lives of people.

Bibliography: Judson's "Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest." http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/03/myth-folklore-unit-california-and-old.html

Reading Notes: Native American Stories; California and the Southwest, Part B

An ancient Native American symbol of the Coyote, a revered animal and god in many tribes.

Coyote is a major mythological figure for most Native American tribes, especially those west of the Mississippi. Like real coyotes, mythological coyotes are usually notable for their crafty intelligence, stealth, and voracious appetite. However, American Indian coyote characters vary widely from tribe to tribe. In some Native American coyote myths, Coyote is a revered culture hero who creates, teaches, and helps humans; in others, he is a sort of antihero who demonstrates the dangers of negative behaviors like greed, recklessness, and arrogance; in still others, he is a comic trickster character, whose lack of wisdom gets him into trouble while his cleverness gets him back out. In some Native coyote stories, he is even some sort of combination of all three at once. Among the Pueblo tribes, the coyote was believed to have hunting medicine. Zuni hunters kept stone effigies of coyotes as one of their six hunting fetishes, associating coyotes with the west and the color blue. Coyotes are also used as clan animals in some Native American cultures. Tribes with Coyote Clans include the Cahuilla tribe, the Mohave, the Hopi (whose Coyote Clan is called Isngyam or Ish-wungwa), the Zuni (whose Coyote Clan name is Suski-kwe,) and other Pueblo tribes of New Mexico. Some tribes, such as the Pomo, also had a Coyote Dance among their tribal dance traditions. In some of these Native American stories, the Coyote interacts with other animals, demonstrating his key and defining characteristics in various ways that also serve to explain how things came to be, like the color of quail feathers. 

Bibliography: Judson's "Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest." http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/03/myth-folklore-unit-california-and-old.html

Reading Notes: Native American Stories; California and Old Southwest, Part A

A newspaper clipping about the story book in which these great stories are housed.

For countless generations Native communities throughout North America have told stories about their worlds. in a time before written forms of communication, the storyteller used both collective memory and individual inspiration to fulfill one of several possible goals. Perhaps it might be to amuse or to instruct or to imagine. Some stories could only be told at certain times of the year. Others could not be told to all members of a village or encampment. But regardless of their purpose or their content, the stories mattered. They reflected values; they imparted lessons. They told how a place, an animal, a people came to be. As with the fables or songs or chants or ballads of different groups around the world, American Indian stories offered much in time to a wider audience curious to learn more about Native history and heritage. These stories, which include the ancient and the revered Coyote as their God and sacred animal, talk about creation of the earth from dust, the creation of man from the feathers of birds by the Coyote and becoming what is the known as the form of man, in addition to the story of Coyote as the main trickster, a classic trope used to portray the cunning of the coyote. Most of these source stories are from the Navajo in the Southwest and provide insight into their culture, what they value, how they live their lives, and what things these people held dear to them in harsh times.

Bibliography: Judson's "Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest." http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/03/myth-folklore-unit-california-and-old.html

Week 10 Story: The Logical Pacifist Hiawatha

A movie poster for the 1913 film adaptation of the Native American legend Hiawatha.

On one fateful day, Nokomis, Hiawatha's grandmother, looked up from the ground pointed in the direction of the western sky and told her grandson some troubling news. There was an evil magician named Pearl-Feather who has been hoarding large sums of food and money, while also using his evil magic to spread disease amongst the population. Additionally, this Pearl-Feather had killed Hiawatha's grandfather. Hiawatha took on Nokomis' request and agreed to stop Pearl-Feather once and for all. 

Hiawatha began trekking toward the direction of Pearl-Feather's lair, and after two days of walking, he came upon a large home in the middle of a lake with pitch black water. Upon approaching the shore, fiery snakes leapt out of the water, guarding the only walkway to his home in the middle of the lake. After being unable to come up with a way past them without fighting them, he realized something strange... How were these snakes on fire, but also in water? And at that exact moment, the snakes suddenly were extinguished, and left, almost as if they were also confused by their existence. 

After walking a while, Hiawatha approached the door of the dreaded Pearl-Feather and gave it a quick knock. There was no response. Hiawatha turned to leave, and just before he left the vicinity of the house, he felt an evil presence and Pearl-Feather appeared from thin air. Hiawatha began trying to settle the incident peacefully. He explained to Pearl-Feather that his powers and wealth and riches could be used to improve the lives of others and work toward a communal good. Pearl-Feather was very hesitant, as he enjoyed doing evil things, but did realize that he was quite lonely out here on this lake and he really could change the trajectory of his life in the best way possible. Hiawatha and Pearl-Feather walked back to the village together. Upon arriving at the village, Pearl-Feather apologized and gave away his wealth to build up the community, and began using his magic to improve crop yields and vanquish disease. Perhaps violence is not always the answer after all.

Author's Note: In this version of Hiawatha story, I added an unconventional twist, given that the protagonist is often forced to use violence as a means to achieve his goals and do what he considers best for the ultimate and communal good. I focused on the retelling of his encounter with Pearl-Feather, an evil magician that hoards wealth and spreads disease, because I am the most familiar with this particular story in the realm of Hiawatha stories.

Bibliography: The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Published in 1855. http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/myth-folklore-unit-song-of-hiawatha.html

Reading Notes: Native American Stories; Hiawatha, Part B

A depiction of the great Native American story hero, Hiawtha.

Hiawatha is one of the most influential Native American stories because of its renowned status in the literature and mythological community. In the reading, Nokomis looks toward the western sky and tells Hiawatha that a magician named Pearl-Feather lives in that direction. Pearl-Feather is evil because he hoards all kinds of food and wealth, and keeping a bunch of stuff for yourself isn't encouraged in their tight-knit village. Pearl-Feather has been sending famine and disease to Hiawatha's people, and this magician apparently killed Nokomis' father. Nokomis would like Hiawatha to go defeat Pearl-Feather, but he is guarded by fire serpents that swim in black water. When he comes near Pearl-Feather's hideout, Hiawatha runs into the fiery serpents. They tell him to head home and call it a day, but he responds by killing them all with arrows. All the animals that live in the area cheer Hiawatha on because they're sick of the evil Pearl-Feather making their lives horrible. Hiawatha fires a single arrow at Pearl-Feather's wigwam and calls him to come outside. After tricking Pearl-Feather and shooting him with three arrows, Hiawatha divides his riches and wealth amongst his people and creates communal wealth, which Pearl-Feather did not seek to do. This represents the lifestyle of Native American communities and how they value the collective good over individual wealth, which is something all cultures can learn from.

Bibliography: The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Published in 1855. http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/myth-folklore-unit-song-of-hiawatha.html