Week 11 Reading: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains (Reading B)

The Ghost and the Traveler

Reading B: 

1. Two Teton Ghost Stories
• Indian alone during a storm, found a sweat lodge
• two ghosts were in it  
• Man alone at night prepared to shoot with someone approaches 
• Man shot a ghost that was watching him the woods, the man went to later see where the ghosts were wailing and found a wound in the skull 
2. The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost
• Man sleeping in the woods for a few nights 
• one night a ghost approaches him and asks to smoke, then says they should wrestle
• if he wins wrestling the ghost said he will win against his enemies and steal some horses
• the man won and the ghost was right
3. The Wakanda, or Water God
• Mother and father loved their son, the boy drowned playing 
• father so sad he could not sleep in the lodge, but on the floor, because he could hear his son crying under the ground 
• wanted to dig into the ground, found two men that said the water god has the son, but he ate the food of the water so will die out of it
• two men gave back son, who died, and later the father's daughter died the same way but was given back alive for she did not eat the water food 
4. The Spirit Land
• Spirit world is toward the Darkening Land, higher up, and separated from the world of living by a great lake 
• The crow set up the world aka grass, forests, mountains
5. Why the Possum Plays Dead
• Rabbit and Possum always wanted a wife 
• went to the next village to find a wife, possum took too long and didn't get one
• Rabbit went to the next village and started a war, possum arrived late and was attacked but then played dead 
6. Coyote and Snake*
• Coyote was going to walk over the snake on accident, snake got mad, coyote got mad
• snake threatened coyote to step on him, coyote did, got bit, and died from a reaction later in the day 
7. Two More Rabbit Stories
• How the rabbit lost his fat
• The one who made the animals wanted to know which animals looked the best fat 
• rabbit didn't, so he took away the fat, which is why they have a hole between their soldier blades
• only raccoon's looked okay fat 
• How rabbit caught the sun in a trap 
• Rabbit got mad that someone kept beating him to go hunting early
• it was the sun and he tried to capture the sun, and got burnt 
8. How the Rabbit Killed the Giant
• No one had food but the giant, ended up getting food, but giant got greedy
• rabbit found a bug and told it to bite the giant, and the giant died in its sleep 
9. Rabbit and Deer
• deers used to not have antlers 
• people wanted to know if a deer or rabbit was fastest, whoever won got antlers 
• rabbit cheated though by going early to clear a path, so deer got the antlers 
• why the deer has blunt teeth 
• revenge for the rabbit losing, he dulled his teeth by tricking him 
10. Legend of the Head of Gold
• Little boy dipped his head into a round yellow thing, turning his head gold to avoid getting eaten
• destroyed all people and everyone thought highly of him
11. Ictinike and the Turtle
• Ictinike tricked the turtle, beat its neck with a bone, and skilled it
• went to cook it, fell asleep, and a coyote got it and ate it
• the Ictinike thought he ate the turtle but just forgot 
12. Ictinike and the Creators
• Ictinike going to visit different members of his animal family
• killed some, had a tobacco pouch, kept sharing meals with people
• all fathers warned children to not get close to Ictinike 

Judson, Katherine B. “Great Plains: Coyote and Snake.” Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook, 1913, mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/great-plains-coyote-and-snake.html.