Reading Diary A: American Indian Fairy Tales

American Indian Fairy Tales

Iagoo, the Story-Teller

(Iagoo, the Story-Teller - Author Unknown)

This was the first story of the bunch, and I thought it did an excellent job at setting up the story. The first few paragraphs were intriguing because of the use of words. For example, I thought this description of the Earth was beautifully said, “ He knew the fairy tales and the wonder stories told him by his grandfather, who had heard them from his grandfather, and so on, away back to the time when the world was young and strange, and there was magic in almost everything.”

My expectations were also met after reading this bit of the unit because I was expecting the Native American stories to have natural significance and meaning.

American Indian: Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind

As a child, you feel like everything is so much bigger than reality shows to adults. I thought it was cute when the little timid girl thought the North Wind could hurt her. Iagoo had a peaceful, yet powerful response that as long as she is brave and cheerful, the mighty wind would not hurt her.

The North and South Wind seem to be significant pieces in many of the stories. I read this one right after I read Iagoo, the Story-Teller, so I saw the use of the common use of the wind back to back.

The names were so odd in this story, which doesn’t truly surprise me! They were actually fun to try and pronounce. For example, the King of the Land of Ice was an old man named Ka-bib-on-okka, and the South Wind’s name was Sha-won-dasee.