Reading Notes: Native American Unit - Part A

I was intrigued by the story of the Jealous Uncle in the Native American Hero Tales unit. The story was about an uncle who wanted to kill all of his nephews. He succeeded the first two times, but he failed to kill the third child. The third child was disguised as a girl by his mother and aunt to protect him from this uncle, but his uncle discovered the boy’s true gender and set out to kill him. The uncle attempted to kill the boy four times. First time, he planned to trap the boy in the log to starve him to death. Second time, he pushed the boy down the cliff. Third time, he attempted to drown the boy when he trapped by a large clam. The last time, the uncle locked the boy in a box and sent it adrift. The boy successfully returned home in the first three times, but in the last attempt, the boy landed on the new land, where he grew up and got married. The main detail that got my attention was the boy’s love to his parents. When the boy returned to his old village as a grown man, he punished his evil uncle. His reason for punishment was not because the uncle’s attempts to kill or the killings of his older brothers. He punished his uncle because his treatment toward his parents. After the reading, I wondered why the uncle hated his nephews so much that he wanted to kill all of them. I also confused why the boy’s parents did not attempt to fight back the uncle to protect the boy and his older brothers. I want to write a story to give explanation to these questions while maintain the main story line.

Young American Indian Boy with His Pet. Link

 Bibliography. Stith Thompson. Tales of the North American Indians. Link