Skip to main content

Reading Notes: Alaska, Part A

Alaskan Legends Unit by Katherine Berry Judson

This was an interesting set of stories, mainly to do with Raven which is seen as almost a god in the tales. In the first few, Raven creates a bean plant and out of the pod comes Man. Raven then creates animals and birds for him, as well as a wife. More men arrive out of the pod and he creates wives for them too. When children are born he helps them to grow fast.

Later, he takes Man to the Skyland where there are dwarves and then into the sea. He creates bears to kill people because they are taking over and killing too many animals. Finally, angry, he takes away the sun but his brother dies and is reborn and Raven likes him so he is able to get the sun back.

There is also a flood story and an explanation on how tides work. All of them have a raven in them, manipulating things. Raven marries a goose but is unable to keep up when they migrate. Raven eats a bunch of seals as well and later tricks Pitch into melting. Raven also tries to eat a marmot but is tricked.

Raven also gets the light back and names the other birds and rolls up a lake to steal it from beavers. It is definitely a tricky character. The cool thing about Raven is he can push up his beak like a mask and become human.


Photo Credit: tumblr

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Comment Wall

Photo Credit:  goodfreephotos Here is the link to my story project:  Tales on a Train It is a modern retelling of the Canterbury Tales with new characters and a new setting. 

Week 7: The Voyages of Sinbad: Space Captain

After becoming a captain of my own ship, I took off from earth and quickly left the atmosphere, piloting my ship on a well-known trading route to various planets which were friendly toward earth and toward exchange. We carried with us all sorts of things, that though common to us, were novelties where we were going. Everything was fine until the ship stalled. The maintenance workers were sure they could fix it but in the meantime, as we were passing a small planet which appeared to be uninhabited, I gave permission to send a small ship down so the crew could look about.  I joined them and fairly soon we were down on the rocky surface of the planet. We hadn't gotten far when the ground beneath us jolted and we were thrown off our feet. There was another shudder and I realized we were not standing on a planet but on a giant monster! I even glimpsed its head before it lurched again.  Several of the crew members were launched off the monster's back; the rest ...

Week 2 Story: Mary and the Tiger

Mary and the Tiger It was market day and Mary's two sisters wanted their usual gifts. They demanded their mother go and buy them all the things they wanted, however, Mary knew that her mother was still sick. She worried that her mother wouldn't be able to withstand the long trip to the market, let alone carry the many items all the way back on her own. "Please mother," she begged, "let me come with you or better yet, stay here and rest and I will go alone." Her mother protested but as she struggled to get out of bed she fell back coughing. "Go my child and be safe." Mary left quickly and as she left one of her sister's called out, "and remember, don't come back without the roses, I want three of them!" Mary hurried to the market and spent all days searching for everything on the long list her sisters had given her. When the last of the purchases was complete, she began the journey back, however, it was dark and foggy and...