Week 9 Reading Diary: Native American Marriage Tales

This week I decided to read the Native American Marriage Tales. I always think cultural wedding traditions are so interesting because they are way unique and have very important, symbolic aspects to them. These stories can be found in Tales of the North American Indians, by Stith Thompson (1929).

The Piqued Buffalo-Wife - A boy buffalo calf went on the search for his human father. After finding him, he his wife, and his father lived a good life as humans. After getting angry he accidentally turned them back to buffalo. He then went to search for him and had to identify his son 4 times before he could have them back. He picked wrong and was trampled. Mercy was finally given to them and they could live happily ever after.

Bear-Woman and Deer-Woman - The woman grizzly ate the mother deer and lied to the doe's children. She then also tried to trick the children and eat them as well. The deer ran away with the help of the crane and the grizzly got stuck in the river.

Splinter-Foot-Girl - The girl was born out of a man's leg. The family cared much for her and didn't want to marry her off to the buffalo. She ended up being taken away but with the help of friends was able to escape. Buffalo will now be scared of humans from now on. She also was taken by the rock but escaped him as well. She now lived with her family underneath the stars.

The Eagle and the Whale Husbands - The girl who was taken by the eagle was saved by her family who shot it. The girl who was taken by the whale was saved by throwing jackets at it to stall it.

The Fox-Woman - A man would return to his house to find it clean. He watched one day and saw that a fox had transformed into a beautiful woman. After staying for a while, he started to not like her oder and she left to never reveal herself to a man again.

The Woman Stolen by Killer Whales - Killer whales had stolen the wife. When the husband went down to see who would help him, the shark agreed. The shark played a trick and filled the place up with smoke. He then continued to fight the whales to let them escape.

The Rolling Head - The wife was lying to the husband and he killed her. He then fed her body to their children. Her rolling head was telling them the truth and the children took revenge on their father.

The Bear-Woman - A girl had a bear for a lover and people found out, which got him killed. She also would turn into a bear. She killed most of the town and the little sister and 6 brothers all escaped. The elder sister was killed by them and they went to live in the stars - the big dipper.

North American Marriages