Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales Part B

For my second part of this week’s stories, I decided to stay on the same animal approach as my first reading notes. I want to use parts of my story from The Eagle and the Whale story where two sisters are taken from their home, and are to marry an eagle, and the other sister would marry a whale. Both animals were mighty hunters who would hunt for their wives, keep them safe, and not let them go. But this did not stop the women from trying to escape (because they did not want to marry); so they did. The women’s tribe would come to try and save them from both mighty hunters, and shoot them down to take the sisters back home. I would change this to where each woman would still marry one of these animals, but instead of the tribe coming to save them by themselves, they would go to the Giant Dog for assistance. This piece of land would be where the couple went when they left their old land because of the giant dog. The tribe would go to the couple for advice on how to get the women back, and would gift the couple items in return. The couple allowed their giant dog to go and try to save these woman, and would succeed. The dog would fight both animals until he was able to retrieve both women safe and sound. By the end, each sister would be so thankful for the help from the dog that they would stay and cook for the couple, and the dog, for the rest of their days in return for their gratitude.

Eagle and Whale

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This story is part of the Eskimo Folk Tales Unit. Story source: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).