Reading Notes: American Indian Fairy Tales, Part B

How the Summer Came

I love the idea of the summer world being above the winter world. It's like heaven, but more tangible and obtainable. I like imagining how the people would have reacted to seeing summer for the first time. In fact, this story would probably lend itself well to a sequel about the boy celebrating summer and mourning the loss of his father.

I was surprised at the boy's priorities. His father told him it would be very dangerous, but the boy seemed to care more about getting summer than keeping his father around. Selfless or selfish? It's hard to say, because the father changed the world forever and brought so many joy to many people, which is selfless, and the son being willing to give up his father for the greater good is selfless from that perspective. At the same time, though, who would willingly send their (good, loving) father to sacrifice himself?

I liked the details about cracking the ceiling of the sky open. I wonder what that would look and sound like. Also, isn't the sky summer world now the same as the lower world? Why would the sky people seal up their floor if both worlds now have summer? Did they not want winter to reach them? Is there a finite amount of summer, or can it be shared with another world without losing any of it?

I like that animals worked with the hunter to bring summer into the world. I also like that the animals knew about the summer world before humans did. I felt like animals were respected and even treated as equals in this story; it's a great perspective and very different from most Western cultures.

Newfoundland pine marten. The hunter in this story could change himself into a marten at will.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Bibliography: American Indian Fairy Tales by W. T. Larned. Link to the reading online.