Reading Notes: American Indian Fairy Tales Part B

The earth was extremely cold and covered in snow. Iagoo had a teepee which was warm, and he had two young visitors with him, Morning Glory and Eagle Feather. A mouse crept in, but the boy was told not to harm him. Iagoo told the children about a time when beast outnumbered man, and greatest amoung them was Mastodon. Mastodon perished and there were only two people left on earth, a girl and her brother. Her brother was a dwarf so she gathered all the food for them both. She grew tired of this so she gave him a bow and arrow and told him to learn for himself.

He practiced for a while and was finally able to kill a bird, and his sister sewed them together to make a coat. He layed down on a patch of ground lit by the sun. The sun shrunk and shriveled his new coat. He vowed to get revenge on the sun. His sister made a snare out of her hair for her brother. he then took this and with the power of transmutation he turned it into metal. he then placed the snare where the sun would rise, and eventually he caught it.

the animals freaked out that the sun did not rise. Eagle tried to undo the snare but failed. Coyote attempted to wake Dormouse. When he woke Dormouse he told him that he was tasked with undoing the snare around the sun. As dormouse nibbled on the snare, the heat from the sun burned him until there was only a mouse the size we have today. but alas the sun was freed.

A mastodon from the story, it is a woolly Mammoth in todays terms.
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American Indian Fairy Tales by Henry Schoolcraft

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