Reading Notes: American Indian Fairy Tales, Part A

Bibliography: American Indian Fairy Tales, collected and published by Henry Schoolcraft.

Week 10 Reading Notes, Part A: The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds.

(Image Information: Playground, Blogspot)

This is a beautiful story full of beautiful sentences. For this post, I will be writing about why I liked this story so much and what made it so lovely. Here are some reasons why this story is so pleasant.

This story is full of happiness. There are happy people, happy animals, and a happy valley.

Examples of Happiness:

From the beginning of the story, we feel that the characters are happy. Iagoo is happy to tell the children stories and they are very excited to hear them.

 In the story he tells, the people and animals are happy. The mountain lion, usually a ferocious predator, is described as thus: "The Mountain Lion would growl pleasantly and pass you the time of day."

The valley that the boy and girl live in, in the story Iagoo tells, is a safe haven where children and animals can roam free. "Best of all, there was nothing whatever to fear. The children could wander at will—watching the gay butterflies, making friends with the squirrels and rabbits, or following the flight of the bee to some tree where his honey is stored."

The bear, jack rabbit, and antelope are described fondly as pleasant creatures. 

This story is full of kindness. The elder is kind to the children and the children are kind to him. The people and animals are kind to each other and to the earth.

Examples of Kindness:

Though the children are very eager to hear a bedtime story, they wait patiently for Iagoo to be ready. When Morning Glory speaks she is respectful and does not want to offend him by breaking his silence. 

Iagoo is kind and patient with the children. "No matter how hard the question was, or how unexpected, Iagoo was always glad to answer. He never said: "I'm too busy; don't bother me" or "Wait till some other time.""

In the story, the boy and girl are friends with the Beaver, who teaches them how to swim. Oh, if only we lived in such a nice world! "the Beaver, with his flat tail like an oar and his feet webbed like a duck's, had taught them how to swim almost as soon as they had learned to walk"

This story is full of beauty. There are beautiful descriptions and beautiful places.  

Examples of Beauty:

"They knew that Iagoo was turning over in his mind the strange things he had heard and the wonderful things he had seen, that the burning logs and red coals took on curious shapes and made odd pictures that only he could understand, and that if they did not disturb him he would presently begin to speak."

I thought this was a fantastic way of describing this scene. It adds so much to what could have been a very simple, boring sentence. The underlined part is what I think really makes it special. 

"This valley was a lovely place to live in; never was such a playground anywhere on earth. It was like a great green carpet stretching for miles and miles, and when the wind blew upon the long grass it was like looking at the waves of the sea. Flowers of all colors bloomed in the beautiful valley, berries grew thick on the bushes, and birds filled the summer air with their songs."

The valley that the boy and girl live in is described as a place of beauty. The author's descriptive writing combined with a reader's imagination makes for a lovely fantasy.