Reading Diary B: Sioux Legends

I finished the rest of Sioux Legends, and it did not disappoint. It was full of very peculiar, but entertaining stories. The peculiarity of the stories actually made me focus more since they have such unique plots. It really makes me wonder how long these stories were only passed along by word of mouth since it took so long to transcribe them.

Iktomi and the Ducks: I still am having trouble envisioning the Iktomi character, especially since he is the spider fairy. I wanted to immediately envision him as being some gigantic spider that ran around causing a muck. I was very surprised to read that Iktomi is actually a man outfitted in deer skin. My favorite thing from this story was how they described him as being dishonest since he used snares to catch his prey. I have never thought about using a snare to be a dishonorable activity. It makes me curious as to how highly they valued the top hunters in their culture.

Iktomi and the Coyote: The coyote was actually more interesting than Iktomi, which I did not think was possible after reading all of the stories before this one. I kept thinking that he was going to dart off of Iktomi's back at any moment. Riding on someone's back for the sake of not walking sounds like a very dangerous game. I am curious if the coyote was actually asleep before or if he put on a guise just for Iktomi. I also could not comprehend why he waited until he was thrown into the fire to make a run for it; he could have left while Iktomi was gathering supplies. I think I am going to write about this bold coyote this week.

(coyote)