The first story of the Eskimo Folk Tales unit, The Coming ofMen, was an interesting read. It tells about the beginning of earth and man,
which is a controversial and much talked about concept. I have heard many
arguments about this, but the Eskimo folk tale tells a side I haven’t heard
before. In this folk tale, the earth fell from the sky and men came forth out
of the earth. This tale also talks about how the earth became overpopulated and
then there was a flood to reduce the population. It also includes a couple
sentences about how men found dogs, which seems to be a big part of the Eskimo
culture.
I also really enjoyed The Woman Who Had a Bear as a FosterChild. This story is about a woman who raised a bear cub in her home. The bear
was frozen at first, but the woman thawed it out and it came to life. The bear
then grew up by her side, playing with the children in the village, but not
harming them. The bear grew so big that it began to hunt with the men. The
woman told the bear not to harm any man unless the man attacked the bear first,
and the bear always listened to whatever the woman said. Living in the village
became dangerous for the bear though, as some men wanted to hunt it. The woman
had to send the bear off to live in the wilderness, which was heartbreaking to
her. I really like the happy and heart-warming mood throughout most of this
story, but it does become sad at the end when the mother sends her bear away
for its own safety.
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| (Photo of a polar bear. Source: Wikimedia) |
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