Unit: Native American Hero Tales by Stith Thompson (Part B)
Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away
There lived a couple, the woman being pregnant with twins and the man was a hunter. One day, the man went hunting and a wicked woman named Red-Woman came to the tipi and killed his wife. She cut the woman open and found twin boys. She threw one baby behind the tipi curtain and threw the other into a spring. The man came home to find his wife dead (the Red-Woman did other things to the wife's body so that she would appear alive, but that is too gruesome for me to mention...here is the link if you're curious).
A few years later, a voice asked the man for some supper as the man was eating dinner alone. The man invited the voice to come eat with him, and a young boy appeared and said his name was "Thrown-behind-the-Curtain." When the man went hunting, the young boy stayed in the tipi during the day. One day, the boy asked his father if he could make him two bows and arrows. Later, the father left, but watched upon a hill, and saw two boys shooting arrows. The father asked his son about the other boy later that evening and learned there was another boy, but he lived in the spring and his name was "Thrown-in-Spring." The father asked why the other boy couldn't live with them, and the young boy said because he has sharp teeth like an otter. The boy asked his father to make him a suit of rawhide so that he could catch his brother. When the suit was made, the boy and his father made arrangements to catch the boy that lived in the spring. The two boys began to shoot arrows and then Thrown-behind-the-Curtain captured Thrown-in-Spring. The rawhide suit protected Thrown-behind-the-Curtain from Thrown-in-Spring's sharp teeth. The father helped drag Thrown-in-Spring up a hill so that the spring water could not reach Thrown-in-Spring to try to save him. When incense was burned under Thrown-in-Spring's nose, he became human, and the three lived together.
One day, the boys decided to go wake up their mother from her grave.
"Mother, your stone pot is dropping." She moved
"Mother, your hide dresser is falling." She sat up.
"Mother, your bone crusher is falling." She arranged her hair.
The mother said, "I have been asleep a long time." She then accompanied the boys home.
The father had forbidden his boys to go to the river bend above their tipi, for an old women lived their that had a boiling pot. She would boil any living object she saw and then consume it. The boys went to see the old woman one day as she was sleeping. They stole her pot, woke her, and boiled her in her own pot. The gave the pot to their mother for her own protection.
The father was upset that they disobeyed him, and told them that they could not go over the hill because there is something there that he did not want them to see. Naturally, the boys went to see was was over the hill. The thing began to draw in air and sucked the boys and other living things inside of it. It was an immense alligator-like serpent. The boys touched its kidneys, which held the serpent's medicine. The boys touched its heart, which made the serpent's plans. One of the boys cut the heart off and the serpent died. The boys escaped by cutting between its ribs and took a piece of the heart home for their father.
The father told them not to go near three trees standing in a triangular shape, for when anything went under them, the trees would suddenly bend to the ground, killing everything in their way. The boys ran swiftly near the trees, and as the trees bent down, the boys stopped and jumped over them, breaking the branches, and the trees could not rise again.
The father scolded the boys again and told them not to go near a tipi over the hill because it was inhabited by snakes, which would enter a sleeping person's body through their rectum. The boys did not listen and went to the tipi, carrying flat pieces of stone. They placed the pieces of stone under their bottoms. The snakes tried to get the boys to sleep, but instead, one of the boys said a similar line, and all the snakes except for one fell asleep. The snake tried, but failed to enter the boys' bodies. The boys then killed all of the snakes and then took the one living one and rubbed its head against the side of a cliff, which is why snakes have flattened heads.
Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away
There lived a couple, the woman being pregnant with twins and the man was a hunter. One day, the man went hunting and a wicked woman named Red-Woman came to the tipi and killed his wife. She cut the woman open and found twin boys. She threw one baby behind the tipi curtain and threw the other into a spring. The man came home to find his wife dead (the Red-Woman did other things to the wife's body so that she would appear alive, but that is too gruesome for me to mention...here is the link if you're curious).
A few years later, a voice asked the man for some supper as the man was eating dinner alone. The man invited the voice to come eat with him, and a young boy appeared and said his name was "Thrown-behind-the-Curtain." When the man went hunting, the young boy stayed in the tipi during the day. One day, the boy asked his father if he could make him two bows and arrows. Later, the father left, but watched upon a hill, and saw two boys shooting arrows. The father asked his son about the other boy later that evening and learned there was another boy, but he lived in the spring and his name was "Thrown-in-Spring." The father asked why the other boy couldn't live with them, and the young boy said because he has sharp teeth like an otter. The boy asked his father to make him a suit of rawhide so that he could catch his brother. When the suit was made, the boy and his father made arrangements to catch the boy that lived in the spring. The two boys began to shoot arrows and then Thrown-behind-the-Curtain captured Thrown-in-Spring. The rawhide suit protected Thrown-behind-the-Curtain from Thrown-in-Spring's sharp teeth. The father helped drag Thrown-in-Spring up a hill so that the spring water could not reach Thrown-in-Spring to try to save him. When incense was burned under Thrown-in-Spring's nose, he became human, and the three lived together.
One day, the boys decided to go wake up their mother from her grave.
"Mother, your stone pot is dropping." She moved
"Mother, your hide dresser is falling." She sat up.
"Mother, your bone crusher is falling." She arranged her hair.
The mother said, "I have been asleep a long time." She then accompanied the boys home.
The father had forbidden his boys to go to the river bend above their tipi, for an old women lived their that had a boiling pot. She would boil any living object she saw and then consume it. The boys went to see the old woman one day as she was sleeping. They stole her pot, woke her, and boiled her in her own pot. The gave the pot to their mother for her own protection.
The father was upset that they disobeyed him, and told them that they could not go over the hill because there is something there that he did not want them to see. Naturally, the boys went to see was was over the hill. The thing began to draw in air and sucked the boys and other living things inside of it. It was an immense alligator-like serpent. The boys touched its kidneys, which held the serpent's medicine. The boys touched its heart, which made the serpent's plans. One of the boys cut the heart off and the serpent died. The boys escaped by cutting between its ribs and took a piece of the heart home for their father.
The father told them not to go near three trees standing in a triangular shape, for when anything went under them, the trees would suddenly bend to the ground, killing everything in their way. The boys ran swiftly near the trees, and as the trees bent down, the boys stopped and jumped over them, breaking the branches, and the trees could not rise again.
The father scolded the boys again and told them not to go near a tipi over the hill because it was inhabited by snakes, which would enter a sleeping person's body through their rectum. The boys did not listen and went to the tipi, carrying flat pieces of stone. They placed the pieces of stone under their bottoms. The snakes tried to get the boys to sleep, but instead, one of the boys said a similar line, and all the snakes except for one fell asleep. The snake tried, but failed to enter the boys' bodies. The boys then killed all of the snakes and then took the one living one and rubbed its head against the side of a cliff, which is why snakes have flattened heads.
Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away by Mohammad Daelzadeh
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