Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales, Part A

My reading notes for week 9 include stories from the Native American book, “Eskimo Folk Tales”. This book grabbed my interest while reading its description which entails the Inuit culture, spiritual adventures, its ghost stories, man-eaters and more. Fictional stories that are written about zombies, spirits, and life after death intrigue me to an unexplainable fancy. Based on that liking of mine, I had the idea to take pieces from the stories, “The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son”, and the “Giant Dog”.

Both of these stories have an interesting similarity. “The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son” had more of a genuine, but sad plot while the other story, “Giant Dog” had a more aggressive tone with the dog being so vicious. The bear and dog are taken under the wing by a human character involved in their individual stories. The only difference in the story is the way each animal was grown up to be. Being that they both have a human companion to turn to I was able to imagine a story of the bear being the protagonist while the dog would be portrayed as the antagonist.

I didn’t expect to change much from the story with the bear since I liked the come up that the bear went through. I liked the idea of him connecting with the civilians and them being able to experience the bear growing up into a mature one. The one thing I would change in this story is that the town would have a split opinion about the bear living under the roof with humans. Some civilians would stand with the bear considering him a fellow friend. Others will remain threatened and outraged that such thing would be allowed even if the bear is well trained and adapted.

From there, I plan on bringing in the characters of the “Giant Dog”. The dog would remain aggressive and known as a ruthless man-eater while his human companion stands aside knowing what dangers his dog is capable of. Once the man hears about the bear’s gentle presence around other civilians he refuses to see it another way and sets out to have his dog kill the bear. In doing so, word gets around during the man and the giant dog’s travel so that the mother of the bear can prepare the bear’s leave in order to maintain safety.

Furthermore, a brawl is forthcoming and knowing who walks away alive, either the bear or giant dog, is to be continued.

Picture of a polar bear and guard dog 

Link to picture

Bibliography: This story is part of the Eskimo Folk Tales unit . Story source: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).