Reading Notes: Mississippi/Great Lakes Native American Stories, Part B
Bibliography
"The Lone Lightning" from "Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes" edited by Katharine Berry Judson, Read it here
This story is from the Ojibwa people. Like many Native stories, it reads like an explanation of how things in this world came to be. I find that reading Native American stories takes me quite a while, despite how short they are, because they read very differently from the stories I'm used to.
Just from my experience, Native American stories assume you have a lot of knowledge already, and that you are familiar with the culture telling the story, which makes sense since most of these stories are retellings/transcribings of stories that were told orally and passed down from generation to generation. As a result, this story leaves me with a lot of questions, especially at the ending.
In the story, an orphan runs away from his abusive uncle and hides by climbing to the top of a tall pine tree. While he is hiding, someone comes down from the sky (a manito? the Great mystery?), and tells the boy that he has seen how he was treated badly and to follow him. The boy does, and ascends into the sky with the sky person.
When he's in the sky, the boy is given a bow and arrow and told to shoot the evil manitoes in the sky. The boy tries to shoot a manito, but fails, so instead a streak of lightning pulses through the sky. The boy tries eleven more times, but all of his attempts are unsuccessful.
With his last arrow, the boy tries to shoot the chief of all the evil manitoes. The chief is prepared for the attacks, and the boy is unsuccessful this time as well because the chief turned himself into a rock and so the arrow did not kill him, but instead was just a bolt of lightning striking the rock.
As punishment for attacking him, the chief turns the boy into the lone lightning, or the single streak of electricity you see when there is lightning.
"The Lone Lightning" from "Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes" edited by Katharine Berry Judson, Read it here
This story is from the Ojibwa people. Like many Native stories, it reads like an explanation of how things in this world came to be. I find that reading Native American stories takes me quite a while, despite how short they are, because they read very differently from the stories I'm used to.
Just from my experience, Native American stories assume you have a lot of knowledge already, and that you are familiar with the culture telling the story, which makes sense since most of these stories are retellings/transcribings of stories that were told orally and passed down from generation to generation. As a result, this story leaves me with a lot of questions, especially at the ending.
In the story, an orphan runs away from his abusive uncle and hides by climbing to the top of a tall pine tree. While he is hiding, someone comes down from the sky (a manito? the Great mystery?), and tells the boy that he has seen how he was treated badly and to follow him. The boy does, and ascends into the sky with the sky person.
When he's in the sky, the boy is given a bow and arrow and told to shoot the evil manitoes in the sky. The boy tries to shoot a manito, but fails, so instead a streak of lightning pulses through the sky. The boy tries eleven more times, but all of his attempts are unsuccessful.
With his last arrow, the boy tries to shoot the chief of all the evil manitoes. The chief is prepared for the attacks, and the boy is unsuccessful this time as well because the chief turned himself into a rock and so the arrow did not kill him, but instead was just a bolt of lightning striking the rock.
As punishment for attacking him, the chief turns the boy into the lone lightning, or the single streak of electricity you see when there is lightning.
A lonely bolt of lightning...
(Image source: Philippe Donn)
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