· The first story is the one about the unnatural uncle and the boy who becomes an eagle. I’m left very confused as to a couple of things. First, how can the uncle murder people and everyone know about it, and nothing be done? That’s so weird. Also, if the boy and his parents and everyone know that the uncle is trying to kill the nephew, why on earth does he still go off alone with him? Can’t he just be like, “No, you’re not trustworthy.”? I guess I could take some of those confusing elements and amplify them in a story to show why they’re kind of absurd? But, I suppose that it just shows a greater respect for authority than our culture, so I could emphasize that too.
· The second story is about the men who are pulled far away on their canoe while sealing. It stood out to me that there is no mention of whether anyone did anything right or wrong, but Bluejay, who had teased Grouse and persuaded the others to be stingy with him, seems to have to endure the most trials. Maybe I could write about these incidents from the point of view of village people? Why do they feel compelled to challenge outsiders like that, especially when it’s bad for themselves too?
· I don’t understand Dug-From-Ground at all. It seemed pretty random. What if I changed it so that instead of there being an unaccepting mother there was an unaccepting young woman that he wanted to marry?
· I love that the parting curse of the baby eagles is rheumatism.
· So Jonayaíyin kills the eagle and the elk. My favorite part about the first adventure is how he gets so much help, and it’s obvious that that’s necessary. I could incorporate that element. I also like how the bat is willing to resign herself to the fact that she lost her right to her feathers.
Bibliography: Stith Thompson's anthology, Tales of the North American Indians.
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