Reading Notes: Tejas, Part B

Why the Hummingbird Drinks Only Dew

Ah, I love the simplicity of this story to explain something about our world! I'm a firm "believer" in science, but it's also so cool to hear non-scientific explanations, like these, for why animals do certain things.

The Maiden Who Loved a Star

It's interesting how the Indians in these stories don't seem to care much about their physical form so long as they can attain some sort of spiritual end.

Old Quanah's Gift

How Sickness Entered the World

Don't mess with snakes. But seriously, snakes are usually portrayed of evil creatures in stories, so it's a very understandable mistake the two young Indians made.

Why the Irises Hold Hands

It sounds like the Great Spirit has some flaws. Just like gods in other stories can get angry, it seems like this god acts much like a human as well. I wonder what other flaws could be written into the Great Spirit? Could it be a jealous god as well? What would the Great Spirit be jealous of?

The Pecan Tree's Best Friend

I wonder if pecan trees and orioles are actually related today. I wonder what other relationships  I could trace create a story out of. I might need to do some research on plants/animals for this story.

How the Rainbow Was Torn


It's interesting to me how most of the stories involved nature, and mostly use people the help explain something in nature. I would think there would be more lessons/teaching in the form of humans taking action and running into problems, but I guess that says a lot about the Tejas people.

Paisano, the Hater of the Rattlesnake

Competition is often very cutthroat, as this story showed. The actions by both of the characters are understandable, so there's not really a right or wrong here, in my opinion.

Maidens Who Broke a Drought

I really like the few common themes / motifs present in this one. The first is the idea of a great drought, which I am sure happened a lot back then, and the second is the willingness of the members of the tribe to sacrifice themselves for the good of the whole. Though some might view it as a form of brainwashing that is done to the young Indians, I view it more as something that is valued within the tribe and if it had been the elders, or the men, or the mothers, I think they all would have done the same.

The Cottonwood Remembers

Poor owl...

Why the Dog's Ears Flap

Dang, the last few stories were so sad! Poor doggies..

Rainbow drawing

via the UnTextbook

Bibliography: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends by Florence Stratton. Source.

Reading Notes: Tejas, Part A

When the Storm God Rides

I liked this story a lot. It's always cool to me when stories like this one use characters (like the storm god and Hurakan) to explain natural phenomena like hurricanes and thunderstorms. Also, they explained the formation of islands off of the Gulf of Mexico, which was a cool bonus.

I could see a story written in a similar format but used to explain a different natural phenomenon.

How the North Wind Lost His Hair

Again, this story has another great characterization of natural occurrences.

The Plant That Grows in Trees

Short and sweet! I wonder if there's any factual backing to this story? Probably not, but it makes for a nice tale.

Why the Woodpecker Pecks

Woah, that was quite the twist at the end. Also, this story makes for good anti-peyote propaganda. Story idea: write a similar folksy tale but that warns against the dangers of another drug, like heroin or marijuana.

The Woodpecker's Stumpy Tail

For some reason it didn't occur to me to think of birds as having tails. After doing a quick Google search, I can confirm that the Woodpecker has a strange, jagged one.

Old Woolly Bird's Sacrifice

The story never goes into how long the rest of the tribe lasts because of the elders' great sacrifice, but I guess we are to assume that they were "saved" by the actions of Old Woolly? I could see some sort of survival story (maybe post-apocalyptic?) ending with the elderly people sacrificing themselves for the younger ones for the good of the whole.

A Tribe That Left Its Shoes

 I really like how these stories are written. I found it a little curious that the stories refer to all of these tribes as "Indians", but I guess there might not be a better word for the translation? Or maybe the specific tribe or tribes that were involved have been lost over the years?

Anyway, here's another survival story that gave me the idea to write an account of a family escaping a volcanic eruption! Would be kind of cool.

The Cloud That Was Lost

The cloud being drunk by the flowers provided a nice visual.

The Swift Blue One

"Horse language" stuck out to me in this story. What else can be communicated by horses? Can they talk to humans, or can humans just give commands?

Grandmother River's Trick

Illustration of the Woodpecker

via the UnTextbook

Bibliography: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends by Florence Stratton. Source.