While a company was on a journey, their leader, Chief H, was standing upon a rock giving a powerful speech. When all of the sudden the rock began to shake and rumble and then Whoosh! The rock lifted off and took Chief H up into the sky. The company waited and waited for the rock to return but it never did. Coyote, a sneaky character, took Chief H's wife and moved away along with the rest of the company.
After a long and irritating time upon the rock Chief H figured out a way to get down. He made it to the ground and began to back track from all the places they had camped with before. When a came to the place where the fire had been he asked the fire poker "How long ago did they leave?"
The fire poker answered and said, "a long, long time ago" Chief H was frustrated but was not going to give up on finding his wife and the sneaky coyote.
When he moved on again he came to the pestle, who seemed a bit spacey but was able to answer Chief H's question. Chief H asked, " How long ago did they leave?"
The Pestle answered slowly but finally said, "They moved away long, long ago."
Chief H became tired and was losing motivation from his long journeys but he would not give up. He was going to find his wife and that sneaky coyote. He went on with his journey until he came across the muller who had been grinding hard all day. Chief H asked the muller once again, "How long ago did they leave?"
"Not very long ago", the muller replied. A big sigh of relief left Chief H.
Chief H kept on moving and came to the stick on which hides and felts were hung to dry. He asked the stick, "How long ago did they leave?"
The stick replied and said, "They moved away just now."
Chief H moved along until he came to a tipi. When he approached the tipi and walked inside he found his wife. Meanwhile, Coyote was out hunting for food. As Coyote returned he saw Chief H and his stomach dropped in fear. Chief H instructed Coyote to fetch small stones and put them in the fire as well as some fat. When the stones were red with heat Chief H told Coyote to wrap them one by one if the fat and swallow them. Coyote swallowed all three of the stones and did not understand why he thought Chief H was going to kill him. A few minutes went by and Coyote began to feel a burn inside. It got worse and he began to run for the river but it was too late. The stones had burnt through Coyotes stomach and he fell dead just a few yards from the tipi.
Chief H had his wife back and they continued on their journey without the back stabbing Coyote in their company.
Authors Note:
The original story is Coyote Steals a mans wife by Pliny Earle Goddard. It is in the Apache Unit. The story is very straight to the point without a lot of detail. I have added details in and given more vision to the story. Things just happen without explanation in the original story so the detail I have added makes the events make more sense as you are reading. The man in the original story does not have a name so I gave him the name of Chief H. I kept the other names the same as Coyote, Fire Poker, Muller, and Pestle. I thought leaving those the same would give a good sense of how the apaches told their stories because it gives inanimate objects a voice.
After a long and irritating time upon the rock Chief H figured out a way to get down. He made it to the ground and began to back track from all the places they had camped with before. When a came to the place where the fire had been he asked the fire poker "How long ago did they leave?"
The fire poker answered and said, "a long, long time ago" Chief H was frustrated but was not going to give up on finding his wife and the sneaky coyote.
When he moved on again he came to the pestle, who seemed a bit spacey but was able to answer Chief H's question. Chief H asked, " How long ago did they leave?"
The Pestle answered slowly but finally said, "They moved away long, long ago."
Chief H became tired and was losing motivation from his long journeys but he would not give up. He was going to find his wife and that sneaky coyote. He went on with his journey until he came across the muller who had been grinding hard all day. Chief H asked the muller once again, "How long ago did they leave?"
"Not very long ago", the muller replied. A big sigh of relief left Chief H.
Chief H kept on moving and came to the stick on which hides and felts were hung to dry. He asked the stick, "How long ago did they leave?"
The stick replied and said, "They moved away just now."
Chief H moved along until he came to a tipi. When he approached the tipi and walked inside he found his wife. Meanwhile, Coyote was out hunting for food. As Coyote returned he saw Chief H and his stomach dropped in fear. Chief H instructed Coyote to fetch small stones and put them in the fire as well as some fat. When the stones were red with heat Chief H told Coyote to wrap them one by one if the fat and swallow them. Coyote swallowed all three of the stones and did not understand why he thought Chief H was going to kill him. A few minutes went by and Coyote began to feel a burn inside. It got worse and he began to run for the river but it was too late. The stones had burnt through Coyotes stomach and he fell dead just a few yards from the tipi.
Chief H had his wife back and they continued on their journey without the back stabbing Coyote in their company.
Authors Note:
The original story is Coyote Steals a mans wife by Pliny Earle Goddard. It is in the Apache Unit. The story is very straight to the point without a lot of detail. I have added details in and given more vision to the story. Things just happen without explanation in the original story so the detail I have added makes the events make more sense as you are reading. The man in the original story does not have a name so I gave him the name of Chief H. I kept the other names the same as Coyote, Fire Poker, Muller, and Pestle. I thought leaving those the same would give a good sense of how the apaches told their stories because it gives inanimate objects a voice.
Hey there again Zack! Hahahaha I really liked what you did here! I have to say, you did an outstanding job keeping the native american feel alive in this story! I think I haven't done that very well throughout this semester. And what I am referring to is keeping the style of the story alive when you rewrite them. You inspire me to do that better! Great job with this!
ReplyDeleteHi Zach!
ReplyDeleteI like this story and the detail that you added. I noticed throughout the Native American section that a lot of the stories were very general and lacking in detail. I think you did a good job of sticking to the theme and the idea, while fleshing the tale out a little more. I have to say that, even thought he's a wife thief, that is a very gruesome death for the coyote! I kind of felt bad for him. Good job on this story!
Hey Zach.
ReplyDeleteI like the detail you added to the story. The initial Native American stories were very bland and kind of boring to read. I was sad to see the coyote go, I felt what happened to him was a bit overkill for what he did but oh well. Overall great story.
Hi Zack!
ReplyDeleteYou wrote a great story here. You took a very bland and boring story and added a lot more emotion and detail to turn it into something much greater. This beats the original by a long shot. You did a smart thing as to leave the names of the inanimate objects the same because it gives the reader a sense of the original story event though it has a different vibe. I was wondering how the Chief got off the rock though. How did he find his was down?