Week 10 Storytelling: Silent Forest

Silent Forest

Once upon a time there was a young couple, Jay and Catari, that lived just outside a great forest. Their love was as big as the great pines that surrounded their humble home and it ran as deep as the crystal clear streams that flowed out from between the trees.

One cold winter, when the forest was white with snow and the streams were frozen solid Catari became very ill. Jay did everything in his power to save his beautiful wife but no healer could rescue her from her fate. 

In his grief Jay hiked into the great forest to find a place to mourn his wife's death. For hours he wondered through the thick pines and soon the sun began to sit.  As he tried to find his way home he became more and more lost until finally he noticed a change in the scenery. As he looked around he realized that all of the trees around him were dead, and there was no sound of birds or any living being. As he continued to walk through the lifeless forest he found a path that he had never noticed before. As the sun faded in the distance he followed the eerie path between quiet trees until he came upon a decrepit long house with smoke starting to rise from the chimney. Grateful to find shelter just as the sun set, Jay ran into the house and was surprised to see many people huddled around the fire. Even though she had her back towards him he instantly recognized Catari.

"Catari," he yelled as he ran to embrace her. "I can't believe I found you!"

When she turned around to embrace him her face was pale and even though she was near the fire she was as cold as ice.  For a moment Jay saw happiness in his wife's eyes but it almost instantly turned into fear, since she knew what happened to the living when they found this place. 

Catari held the embrace for a second before explaining to him that he had wondered into the Silent Forest. With tears running down her face she told her love that he could only stay for the night. since he was still living.  

That night Catari showed Jay around the village. She took him to a nearby lake to see where the children fish, but all Jay saw was broken down canoes with holes in them surrounding a stagnant pond. The children of the village proudly showed off what they had caught but all Jay saw was skeletons of fish and twigs in the nets.

As the night continued Jay began to realize the truth that his wife had spoken, this place would never be able to sustain a living person.  Even though he knew he could not stay past morning he waited until the sun had nearly rose to tell his wife goodbye. As he paddled away in one of the dilapidated canoes, water began to fill the small boat. Before he knew what was happening the water had overtaken him and the canoe was completely underwater. Unable to breath Jay struggled to swim to shore, and passed out on the bank just as the sun was rising.

When Jay woke he was in the same longhouse as before, but it was strangely different. Instead of being old and worn down the house seemed to be brand new. As he tried to stand he heard to whistling of birds and the laughter of children just outside the door. Confused, Jay stepped outside and saw tall lush green pines surrounding the village. In the distance he saw that the stagnant pond had turned into a gorgeous clear lake. As he turned to take in the scenery he saw Catari running towards him only now she was no longer pale.When she jumped into his arms he felt her warmth and in that instant he realized what had happened. In his panic he had swam back to the shore of the Silent Forest. Since the sun rose on him, he had died and was destined to stay in the ghost forest with his wife from that point on.

(Silent Forest, credit to Jaymantri at pexels)

Author's Note

This story was based of the tale, Chinook Ghost. Chinook Ghost is about how a ghost wanted a wife and so he bought the blue jay's sister and took her to the land of the dead. After many questions and much searching the blue jay found his sister and she was surrounded by skeletons. At night the skeletons came to life and were ghost. The blue jay became mischievous and played pranks on the ghost so they banished him. He ended up dying and when he returned to the land as a ghost everything was in pristine condition, unlike when he went to the land when he was alive. In retelling this story I wanted to emphasize the different ways the land of the dead can be perceived. Specifically, I thought it would be interesting to do Jay's view of the land of the dead before and after he was actually dead. I also wanted a stronger connection between the two main characters so I created a new character, Catari, to be the love interest of Jay.

Bibliography

Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon. Katharine Berry Judson. (1910) link.

Reading Notes: Pacific Northwest B

Reading Notes: B

As I stated in the last reading notes blog for week 10, this week I have chosen to read stories from Pacific Northwest Native American Tribes. For the second half of the reading I found a one story that would be especially interesting to retell. This includes the story Chinook Ghost 

Chinook Ghost

The story Chinook Ghost is about how a ghost wanted a wife and so he bought the blue jay's sister and took her to the land of the dead. After many questions and much searching the blue jay found his sister and she was surrounded by skeletons. At night the skeletons came to life and were ghost. The blue jay became mischievous and played pranks on the ghost so they banished him. He ended up dying and when he returned to the land as a ghost everything was in pristine condition, unlike when he went to the land when he was alive. 

Since it is so close to Halloween I think that this story about ghost would be very fun to retell. If I were to retell this story I could go into more detail about how the land of the dead was as described by the blue jay when he was alive. It would be fun to use very vivid details to describe how the ghost came to life at night and how everything they used seem to be old and broken. This would make it even more interesting when he returns to the land when he is dead and everything seems to be working perfectly. Also it would be interesting to describe the story from the sister's perspective since she is the one that got taken to the land of the dead first. Also instead of starting the story with something as blunt as "the ghost wanted a wife," I could do a backstory on the ghost and the ghost lands.

(Ghost Forest, pixabay)

Bibliography

Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon. Katharine Berry Judson. (1910) link.

Reading Notes: Pacific Northwest

Reading Notes:

This week for the Native American unit I chose to read stories that originated from the Pacific Northwest.  I was particularly interested in the story How the Old Man Above Created the World, but I also enjoyed How Beaver Stole Fire.

How the Old Man Above Created the World

The story, How the Old Man Above Created the World, is the world creation story as told by the Shasta Indians of the Northwest. In this story the Old Man chisels his way through the sky and makes a pyramid of snow and ice to climb down to earth. The Old Man then planted trees and then made animals from the leaves and sticks of the tree. The Old Man then lives in a tee pee that is a mountain until the white men come and then he leaves. If I were to retell this story I do not think I would change too much of the basis of it, but instead focus on the details. When I read the story I thought of it as being very beautiful and mystical and it would be fun to go into extreme detail about the creation story. My favorite part of the original is when the Old Man blew on the leaf and it became a bird and I think that this type of lyrical detail could be further utilized to create some vivid images about the creation.

(Mount Shasta, credit to Michael Zanger, link)

How Beaver Stole Fire

The story, How Beaver Stole Fire, is based a long time ago when trees and animals could walk and speak like humans. The trees were in charge of holding fire and one cold winter the beaver stole the fire from the pines so that he would not freeze. I think this story would be cool to retell because I would get to describe living trees. If I were to change anything I might tell the story from the perspective of the old ceder tree or even the beaver.

Bibliography

Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon. Katharine Berry Judson. (1910) link.