Week 2 Reading Overview
Here is my plan for the readings in the coming weeks:
Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.
Week 3: _Homer's Odyssey__
Week 4: __Ovid's Metamorphoses____
Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.
Week 5: __Arabian Nights___
Week 6: ___Santal __
Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]
Week 7: ___The Monkey King____
Week 9: ___West Africa___
Week 11: ___Cherokee_____
Week 13: _____Robin Hood___
Week 15: __Librivox____
Most of the units I chose are ones I am somewhat familiar with, even if only by name. I am excited to read The Monkey King unit. I have read a few stories about Sun Wu Kung before and they were a fun read. I have already heard most of the Cherokee legends in that unit, but there are a few I haven't heard, so I would like to learn those. I am surprised the legend of Spearfinger is not in the unit. That story was a staple of every storyteller I have met and seemed to have the sole purpose of giving children nightmares. Every year at our school parents called to complain about the Cherokee storytellers scaring their kids, and it was always Spearfinger. I remember when I was told the story. I was in kindergarten, and our storyteller was a kind, old woman. Her grandson was in the same class as me and we were friends until he moved schools. She brought us to the storytelling room and had us all sat in a circle, and she walked around us, telling us about Spearfinger. Spearfinger got her name from her long, sharp finger on one hand, which she used to carve out and eat people's livers. Her favorite livers to eat were the livers of children, as they were young, tender, and easy to trick. "Spearfinger would disguise herself as a kind old woman," the storyteller says, walking behind me, "sometimes the child's grandmother or aunt. She would offer to brush the child's hair until they fell asleep." At this point, the storyteller ran her fingers through my hair (which was long at the time) and I'm sure I wasn't the only one there beginning to grow suspicious. "Then, she would take out her finger, and eat their liver. The finger was so sharp that the child wouldn't feel the cuts, and it was so precise they could not see the marks. Later, after the child slowly became ill and died, the village would cut them open and discover that the child's liver was missing."
The story would go on to tell of Spearfinger's death thanks to a chickadee telling of her weakness, but the damage was done. We all were terrified that Spearfinger would come and eat our livers while we slept. There are more legends that were not in the unit, but that one holds a special place in my nightmares so I figured I'd share it.
(Bold Jumping Spider: Wikimedia Commons)
I chose this image because the Cherokee legend of The First Fire is another favorite of mine. However, when it was told to me they never specified that it was a water spider. The storyteller just said Kananeski (spider). So, based on the fact that the spider is described as having an orange spot on her back from where the fire burned her, the juvenile bold jumping spider was always the spider I imagined, as it was the only spider I could find with orange markings on its back.
-A.
Comments
Post a Comment