Week 9 Storytelling: Ikuloo, the Maker of Light

A preschool class from the Inuit Eskimo tribe of Alaska took a field trip to help them learn about the creation of the earth. Where did they go to learn this crucial information? To none other than a cemetery.

They got off the school bus and made their way to the center of the cemetery when a gigantic grave stone stood hovering far higher than all the others. Around this stone monument were park benches; seems weird to have benches around a grave right? 

Well the kiddos took their seats and the teacher went up to the grave stone to read the plaque that covered the entire front of it. She read it out loud and it went a little something like this....

        "Here lies the first man to ever die on earth.... Ikuloo Naqauoni. Ikuloo was a great man and the reason that there is light on earth. Mankind owes much to Ikuloo for his great sacrifice that he made for all of us.
         When earth was created we lacked light, there was only night and darkness and not even a moon in the sky. Also when earth was created we lived to be so old that our bodies had no use anymore, but still we would not die. Because we lived for forever, the Earth became overpopulated. This darkness and overpopulation made conditions grow terrible for life on earth, and so there was a great flood. The flood knocked down numbers quite a bit but still there were too many of us.
          We all knew that to get light there must be death... but none of us wanted to admit it, that is everyone except for Ikuloo. Ikuloo was the first man to die, he was only 212 years old. (Those were infantile years compared to how long most lived during this time period.) When Ikuloo had taken his last breath, daylight washed over the Earth for the first time.
          That is when the elders of the village called a meeting to contemplate life or light, and they agreed that we must continue to have death to have light. And so it became.
          To Ikuloo may you rest in peace and continue to light our days and nights with the many other who have since followed your lead," read the teacher.



The large grave stone/monument for Ikuloo Naguani  

           
When the teacher finished reading the plaque she turned to the kids to explain it just a little bit more.

"Ikuloo was the first man to die and so his death brought about light for the first time. Now all men and women on earth will eventually die in their old age, unlike how we used to live for forever. The coolest part is that now when we die, our souls float up to the sky to become a part of the moon, the sun, and all the stars," said the teacher

"And thanks to this day light and light during the night, we are able to hunt, and fish, and travel, and we aren't limited to eating on the earth like our ancestors were. We have a lot to thank Ikuloo for, for if he hadn't been the first brave enough to die then who knows if the earth would have ever recovered from overpopulation or gained daylight, moonlight and starlight," said the teacher.

"Okay now everybody grab your partner and back on the bus we go" said the teacher.
 
Author's Note: The original story was an interesting version of the creation story of the world and of mankind. In this tale there was no God... rather the earth and all of its contents and inhibitants rather fell into place. In the beginning people only had nighttime, and the earth was over populated with people because they lived to extremely old ages. Two elderly women agreed that they would trade the death of man in order to have daylight... and this became life. The first man died and there was light; then it said when all men die they become bright things in the sky like the stars, moon, and sun. I was lost in the beginning with choosing a storytelling style and then the randomizer showed me one called "Historical Marker Storytelling." I used this style by making the first guys death a historical marker in time and a physical marker on earth. Then I thought it would be cool to have people visiting it to read it and young kids seemed like the perfect audience for this partial creation story. I'm happy with how it turned out and with the little changes I made to the plot.

Bibliography: "The Coming of Men, A Long, Long While Ago" found in Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

Week 9 Reading Diary, Continued: Eskimo Folk Tales

Continued reading diary covering the Eskimo Folk Tales unit. Story source: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

Papik, Who Killed His Wife's Brother
Papik went out seal huntin everyday with his brother in law, who always caught a seal when he never did. He got jealous and killed the brother in law. When the grandmother found out she threatened revenge and then allowed herself to get swallowed by the ocean. She came back as a bear and dismembered his body. Now this is a lesson not to kill for no reason or a monster will come back to get you like this.

Pâtussorssuaq, Who Killed His Uncle
Another story about men wrongfully killing another man and then getting killed by a ghostly creature. Again like in the last story the ghost came back as a bear and destroyed the body/ate it. Lots of common themes- fishing, seals, ice, ghosts, bears, eskimo kisses, karma, revenge.

The Wife Who Lied
The wife from the cannibal tribe went for a visit back home and had mittens on her hands to make them think her new husbands tribe had harmed her. This caused a back and forth war and her husbands tribe killed her for her lie.

The Eagle and the Whale
A group of brothers gave their two sisters off to live with an eagle and a whale. The eventually grew homesick and missed their sisters so they got them back by killing both of them.

Umiak boat going whaling

Atdlarneq, The Great Glutton
Atdlarneq was a great and greedy fisherman, he came upon a cottage in a cape and three women outside of it. They received him well but were waiting for their master. He arrived and made atdlarneq eat until he was about to explode. Then he never traveled there again.

Ángángŭjuk
This boy^ disappeared from his home one day. The father wanted to immediately kill the mother for his death/disappearance but instead called a wizard to help find him. The found him in a mountain hut with people and the wizard cast them all asleep so they could go in and retrieve him. They never let him out of their sight again.

Âtârssuaq
A man taught his son^ how to swim really well for long distances underwater from the time he was just a baby. The father was killed and the son defended himself and his mother by killing all the people coming after them in canoes thanks to his swimming ability.

Tungujuluk and Saunikoq
One man had a son and the other did not so his jealousy caused him to take the form of a bear and try to kill the son. The dad stabbed him instead and then went to take the form of a walrus and let the other man harpoon him. But they both survived and the first man felt shame so he left and never returned.

Week 9 Reading Diary: Eskimo Folk Tales

This reading diary will cover stories from the Eskimo Folk Tales unit. Story source: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).


The Coming of Men, A Long, Long While Ago
This story told an interesting version of the creation story of the world and of mankind. In this tale there is no God... rather the earth and all of its contents and inhibitants rather fell into place just as they are now. In the beginning people only had nighttime, and the earth was over populated with people because they lived to old age. Then they agreed to trade the death of man in order to have daylight. The first man died and there was light; now when all men die they become bright things in the sky lights stars, moon, sun.

Nukúnguasik, who Escaped from the Tupilak
This was quite a confusing story... I read it twice and I still really have no idea what it was about. All I know is Tupilak's are some creature made by man and the one in this story was eating his creators body. And also Nukú killed the creator by startling him but besides that I no nothing.. which is basically also what the story ends by saying.
 
The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son
A polar bear cub became the foster son of a lonely woman. When he was small he played with the kids of the town. when he was larger he played with the grown men, and when he was huge he went out hunting with men. The foster mom made him a collar as a mark to protect him from being hunted. One day a man from the north set out to kill the unkillable bear and instead the bear killed him. The foster mom wept and sent the bear away to hopefully be safe with his own family.  

The polar bear son

Qalagánguasê, Who Passed to the Land of Ghosts
A young boy, Qala, lost all of his family members to deaths. He was a lame boy and the lower part of his body didn't work. All of his family members came back as ghosts to entertain him while the people of his village left him to go hunting. One time his mother and fathers ghosts came and they told him they could take him away to a better place. Then he became a ghost like the others and no one in the village ever saw him away. This could be an interesting story to retell... Maybe from someone else perspective.  

Isigâligârssik
The town wizard would only let married men see the spirits performance, so Isig found a young girl who wanted to marry him. He went to the spirit thing but the wizard cast him out. He kept trying to get back in and eventually the wizard stabbed him, but luckily he fit into his baby outfit and it healed him to survive. He then shot the wizard with a tiny bow and arrow and he died. This Isig lived happily ever after with his wife. 

The Insects that Wooed a Wifeless Man 
The man was wifeless because he slept all night and day and was hopeless. Then one day when he finally awoke, far later than all the other men, he went out in his canoe. He rescued a man whos canoe had been turned over and this man granted him a wife and a cure for his sleeping as long as he never spoke of that day/how he got those things. HE went on the wake early each day and catch seals, and he got a wife but she was nosy. He told her how he caught the seals each day and he lost the gifts he had been granted. He left through winter, his canoe rotted, his wife left him. This could also be a good story to retell.

Makíte
Again another story I didn't really understand at all. I think the cultural barrier between things like items used in our daily life, and thing in nature is so intense that I just don't know what the heck is going on. All i know is Makite was a sucky fisherman and left his wife to go up the mountain to a better life but came across these houses with people living alone and there was a fight and a wave of water and then they all died? Still not really sure, these stories aren't very entertaining to me since I don't even understand them. 

Atungait, Who Went A-Wandering
This story was pretty weird. Atungait had a wife and killed a seal but went off to find a strong woman to knead the seal skin for him. He found one by playing football? and then they traveled on together up a mountain with their sled dogs. Along the way they came across groups of people with bodily deformations or they were cannibals and they stole things from them. Atungait returned home to see his wife kissing another man, he killed her but not him because he was honest about it. Then he married the strong woman.
 
The Giant Dog
A man owned a giant savage dog who would bring in whales and narwhales.... but one day it killed and ate a man so they had to move away to their own land. The dog was trained and the master ould ride it if they wanted. They dog would disappear very now and then and bring its master back a human leg of an inland dweller. The dog would snatch people from their houses and that is why the are all now still scared of dogs. Another man came one day with three dogs to kill the big one but instead it crushed all three of them.