Reading Notes Inuit Folk-Tales: Part A

This week, the final week of the Native American folklore section, I have chose to do my first reading over the Inuit tribes. I have read that the Inuit do not like the term Eskimo because it is a derogatory word must like red man is here on the Great Plains, so I will refer to the people as Inuit's in this blog. Anyways, I have read the part A section of the Inuit folk-tails and I would have to say my favorite story was "The Giant Dog". It was my favorite for a couple of reasons. One, it was a classic Indian folk-tale. Two, it seems to me that there was many other tangents that one could take in this story to give it more character and meaning. For me, I would start by elaborating on the man and the giants dog's initial friendship. Where did the dog come from? Why did the dog allow the man to tame him and ride him as he wished? These question would first be answered, giving some more background to the story. Next, I would develop more detail into why the giant dog was so angry toward other men and killed the first person he did. Perhaps the amulet intensified the true desires of the holder and the dog's desires was to keep his man safe? Finally, I would increase the detail into why the man was trying to save the traveler in the canoe. Was it an old friend that was coming to find the man. Perhaps the friend hadn't seen or heard from him in years and was worried that the dog had eaten them. Maybe one way to give this story a twist is do change the location that it is found. Take the original setting, The harsh northern one, and change it to maybe the middle of Africa. The dog now may become a lion. Still it would be a feared and terrifying beast so the main aspects of the story could remain the same.

Hercules from the Sandlot Movie

Bibliography
 Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).