Week 9 Reading Diary B: California and the Old Southwest

Origin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range: I thought it was interesting that the Yokuts have origin stories for how the mountains were created on the west coast. The bible doesn't have any explanation for any mountains (at least I think), so it was interesting to hear how they were created. I kind of thought it was mean that Hawk put his mountain range where Crow's was, but I guess Crow didn't mind that much.

Legend of Tu-tok-a-nu'-la (El Capitan): I thought it was cool that the worm was the only one who could reach the top of the rock. I bet all of the other animals were taken back by that. I also thought it was weird that the boys continued to sleep while the rock grew taller and taller. You would think that they would have realized this and would have tried to cry for help to their tribe below.

("Yosemite El Capitan". Source: Wikimedia Commons) 

The Boy Who Became a God: It's weird to me that when the young boy tried to kill one of the sheep that he couldn't. It was also weird to me that his brothers told him to kill one of the sheep. Did they know that they were gods so they could trick their little brother? I also thought it was weird that when the young boy tried to kill one of the sheep that they wanted him to come learn from them. Why would you be so kind to someone who just tried to hurt you? I bet when he came back his brothers thought he was now a god and they worshipped him. I bet a lot of people didn't believe that the young boy lived among the gods for such a long time.

Origin of the Raven and the Macaw: I thought it was so fun to read about the origin story of two birds, especially the macaw. The macaw is such a colorful bird, and I think it is one of the prettiest birds. I think this story discusses the famous saying: "slow and steady wins the race" because the people who waited got the macaw eggs. I think if I were to do a storytelling post based off of this story I would write a story based off of that saying.

How the Bluebird Got its Color: I thought this story was really interesting because I got to find out why the bluebird is the color blue. Was it named something else before it became the color blue? I figured that the Coyote would be envious of the bluebird for its beautiful color. If I were to write a storytelling post over this story, I would write something over how the Coyote was too busy wondering if people noticed its blue coat that it kept on running into stumps and getting dirt on itself. Life won't go well for someone if you are too focused on what people think of you.

Coyote's Eyes: I thought it was rude that the Coyote thought he could boss the bird around. I was kind of shocked to find out that the bird would follow the Coyote's orders over and over again. I was a little disturbed that both the bird and the Coyote took out their eyes so they could have brighter ones. I also thought it was cool to find out why the Coyote's eyes are yellow. If I wrote a storytelling post over this story, I would write a story about how it is not good to depend too much on others because they will become tired of you.