The Girl Who Was Not Satisfied With Simple Things
Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived
with her mother in a lodge on the edge of the
village. She was beautiful and charming,
and the young men of her village invited her to
marry. But each one who came was not
good enough for her. She would say, " Did you
see his shabby moccasins ?" or "That one is
too fat!" or "I don't like the way that one
speaks." Her relatives got very annoyed.
One day, while they were out in the forest
collecting wood, a strange darkness overcame
them. The mother said, "Let us collect some
bark and make a shelter for ourselves. We
will build a small fire and spend the night
here."
They prepared a little supper, curled up by
the fire, and the mother fell asleep.
Suddenly, as the fire flickered low, a visitor
appeared at the edge of it. He was tall and
handsome, and the light glimmered on two glossy
feathers in his hair. He moved with the
grace of a willow tree in the wind.
In his hands he had a sash of purple wampum* which
he held out towards the girl.
"I have come to marry you," he said.
The girl, who was a good girl, replied, "I have to consult my mother about this."
The young man said, "In the morning I will come for your answer."
After the long and silent night, the girl told
her mother what had happened. The mother,
now, was very worried, "My daughter,
would you marry a stranger whose people and
whose clan you do not know?"
The rustling of the bushes and the whistling
of birds suddenly stopped; the young man
again appeared. He bent to give the
gorgeous belt of wampum to the mother, and the girl
got up and followed him. On and on they
walked through the chill mist of dawn and the
girl began to feel afraid.
Just then, her new husband took her arm and
said, "Only a little further, now; down at the
bottom of this hill. We will soon come
to the place of my people."
At the foot of a steep embankment, they came
to a lodge with a pair of giant antlers over
the door. All around was cold and damp,
but the interior was warm, dry, and cosy. Here
the young wife and her new husband spent two
wonderful days and nights together by the
fire.
Early on the morning of the third day, the
husband gets up, saying that he has to leave her
side to go hunting. As he leaves, the
girl thinks she hears strange sounds outside. The
lodge seems full of shadows, and has a strange,
pungent, even fishy smell. She spends that
whole day all alone.
When evening falls, she again hears unusual
sounds and just then, the entrance flaps open.
In slides a prodigious horned serpent with
its forked tongue darting in and out.
She is transfixed with fear as the great snake
approaches her. Closer and closer it comes
and ... gently it lays its head in her lap.
She strokes its head and grooms its scales. All
sorts of horrible things are hiding there,
and she gently and patiently picks them out for
him. When she has killed every single
hideous one, the serpent raises itself up and slides
out of the hut. Again the girl is all
alone.
The next day dawns cloudy and grey. The
sun does not shine but the sky is filled with a
thin, hazy light. There is that strange
sound again, but this time it is the handsome young
man who comes into the room.
"Were you afraid of me last night?" he asked her.
"Not at all," replied the girl.
"Then here is a garment all scalloped with
purple and light wampum like my very own. I
had it made especially for you. Put
it on and then you shall be ready to come and meet my
people."
The girl saw the dress was beautiful indeed,
but she now really was afraid. She noticed
that it smelled, like everything else around
her, very much like fish. She would not take it
from his hands and so, angrily, he tossed
it aside.
After some time he went back to the doorway,
turned to her and whispered, " I must go
away for some time. Do not leave this
place, and do not be afraid of anything you see."
And he was gone.
Now the girl thought of the warmth of her mother's
lodge; of her friends in the village. She
thought of the simple, kind-hearted men who
had wanted to marry her. Tears welled-up
in her eyes, but she willed them away.
She got to her feet and stepped outside.
All around, there were serpents. Some were
warming themselves on rocks; others coiled
in the roots of trees; one had even draped
itself over a branch. Back inside she went and
looked with horror at the dress in the corner.
She knew she could never put it on and
become one of them. But how would she
escape? All day she sat thinking, and long into
the night. Finally she closed her eyes
and slept.
In her troubled dreams, a little old man appeared
to her and said: " Daughter, the man you
have married is one of seven brothers.
They are all great magicians, and like all members
of their tribe, their hearts are not in their
bodies. If you reach under the bed, you will find
a bag. It is here that the seven
hearts are hidden for safe-keeping."
Immediately, the girl wakes up and feels around
beneath the layers of the bed. She drags
out the bag and makes a move towards the door
when she hears:
" Stop! Stop! You may think you
can get away from me, but you never shall!"
She feels as if she is glued to the spot but
now she hears thunder rumbling in the distance
and again, the voice of the little old man:
"Run to the cliffs and climb out of this valley. I
will help you. Run. Run now!"
Clutching the heavy bag, yet quick as a partridge
out of the reeds, she sprang toward the
cliffs. All the way she heard a whispering,
whispering, "Come back. Come back, wife.
Come back and join my people."
At last she reached the cliffs, and she began
to climb using all her strength.
When she thought she would never make it,
she felt a gentle hand take hold of her and
yank.
As her knee met the ledge at the top, she felt
the thick tug of water releasing her body.
She felt the suction of mud sliding from her
lower leg. And she was up in the sweet air
and on solid ground once again.
With thunder rumbling away into the distance,
and a gentle rain beginning to fall, the
young woman made it safely back to her village.
Back at home, she put her experience and the
power that she had gained to the good of
her people. But she always advised the
younger ones to be satisfied with simple things.
Not everyone listened to this advice, of course.
This is an Iroquois tale combining two
universal motifs known as the Rejection of Suitors
and the Demon Lover or Animal Bridegroom.
It was found in:
Bruchac, Joseph. Iroquois Stories. Freedom, California: The Crossing Press, 1985.
Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth. New York: Doubleday, 1988.
*wampum: worked dentalia shells of great value that were
traded often in the form of
belts, from the western seaboard all across
the North American continent. The term is also often used in reference
to any shell-work such as the ornaments and 'belts' made with the eastern
round clam or quahog.
Some related elements to investigate:
motifs: descent to the underworld,
demon lover or animal husband, rejection of suitors
symbolic being: nagas see Khandro
Net
stories like this one: the literary fairy
tale Beauty and the Beast and also, the beginning of Cupid and
Psyche
Under international laws protecting artistic and intellectual property, this work is copyright 1994-2004 to Kh. Helen Holt http://pages.infinit.net/khandro & Khandro.Net. Please do not make more than one copy without permission.
More about plagiarism: http://www.bedtime-story.com/bedtime-story/iroquois-simplethings.htm
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