The creation stories of the Native Americans doubled in their intentions. Not only did they provide a type of entertainment, as most types of literature do; they also taught lessons important to survival and preservation of the culture of the tribe. It was essential to the tribe to be able to know how to do things such as navigate the terrain and when to plant crops, as well as what rituals accompanied these actions. The wrong rituals could produce less than favorable results, at least in their eyes.
An important aspect of survival is to know who one’s enemies are and who one’s allies are. The Pima story of the flood identifies who these enemies are. “They all took to playing together…but the Apaches got angry and said: ‘We will leave you and go into the mountains” (Baym 31). Not only did the story indentify who the enemies of the Pima were, they also pointed out where they lived so they could be avoided. The story also identifies the Maricopas as the Pima’s allies.
Survival lessons are also evident in the story of the Winnebago Trickster, which warns against looking for trouble and advocates the importance of listening to what one is told. The trickster hears a bulb that proclaims that whoever eats the bulb will defecate. Instead of leaving the bulb alone, the trickster shows his arrogance by eating the bulb, thinking that it will not make him defecate and that the whole matter is silly. In the end he finally does defecate and lands in the pile of it, and he has to search for water because he has become dehydrated. The story captivates the listener’s attention through the comical aspect and it shows a serious tone in that the trickster almost died of dehydration because he did not listen to the bulb. This illustrated the importance of listening in the tribes.
The preservation of culture in the societies is evident in the story of the Coyote in the Chinook tribe. When the coyote, who is trying to fish, is unable to catch fish on the second and third days he consults his feces. The fish that he has caught and digested tells him of the things that he is doing wrong, such as how the silversides “must not be cut up. They must be split along the back, then they are roasted, they are not steamed” (Baym 93). The feces also explains rituals that would not be pertinent to him, such how menstruating girls and women should not try to catch salmon. This shows that the story is geared toward the listeners so that they understand the rituals and are able to do things properly.
The Native American stories are beneficial to every member of the tribe in that they teach the culture and survival techniques necessary for the tribe to thrive. It is through these stories that they learned things while they were young and, through the retellings of the stories, remembered them when they got older.
