Reading Notes: Tejas Legends; Part A

The first story was called "When the Storm God Rides". The story takes place along the shore of Texas by the Gulf of Mexico. It involves a storm God, known as Hurakan, who scared the Indians that lived among the land. They also called Hurakan the "thunder bird". I think it would be cool to incorporate some type of God into my writing. I feel like the story is interesting because it describes how the Indians didn't really know what a storm was, so they thought it they were being punished or and hid in fear. The Indians liked it better when the God was away. There was conflict with the Indians that lived there and another tribe who came using weapons. Eventually they prayed for the Storm God to help them and when he came, it was like a hurricane blowing through. Islands were created after for animals and plants specifically.

The next story I enjoyed was "How the North Wind Lost His Hair". The origin of the story was explaining Spanish moss. The story begins with the north wind being afraid of the south. I like that emotions are given to things that usually aren't able to give expression to themselves. That is something I could use in my story as well. The two winds did not like each other. Instead, many people liked the warm south wind as opposed to the cold north wind. The north wind kept blowing, causing spring to not occur. Finally, the north and south winds went at it and younger south wind was able to overpower the old north wind and in doing so he ripped his gray hair out. That is where the Spanish moss came from. I think it would be fun to tell a tale that all connects.

The last story for this part that I really enjoyed was called, "Why the Woodpecker Pecks". I thought it was interesting that the Indian children found a natural source of a psychoactive drug. Even though they weren't supposed to use it, they were still tempted by it and bad things happened. The families were turned into woodpeckers to go find them and never ended up finding them. I think there are a lot of great ideas that can come from hallucinogenic things. I could do a twist on this story and try to incorporate another Tejas Legend with it.

(Wood peckers and tree) 

Bibliography: Tejas Legend by Florence Stratton