Week 9 Reading Diary: Tejas Legends

When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton (1936).

When the Storm God Rides

• Storm God rides his bird along the coast to collect feathers from the birds
• He creates thunder, lightning, clouds, wind and rain
• When the Indians would hunt the birds, the birds would cry to the storm god for help
• The storm god hopped on his bird and went to help
• He caused a raging storm and the waters rose over the plains
• When the water receded it dropped pieces of mud and sand and built up islands for the birds off the coast
• Today these small islands remain and the birds are safe there

How the North Wind Lost His Hair

• The north and south wind did not get along
• The north wind was an old man with gray hair that always killed the flowers and made the Indians shiver
• The south wind was young and always brought life to the flowers
• There was a time when the north wind would not leave and the south wind grew angry
• They fought and the south eventually won and pulled the old north's long grey hair out
• He threw it over the trees in excitement, this is still around today known as Spanish Moss

The Plant That Grows In Trees

• The thunder bird was hungry and could only find the berries from mistletoe to eat
• He thanked the bush for its delicious berries and the bush explained that he would not live long
• The bird then carried the mistletoe up into a tree so that animals from the earth could no longer eat and kill the plant
• He promised that other birds would do the same as him and the mistletoe would live forever and grow in the tress

Why the Woodpecker Pecks

• One young indian sneaks out at night to try the mescal plant that the medicine men eat and see miraculous things
• He convinces the other children to eat, then their fathers and then their mothers
• They all quit everything like hunting, gathering and only eat the berries from the mescal plant
• One day the children began to hunt for food and one mother opens her eyes and realizes all of the children are gone
• She wakes everyone up and they begin to search
• The manitou tells them he hid the children in hallow trees away from the hot sun and he will turn them into birds so they can find their children
• When they find their children he will turn them back into humans
• This is why the wood peckers peck

The Woodpecker's Stumpy Tail

• The old frog tried to warn the indians that a big flood was coming
• The birds listened and retreated to high trees, but the indians and the woodpecker laughed at the frog
• The flood came and washed the indians away
• The woodpecker couldn't see from the rain so he flew from tree to tree
• He landed on a tree branch that was above the flood, but his long tail was still in the water
• A fish saw this and bit the wood peckers tail off
• Leaving a jagged, stumpy tail behind

(Storm God)