The Origin of Stories
“The Origin of Stories” is a folktale that follows the typical guidelines of such a story. It contains few characters, gives a solution or reasoning for something and is written very simply. The story begins with “there once was a boy” which immediately gives the reader a feeling of fantasy. Gaqka, a boy tormented in his town, moves to the top of a cliff where the rock speaks to him and tells him stories. He ends up marrying and moving back to his hometown.
Every aspect of the story there was a rhyme and reason for which made everything come full circle. I thought that the way the piece was written was very clever and left no loose ends. In the beginning of the story, the author gives a little inkling into the feelings of Gaqka saying he felt “heavy-hearted” from the ill words of the town people. I wished more of Gaqkas thoughts and feelings were stated throughout the story and especially about the finding of his wife. Gaqkas wife ended up being the granddaughter of the voice who spoke to Gaqka all of those lonely nights, and she had provided him the canoe to escape his town. Gaqka owed so much to his wife, and I never got the feeling that Gaqka was particularly appreciative. Overall the story gave a clever and interesting explanation for the reason why there are so many legends and kept my attention throughout the entire story.
“Creation of the Whites” is a story of the Europeans coming to the Americas in the seventeenth century. Uniquely, it is told from the prospective of the Indians. It was written very concisely with a simple sentence structure to mirror the lives of the Yuchi. The story tells of the hospitality of the Indians to the white men as they came to their land.
The story gave the point of view of the Indians, which is rare in the retelling of the voyage to America. The Indians were not resistant to the coming of the whites and were willing to share their land– characteristic