Essay: Lessons for Life

A lot of the stories from the Native Americans either tells a story to explain something that has happened or to teach some kind of lesson. In the story "How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite" there is actually a bit of both. These stories were meant to give meaning to history and to try to shape their futures by teaching life lessons on what is right and wrong. These lessons started the founding for the morals that the Natives developed. If these types of stories hadn't been made there may have not been a type of order because people are inherently not good and these lessons tell you of reasons to do right.

The first aspect that I noticed in this story and even in the title is the explanation of how the rattlesnake learned to bite. The foremost important reason for this story is the explanation. The snake needed some kind of way to protect itself from people that were annoying him because he had no way to be assertive. Since he needed some way of protecting himself he went to the Elder Brother who gave him fangs to bite anyone who annoyed the snake.

The second aspect of the story is the lesson of it and what the story is trying to teach. To me the story is don't push someone so far that they have to give themselves the upper hang and could eventually do harm to someone because of the pent up aggression that they feel. The snake eventually goes to the Elder Brother to get help because people have annoyed him so much about his rattler. He is too nice to say anything about it so when the Elder Brother gives him fangs he uses them to hurt and eventually kill the first person that annoys him after getting his fangs.

A ruined southwestern village

Storytelling Week 10: Snake Bite

One day in a land far away a long time ago there was a snake that lived. This snake's name was Bo and he was nothing like the snakes today. He had the softest heart and never wanted to hurt anyone. This story is his account of the turning point in his life and why snakes are the way they are today. You may never question why snakes are so mean and have a tendency to bite you after they shake their rattler. This is a story about the long ago relative of the common rattlesnake of today and why the rattlesnakes are so mean.

Hi. I hear you would like for me to tell you why rattlesnakes are so mean and have a tendency to bite people when provoked. It all started when I grew my beautiful rattler. Everyone came from miles around to see and hear the sound it made. At first I loved all the attention that my rattler brought to me. After a few months of everyone wanting to meet me, I began to become very annoyed by not being able to have any time alone. I started to lose sleep because people would want me to rattle for them during the night. I was just too nice to say no.

One day I had finally had enough and went to the Elder Brother for advice on what to do. He took a feather from his lip and cut it into short pieces and formed teeth with them. These teeth were so sharp they could easily pierce through skin and harm anyone that I bit. He also put some kind of poison in them so that when they pierced skin they would make the victim very sick. He told me "If anyone annoys you and will not leave you alone, just simply bite them and they will eventually learn when everyone sees how sick they get and slow the bit person dies."

Later that day Rabbit came to see my rattler and to hear its beautiful sound. I told him to leave me alone but he kept annoying me. He actually got mad at me and scratched me because I refused. I did as the Elder Brother told me to do and bit him. He scratched me again so I bit him again. This went on for multiple rounds until he finally gave up and went home. Later that night Rabbit became very sick. Instead of everyone seeing it my way everyone saw me as a bad person and exiled me from the land. I went into hiding so now when anyone comes around I simply bite them to remind them to leave me alone.

This is how the modern cousin of the snake in this story came to be so mean and obtain fangs. When you are around a snake always remember the reason why they are mean and do not taunt them. You may end up just like Rabbit and regret what you did.

Modern-day cousin of Snake

Author's Note:

This story is based off the first half of "How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite." I began the story with a little background to give a good beginning to the story. The story starts out by the rattlesnake having a rattler that everyone wants to see. When he gets annoyed by everyone wanting to hear his rattler, he goes to the Elder Brother to ask him what to do. The Elder Brother gives him fangs and tells him to bite anyone who bothers him. Rabbit was the first victim and would scratch rattlesnake because he wouldn't shake his rattler. Rattlesnake bit Rabbit, which eventually killed him. The rest of the story is just written in first person instead of third person. I chose to write in this style to be able to give a better idea about how the rattlesnake thought about the situation and why he bit rabbit. I feel like it helps to give a more personal sense to the rattlesnake's character. The picture I chose is of a rattlesnake because that is what the story is about and how they became to be like the modern rattlesnake. 

Bibliography:

"How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite" by Katherine Berry Judson, from Southwestern and California Legends (1912). Web Source: UNtextbook

Reading Diary B: California and the Old Southwest

"Origin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range":
Crow and Hawk fought over who would sit on the highest pole and made mountains from mud they took from duck's mouth to make the mountains.

"El Capitan":
Two boys were trapped on a mountain and a Measuring-Worm was the only one able to bring them down.

"The Children of Cloud":
The cloud's sons went to meet their father and was sent back and forth between cloud and wind until cloud challenged them to prove he was their father.


"Origin of the Raven and the Macaw":
A tribe had to choose between two eggs. The stronger tribe took away the raven egg and the weaker one settled for the macaw egg. The priest became the leader for the macaw tribe

"Coyote and the Hare":
Coyote caught hare and was going to kill him. Hare tricked coyote into letting him stand to tell him something. Hare ran and entered a house and tricked the coyote and escaped.

"Coyote and the Quails":
Story about how the quail tricked the coyote into thinking he ate himself and ended up trying to bite the quail but bit into a cactus and killed himself.

"How Bluebird and Coyote Got Their Colors"
The bluebird bathed on a blue lake for four mornings and four evening until he turned blue. The Coyote wanted to do the same. When he turned blue he walked around showing off and didn't watch where he was going and fell in the dirt and became the color of dirt.

"Coyote's eyes":
Coyote asked a bird to help him get his eyes brighter but after a few times of making them brighter the bird became annoyed and kept them. The bird then gave the coyote yellow eyes.

"How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite"
The Elder Brother gave the snake fangs to bite because people kept annoying him to hear his rattlers. The snake then killed the rabbit and the animals hid the body from coyote.

"Coyote and the Rattlesnake":
Coyote tried to out scare rattlesnake and ended up with no food and had to hunt anyway.

Coyote hunting in the snow

Reading Diary A: California and the Old Southwest

"Three Coyote Creation Story":
The creation of people by coyote and eagle. The creation of mean by coyote and fox. The destruction and resurrection of men by coyote.

"The Creation of the World":
How the Earth Doctor created the world by stretching a piece of dirt and having the help of other animals to create it.

"Spider's Creation":
The creation of earth by the spider and how he separated the humans into clans. Also how he made people in charge of different aspects of earth.

"The Great Fire":
The creation of the sun by a hawk and coyote. The coyote gave the hawk a ball of dried reeds and told the hawk to fly into the sky snd set it on fire.

"Creation of Man":
The animals got together to decide what man should look like. The coyote, tricking everyone and cheating, won the contest.

"Old Man Above and the Grizzlies":
The old man lost his daughter to the world before. She married a bear and made the new human race. When her father found out he cursed them to walk on all fours.

"Creation of Mankind and the Flood"
How Earth Doctor created the earth but then killed all the humans and animals because of over crowding. The Elder Brother then wanted to destroy humans again but the Earth Doctor warned them of a great flood.

"The Fable of the Animals":
Man decided which animals would be prey to each other and who had the most and least strength. Coyote tried to stay awake all night to meet Man first but fell asleep late and was the last one awake.

"The Theft of Fire":
The coyote devised a plan to steal the fire form two old hags and passed it to different animals until it got to the ground squirrel who burned himself and still has a black stripe to this day.

"Coyote, Tortilla, and Mesquite Beans":
Coyote tried to trick a woman into giving her some tortillas and ended up drowning.

The coyote like the one in each story