Traditional Literature- LOVE it

Perhaps my favorite genre of literature is Traditional Literature.  I don't know why, but the stories that have endured through countless retellings long before the invention of the printing press speak to something deep within me.  Traditional literature encompasses sacred texts, mythology, fables, fairytales, "Mother Goose", and pourquoi tales.  These stories are from all over the world, and frequently share story motifs.

Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell would argue that these stories spring from the collective unconscious of humanity.  Jung developed the idea of archetypes, or patterns of plot and character that appear frequently throughout these tales.  Folklorists, Sociologists, and Psychologists have spent their entire academic careers cataloging and studying these archetypes.  They would argue that understanding the language of traditional stories help us to understand ourselves and others around us.

I would agree.  These stories help us orient ourselves in the world.  Some of the stories are taken quite literally by listeners, and others are dismissed out of hand as being the stuff of kindergarten.  My perspective is somewhere in the middle.  I am not much of a literalist, but I do appreciate the deeper truths about the nature of being human that are revealed within these stories.

I had the luck to come across a modern (well, within the last century) account that had all the earmarks of a traditional story in the following book:  Challenge To Survive, History of the Salish Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation vol.3 (1840-1870).  The story was initially published in 1947, and has been included on pages 65-68 of this book, which should be on every library shelf in Montana.

In this "Medicine Story," a child is either abandoned or lost in the woods, and is cared for by a wise mother and her two lovely children.  The child journeys with the mother for some time, until they reach familiar territory.  The child at some point bends down to drink some water, and when she looks again, finds that her protector is not a woman at all, but a Grizzly Bear with two cubs.  The bear speaks to the child, and assures her that she has nothing to fear.  The Bear also lets the child know that she will grow up to be someone who helps many children.  The child then makes her way back to her people, and indeed grows to become a valued midwife, thereby helping all the children of the village begin their own journey.

My retelling is a poor substitute for the original version told by Pierre Pichette.  Pierre was a Salish historian, and the child referenced in the story was his own Grandmother, Mary Sdipp-shin-mah!  This wonderful, mystical story will stay with me.  I love the way the story establishes a human relationship with the Grizzly, and describes the journey and hardship the child undertakes in order to find her own place in the world.  I can't wait to share the story with my students, who would perhaps like to illustrate, record themselves reading, or simply listen and be astonished.

Every year, teachers have students research animals and write reports. I have a couple of students who are doing nonfiction reports on bears right now.  I can't help but think that the research will be more gratifying if the kids discover stories where the animals they have been learning about have a role.