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The Coyote And The Turtle's Back Summary

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Before written history, the native peoples of America shared their stories and knowledge through spoken word. These myths and legends had themes that repeated through generations and cultures, such as stories functioning to explain the natural world. Parables also taught reverence for nature and others. Good and evil creating a balance is a pattern in these tales as well. When comparing Native American culture to modern Americans, we are more different than alike because we use science to explain the world and pit good against evil. A common theme in Native American myths is their function to explain occurrences in the natural world. In “The Coyote and the Buffalo”,” the story starts and ends by telling the reader that it explains why there are no buffalo in a certain area of North America. “The World On the Turtle’s Back,” is a creation story, and so by its very nature explains the natural world, telling how it came to be. This function is less obvious in Brother Bear, but it still exists, explaining the Northern Lights. This theme does not appear as often in modern works. …show more content…

In “The Coyote and& the Buffalo”,” Coyote is disrespectful to Bull Buffalo’s remains and kills the buffalo calf because he is greedy and therefore is punished. The Great Tree in “The World On the Turtle’s Back” was made to be revered and not disturbed, but the woman digs up the roots anyway. Because of this, she falls out of the Sky World and into the ocean by herself. Kenai kills the bear in Brother Bear, and even though it is in retaliation for his brother’s death, it is a disrespect to the bear’s life and family. Because of this, he is essentially punished by being turned into a bear. These themes recur in stories that are popular today in the form of fables and morals, such as “Little Red Riding

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