Reading Notes: The Legend of the Peace Pipes, Part A

This story is part of the Great Plains unit. Story source: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913).

Source




For this weeks reading, I chose to read the stories from the Great Plains Unit. The Legend of the Piece Pipes was particularly interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it had an interesting connection to nature. Not only were there different avian animals, but also different tree barks incorporated into the story. The author intentionally had different eagles drop feathers and different barks brought to show how selective the building material was. This then translated into the production of various pipes. The story says that the pipes were used to keep peace but doesn't go into why or how they do such a task. If I were to retell the story, I would go into more detail on how these pipes brought peace amongst people. The characters in this story were minimal and seemed disposable. Generic terms, such as leader, were used to describe the characters in the story. Also, the setting description was brief and concise. It seemed almost irrelevant where the story took place as long as it was in nature.

Bald Eagle from Wikipedia