Native American Stories: Folktales Full of Spirituality and Free of Misogynism

This week we looked at both Jewish Folktales and traditional Native American tales. I found the Native American tales to be interesting; different from the traditional fairytales we have been reading in many ways. One element that was found in almost all the tales was the archetype/character of the Old Man. In the first story, “How Men and Women Got Together,” the Old Man is the god-figure. It is particularly unique because in that tale, the Old Man (god-figure) is human - he is a man capable of making mistakes because the premise of the story is that he regrets making the men and the women live apart. The Old Man (or sometimes, Old Woman, as in the case of “ The End of the World”) figure shows the respect for old-age in their culture as well as their spiritual elements (belief in god/gods).

Another unique aspect of the Native American tales is the equality of men and women; in “How Men and Women Got Together,” the men and the women both covet aspects of the other tribe - they both have different roles, but neither one is valued more than the other. As opposed to the Western fairytales, there is an absence of misogynism. In fact, the women are often treated as powerful (the the same tale, the men are the ones who have to change and beautify themselves for the women and in “The Flying Head,” a woman saves her whole tribe by tricking the monster).

Native American culture involves hunting and gathering, and these cultural elements are reflected in their stories. The tales include traditions such as hunting with bows and arrows, making tipis with animal-hides, decorating with quills, and painting faces. As with the Native American tales, the specific animals they hunt/use including buffaloes, and porcupines, etc. are animals native to their lands, which is why they are often mentioned in their stories. Other fairytales we have read include different traditions and animals based on the customs of the place where those stories are told.


One of the most significant aspects of Native American culture shown in their tales are the importance of spirits and spirituality. In “Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden,” the gods control the people’s fate. When religious laws and traditions are not obeyed it is taboo in the society, and because Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden go against the rules of their tribe they are punished by being made into stars. Another aspect of spiritual shown in that story is respect towards spirits - the spirits dwell among the land of the living before they are helped to their own spiritual plain through a big tradition.

Councils are also something that is brought up often in these stories. As opposed to the more Western tales we have read, Native American stories do not have kings that control everything in the land. Instead they have a chief who calls upon the the input of the elders, which again plays into the culture’s respect for old age and community.






As opposed to the other stories we have read, the archetype of the number four is more important to Native American tales than the number three. This trend is seen through the fact the spirits walk for four days after death among the living before they live, and the Old Man in “How Men and Women Got Together” traveled for four days to reach the women. Clearly, four is important to their tribes.





Overall, Native American stories are more like folktales than fairytales. None of the stories we read were attributed to a single author - they belonged to the community. Furthermore, sometimes the stories even had the absence of magic, which is integral fairytales. This shows the importance of tales for entertainment in the society and for building a community and culture (showing the importance of keeping traditions).

This video features a storyteller teaching children a traditional story different from the ones we have heard; I thought it helped showed the importance of community in Native American tales.