Origin Myths In 'When Grizzlies Walked Upright'

Origin Myths: The Real Details It is proven that most authors write about what they know. They will use their surroundings along with familiar objects, places, and topics. This is demonstrated in the Native American’s origin myths. Origin myths are stories written by the Native Americans that describe the beginning of life. They often describe natural phenomenons (Duer 21). The content in the myths generally connect to the location and time period in which they are written. Each origin myth in the Prentice Hall Literature Book reveals information about the Native Americans home (Duer). This is illustrated throughout the stories and can be seen by examining the details of the story, which describes the tribe’s location. The Navajo origin

The Modoc people included multiple descriptions, which connects the writing to the location of their homeland. The myth states, “When he was about halfway down to the valley below, he began to put his finger to the ground here and there, here and there. Wherever his finger touched, a tree grew. The snow melted in his footsteps, and the water ran down in rivers” (Modoc 24). In other words, the statement is describing the Sky Spirit creating the vast landscape of the area. This relates to the Modoc people’s land because it is providing details to their landscape. The Modoc are writing about what they are familiar with in relation to their land. They have a wide variety of landscape features located in their homeland. The Modoc people said, “Then he took the big end of his giant stick and made all animals that walked on earth, the biggest of which were the grizzly bears” (Modoc 24). In other words, the Modoc people valued the grizzly bears as the best animal and they were made as the dominate animal in the myth. This proves that the Modoc are familiar with the grizzly bears enough to write about them. Grizzly bears are a part of the Modoc’s homeland and are therefore an important part of the myth. In addition, the legend states, “They were the first Indians, the ancestors of all Indian tribes” (Modoc 25). This quote shows that the Modoc are also acquainted with the Indians and that they were around during the time the myth was written. Therefore, the details in the origin myth provide insight to the land and time in which the origin myth was