"After a time she became pregnant, and when her parents found it out and knew that the dog was the cause, they were greatly ashamed and, calling the people together, they tore down the house, put out all the fires, and moved away from the place, leaving the girl to die."
I was shocked how they dealt with bestiality so casually, but that was the last scene for a dog husband. Rest of the story was about how the girl gave birth to five puppies, one female and four males, and how she tried everything to raised her children.
"Not long after this she gave birth to five dog pups, but as her father had killed the dog, her lover, she had to look after them by herself, and the only way she could live and care for them was to gather clams and other shellfish on the beach."
Then they realized that they could stay as human forms which would allow them to be more acceptable to community. At the end, they became the chiefs of people and a village because they stayed as humans and they knew how to haunt for whales.
"Then the people talked it all over and decided to go back, and they loaded their canoes and moved to the old village. And the boys became the chiefs of the village, and always kept the people supplied with whales."
Basically, the story is not about dog husband but it is more about dog children. If this story wanted to have a title for dog husband, they should have talked more about dog husband. I think I will rewrite so that dog husband is actually alive, so the story will be actually about dog husband.
Bibliography : The Dog-Husband from Marriage Tales from Stith Thompson's anthology, Tales of the North American Indians.
No comments:
Post a Comment