Marcia L. Gerencser
Myths come from the soul of people. Whether these people are Native Americans, Greek, Egyptian or of any other culture they have in common their soul stories. The feeling is so strong that the myths are passed down from generation to generation until they become an oral tradition and serious literature.
These stories deal with life, death, the animate and inanimate. They have given mankind an explanation. They are a solution to curiosity and give a sense of hope.
The Native Americans are a reality to our children. They learn about them from preschool through high school. They are a culture that to some extent they can identify with. They are part of our soil. Our younger generation has a positive keen interest in them. Hollywoodization of the Native American being bloodthirsty has been taken over and minimalized by academia.
Hopefully a unit of this type will inspire out youth to continue reading the literature of nations lost. If they remember chief Seattle’s response to the Great Chief in Washington they will often reflect upon it. And someday they will truly feel and understand how they are a very important strand in this so very large web of life.
