Storytelling for Week 9: The Jealous Uncle

There was once a bitter man known as Unnatural Uncle by those around him. He lived an otherwise normal life with his wife in their tipi, located near the center of the Kodiak village. He also had a sister that lived in the same village, who had previously had two sons. Unnatural Uncle had grown jealous of the first son and killed him when he was only two years old. Shortly afterwards, his sister had another boy. Much in the same way, Unnatural Uncle grew jealous of this nephew of his as well and killed him.

A few years later, Unnatural Uncle’s wife learns that his sister is once again pregnant. She suggests that if it is yet another boy, he should be disguised as a female to avoid the same fate as his brothers. As expected, the newborn baby is a boy. For five long years, the two women were able to disguise the boy from Unnatural Uncle. One day though, the boy is at his uncle’s house and accidentally reveals his identity.

After discovering this, the mother of the boy is extremely distraught. Her brother tells her that he would like to take a trip with her son the next day. Before the boys leave that morning, the mother begins to cry and tells her son what his uncle did to the last two boys. The son insists that his mother stay calm and claims that he will be fine and escape Unnatural Uncle’s harm. Before he leaves, however, the boy asks his mother for a fishing hook, some fishing line, and a trout. Still upset and confused at her son’s odd request, she gives him the items he asks for and bids him farewell.

The boy then meets Unnatural Uncle, where he learns that they will be going to the cliff in the woods to hunt birds. After almost an entire morning of walking, the men arrive at the cliff, where Unnatural Uncle shows the boy a large container made of metal. He tells the boy that this is a good hiding place while hunting and the boy innocently climbs in. Unnatural Uncle quickly puts the lid on the container and ties it down with rope before he pushes it off the cliff. Satisfied, he begins to walk back to the village.

The container plummets down to the sea below and begins to sink, but thinking quickly the boy takes one last deep breath and reaches in his pockets for the items he brought with him. Quickly, he ties the fishing line to the hook and secures the hook in the trout’s mouth and pushes the trout out of a small hole in the container. The trout floats to the surface and almost instantly a giant eagle grabs a hold of what it thinks is a tasty lunch. While flying away with the fish, the eagle also picks up the container with the boy and flies to land. Once on land, the boy quickly breaks out of the container and hurries back to the village.

Once he arrives, Unnatural Uncle cannot believe his eyes. He is so terrified, in fact, that he is convinced the boy has special powers and he permanently leaves the village with his wife.

African Fish Eagle.

Author's Note:

This was a retelling of the story about The Jealous Uncle, from the Native American Heroes unit. The beginning of the story is the same as the original, but the manner in which the boy evades his evil uncle is not. In the original story, the boy actually escapes the uncle multiple times and gets married to two women along the way. He stays away from home for years but eventually returns and kills his uncle!

Bibliography:

The Jealous Uncle from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929). 

Image Info: Web Source: Wikipedia.