North-American Indigenous Myths: A Philosophical Rendition

In this chapter, I would like to look at the indigenous fairy tales, specifically those of the North American indigenous cultures. A respect for nature is a common element in most of the tales, with an added element of how the female protagonist is represented. For example, The Windigo’s Return by Douglas Wood and The Wave of the Sea-Wolf by David Wisniewski are stories that are centered around a similar plot. Both involve situations where localities are threatened by monstrous apparitions which are defeated by a combination of wit and bravery. But they stand asunder from the bulk of canonical fairy tales in several aspects. Most importantly, both stories have female protagonists who set out to defeat the evil forces, when the rest of the village has given up. They are active presences in the stories, who do not wait for princes to rescue them. The landscape, weather, and nature in the stories do not just serve the purpose of creating a vestigial backdrop, but they constitute an organic existence in the story, a sinew which ties the plot together. Similarly, land is often viewed as a transitory space, and hence material aspirations are seldom attached to it. Hence, it is viewed as a resource meant to be shared together. This representation of nature and earth as anthropomorphic elements, usually the female, together with the representation of the woman, constitutes the philosophy I propose to examine within the indigenous fairy tales of North-America.