Week 11 Story; How the Fish Got Its Color
How the Fish Got Their Brown/Green Scales
This story was taken from How the Bluebird and Coyote Got Their Colors by Katharine Berry Judson. In the story the Bluebird bathes in the blue waters. When the Coyote tries it he also turns blue, however he falls into the dirt and becomes the color he is known for today. This story can be found at Link.
There once was a pond that had no source of water flowing in or out of it. It was known for its special powers that if an organism bathed in it for four times a day for four days straight, it would turn it a beautiful blue color. When Coyote was creating the creatures of the earth, he created a fish that was red in color. When the fish was introduced to the water he soon started turning a pretty blue color.
As the fish bathed in the water he would sing a special song.
"I swim through the waters.
I bath in the waters.
I pray for the blue scales
Im beautiful in nature. "
On the fourth day the fish completely blue! One day a huge rainstorm came over the body of water and dumped large buckets of rain and hail into the water. This caused the water to get stirred up and became murky. This caused the fishes scales to turn a brown/greenish color.
The fish was at the surface for a feeding and he stopped to talk to the Bluebird. “Why did you scales change to a green/brown color?” The fish replied, “Because the water is no longer blue because of the rain!”
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Hey Hunter,
ReplyDeleteReally interesting story this week! I also read the stories of coyote and California and the Old Southwest unit. I like that your version here incorporates the idea of coyote as the creator (as he is depicted in a few stories) and still finds a creative way to give the same outcome to a different animal. Your version of the song is pleasant and the reasoning behind the fish becoming brown/green makes sens (in a fantastical storybook kind of way). Great work!
Hey hunter! I read this story for the unit too! I really liked your version of it! Great job! I like how you made the coyote the creator, was there a reason for that? In the first story the coyote ends up with a different fate so it was nice to see it differently here! I also did a story based off of this story! I did not include a song like you ( I am not that creative) great job on yours by the way! keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteHey Hunter,
ReplyDeleteGood job on this one! It was a short and sweet "how" story that works well with the source material. As some of the other comments have pointed out, it was interesting to see Coyote in a creator-type role, seeing as how usually he is depicted as a trickster of sorts in most Native American tales, though I think it works for your story.
Hi Hunter!
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy these sort of origin stories as I have heard them ever since I was young from countless different mediums. I also like your inclusion of the audio as it helps tie in some different senses into the story outside of the descriptive words used throughout. Overall a great job, can not wait to read the next story!