2008 Woodie Awards
Adviser presents Coyote Storytelling
Christina McQueen
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: Entertainment
The reasons why Blue Jay's eyes are so small and how the Big Dipper was formed are part of American Indian storytelling. So is the importance of asking for forgiveness.
On Thursday Evanlene Melting Tallow, American Indian student adviser, presented Coyote Storytelling, which gave a different answer for these questions than what most people would expect.
"Coyote is a trickster," Melting Tallow said. "Coyote is sometimes used as the moral of the story, and everybody is kind of leery of Coyote. He is kind of good and bad."
Melting Tallow shared how her grandmother taught her this form of oral storytelling, and it is a part of her children's lives. While her grandmother would tell her these stories, they would make necklaces together. Melting Tallow wore a red and white beaded necklace that is now 30 years old.
"This is the first necklace that I beaded with my grandmother," Melting Tallow said. "It's a two-needle style, which is a lot harder. To keep me concentrating on the beading, she would tell me stories."
Growing up, Melting Tallow used the stories for high school and college projects. She is now telling her stories on to listeners here.
One local woman, Denna Grangaard, brought her 4-year-old to learn about the Indian culture.
"I think there are so many lessons about how to treat each other and our Earth," Grangaard said. "I didn't grow up with these stories so I'm learning myself and I glad to receive their stories."
Melting Tallow also showed a couple of examples of Coyote storytelling children's books. One was a Navajo story called "Knots on a Counting Rope."
"You will find a pleasant surprise probably about the middle of the story," Melting Tallow said. "But it's nice for young readers because some of the words are repetitive so they will read it over and over again."
Melting Tallow shared several different stories that kept the listener's attention and with endings that usually made the audience gasp in surprise.
On Thursday Evanlene Melting Tallow, American Indian student adviser, presented Coyote Storytelling, which gave a different answer for these questions than what most people would expect.
"Coyote is a trickster," Melting Tallow said. "Coyote is sometimes used as the moral of the story, and everybody is kind of leery of Coyote. He is kind of good and bad."
Melting Tallow shared how her grandmother taught her this form of oral storytelling, and it is a part of her children's lives. While her grandmother would tell her these stories, they would make necklaces together. Melting Tallow wore a red and white beaded necklace that is now 30 years old.
"This is the first necklace that I beaded with my grandmother," Melting Tallow said. "It's a two-needle style, which is a lot harder. To keep me concentrating on the beading, she would tell me stories."
Growing up, Melting Tallow used the stories for high school and college projects. She is now telling her stories on to listeners here.
One local woman, Denna Grangaard, brought her 4-year-old to learn about the Indian culture.
"I think there are so many lessons about how to treat each other and our Earth," Grangaard said. "I didn't grow up with these stories so I'm learning myself and I glad to receive their stories."
Melting Tallow also showed a couple of examples of Coyote storytelling children's books. One was a Navajo story called "Knots on a Counting Rope."
"You will find a pleasant surprise probably about the middle of the story," Melting Tallow said. "But it's nice for young readers because some of the words are repetitive so they will read it over and over again."
Melting Tallow shared several different stories that kept the listener's attention and with endings that usually made the audience gasp in surprise.
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