Week 11 Extra Credit Reading Notes

 

The Rabbit hovering by the edge of the river with the other animals as he watches the Otter go duck hunting first.

Image from How Many Animals Are Going to the River?

The Rabbit within this story is a very boastful creature who thought he was the best of the best. He had never gone duck hunting before; however, he decided to try when the Otter was showing off his incredible duck hunting skills. When he dove into the river to catch a duck, the animals all believed his story until he started coming up for air quite often. Since the Rabbit had fashioned a noose to catch his duck, he was at an advantage in my opinion. When he hooked the duck and the duck began to fly away, the Rabbit held on. He eventually was dropped into a tree trunk for several days as he was trapped inside of it. I did not like the ending of this story because it seemed to have nothing to do with the first half. The Rabbit never learned any type of lesson and he continued to be stuck up once he was rescued from the tree. He was also very coercive even while inside the tree because he told the humans that he was special and they should rescue him. If I rewrite this story, I will change the ending and take out the tree part. I want to add some sort of lesson to this type of story; therefore, I might just stick to the river scene and change the ending of this story.

Bibliography: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).