Reading Notes: Apache-Part A

Bibliography

Jicarilla Apache of New Mexico, collected and translated by P. E. Goddard

Hoop Dance

While these stories were probably the most difficult for me to read I did find them interesting. 

I liked that the hero of the story was helpful but also a trickster. He was just a hero, he was also fun. 

The use of hoops and the number four was a common theme in the stories. I would like to do more research on why four is such an important number to Apache stories. The hoops appear to be for playing but they are featured prominently. 

Unlike most of the stories we have read previously, these do not all have a happy ending with a beautiful wife and the animals are not good. In so many of the stories read earlier in the class the animals have been mostly wise and helpful. In the Apache stories, they are killing humans and causing problems. It was a nice change of pace.