The Woman Who Fell From the Sky
I decided to use a myth from the Iroquois (Mohawk). This myth "The Woman Who Fell From The Sky, is part of the Iroquois creation story and the story shows the importance of obedience, respect, focus and discipline.
A young woman was told by her dead father to go and marry some stranger. She did not seek her mother's advice, she did as her father said. She journeyed to where this man lived, and this man was a renowned sorcerer. He didn't seem to have much respect for her because after he met her he said she was not a woman but a girl, and that he would rather make her his slave than his wife. He decided to have her do three tasks, and if she passed them, the sorcerer would decide if he would make her his wife.
The first task he made her grind mounds and mounds of corn. Despite the workload, she completed her task in a short time. The sorcerer was amazed, but for the second task he made her take off all her clothes and cook the corn in a huge pot over the fire. While she cooked the corn, she was burned by the cornmush splashing on her body, but she did not flinch, staying calm as she continued her task as she was told. For the third task, she was to feed the cornmush to the sorcerers beasts. The beasts came into their lodge and began to lick the mush of her naked body with their razor sharp tongues, leaving her with deep wounds from where their tongues sliced her skin. Through all of her tasks, she did not lose her composure and she remained calm and did not show emotion of torment or pain. The sorcerer decided to marry her.
This girl basically is not treated with too much respect from the sorcerer after they are married. The sorcerer appears to be naive and submissive with her. However there was a freaky part to this story. So there was this tree that grew outside the sorcerers lodge, and it had blossoms that would give light to his whole land. She really loved this tree, and one evening when everyone was sleeping, she laid down under the tree and opened her legs and body to the tree, and a blossom fell on her girl part, and eventually she became pregnant.
Her husband, the sorcerer became very ill. He talked with his medicine men and they all agreed she was more powerful than he was. The medicine men advised the sorcerer to uproot the tree (tree of light) in front of his lodge and push her down through the hole, and if he did that, he would become healthy again. The sorcerer's world did not know anything of divorce or death. The sorcerer did what he was told, and he asked his wife to come and see through the hole which the tree left. Through the hole, the sorcerer and his wife were able to see another world (earth) and he convinced her with curiosity to jump through the hole, and she did.
After I read this story, I was shocked about the girl becoming pregnant from the tree, grossed out by the incompetent sorcerer, and amazed of the girl's strength. I found this myth interesting because it is part of the Iroquois creation story, and I wanted to share this with the rest of the class.