Huckleberrying - Eye Juggling Method:
an application to the Burnt Face Story
a narrative oral traditions from the Apsáalooke (Crow Indians)
From Tom Yellowtail - recorded Stories That Make the World pp.108-122
- identify any distinctive segments of the story text, for example, by scene, action and/or key characters
- identify any unique, distinct, repetitious, and/or binary-paired key symbols (as an oral narrative, repetition is readily apparent)
- consider the text (what is being stated), as well as the texture (how it is being stated) and the context (historical and cultural background)
- also consider other Eye Juggling techniques and methods
- then offer your own interpretation of the meaning and significance of this narrative, attempting to do so from the perspective of an Indian elder.
- as part of your interpretation, reflect on why Tom Yellowtail might have selected this story as his most cherished, and wanted it past down to his future grandkids?
- as part of your interpretation, reflect on how this story might be used to address a challenge in one's life, such as a dealing with cancer or some other illness?
- as part of your interpretation, reflect on the reality of this story. How and in what ways is it real?
1. First Scene: after geographical location established, in camp, children and "young lad" chasing each other, pushed into "bonfire," and burns himself "pretty badly," he is ridiculed and lives apart from the camp
- Key symbols?
- Context: disfigurement prevents one from reaching the full potential as an adult (a Crow Indian cultural value)
2. Second Scene: journeys to mountains to seek a vision, assembles a "medicine wheel," and goes without food and water
- Key symbols?
- Context: importance of the circle and great medicine wheel, and the symbolic meanings that inform so many aspects of the Indian way of life.
- Context: need to "journey," move out of society, and make a sacrifice, giving up something of tremendous worth and value, in order to receive something back and overcome an orphan status (a wide-spread religious notion, shared by Crow and many other religious traditions)
3. Third Scene: visited by Little People, receives medicine and removes disfigurement
- Key symbols?
4. Fourth Scene: Burnt Face returns to his family and his people, re-tells his story, and becomes a medicine man and chief
- Key symbols?
- Context: in the spiritual realm, in the "wilderness," our greatest needs can be potentially answered (a wide-spread religious notion, shared by Crow and many other religious traditions)
5. How is this story real? In what ways does it reflect phenomenal reality?
Why might this story be so cherished by Tom?
How might the story assist in a healing journey?