Know an Iroquois(?) myth about a maiden who marries one of the snake brothers?
Asked by
Jeruba (
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April 2nd, 2010
Joseph Campbell tells this story in the miniseries of interviews with Bill Moyers. But he doesn’t tell how it ends.
A young woman who lives at the end of the village is too proud to accept any of the young warriors who court her, much to her mother’s vexation. Then a godlike being comes a-wooing and she marries him and goes to his tipi and (I think) meets his six brothers. Each morning he goes out hunting, and when he leaves she hears a strange sound, and she hears it again when he returns at night. She follows him one day and finds seven snakes basking in the sun. She realizes that she has wed the chief of the snake clan. She tries to run away but nearly drowns and is helped out of the river by an old man (perhaps a shaman).
Then what?
I’d like to find the whole story and see how it ends, but I don’t know any keywords beyond those in my subject line, and they are not getting me there.
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9 Answers
I think that’s it, @gemiwing! The details fit with what I remember, as far as it went. It doesn’t actually have much of an ending, does it?
@wonderingwhy, the one you found seems to be a variant of the same tale. Similar themes often run through many stories. That one has more of a Disney ending.
I think these will satisfy my friends and me. We recently watched the Campbell series and were frustrated at the unfinished story. Thank you.
@Jeruba I’ve found from reading many folktales that they don’t often make a damn bit of sense. I assume it’s because I’m missing some major cultural relevence that would have the whole thing make perfect sense to those for which it was intended.
Hubbs, folklorist, recommends reading about Burmese and Vietnamese folktales as they contain major serpent elements as well.
Well, they certainly don’t all subscribe to our conventional Western beginning-middle-end story structure, do they? I think sometimes this is because they are part of a much larger, longer tale. But the main reason is that they are in a symbolic language that reaches into mysteries not apparent at the superficial level. I am not sure they all make perfect sense in their own cultural contexts, but they do carry meaning. The stories probably illuminate the culture as much as the culture illuminates the stories.
It was Campbell’s gift and brilliance to see the commonalities across cultures and comprehend the deeper messages.
@Jeruba He taught at my college and I interviewed with him to get a coveted spot in his class the last year he taught; unfortunately, I didn’t make the cut. I did get to see him lecture – it was absolutely magical.
What an amazing privilege, @janbb, just to have sat under the same roof with this exceptional teacher. You went to Sarah Lawrence, then? Lucky you.
@Jeruba- Yes, exactly! I always feel like the stories I read are half of the story and to truly get it I need more. More, I say!
@janbb I’m so jealous, that must have been wonderful!
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