Reading Notes: The Jealous Uncle, Reading A
The Jealous Uncle
This story is about an "unnatural uncle" who constantly kills his nephews. When boys are born to his sister, he is determined to kill them. However, when girls are born, he lets them live. After suffering deaths of her boy children, the woman got pregnant to another boy. She decided to tell the boy's uncle that the child would be a girl, and he let her live. The mom dressed her new child as if he were a girl, and his life was spared until the boy revealed to his uncle that he was a boy on accident. The uncle was determined to kill the boy, but the boy insisted to his mother that he would not suffer like his siblings before him. The uncle and the boy set out to find wood, and the child gets trapped by the uncle in the midst of a log. The child came with sour berries, however, that helped him escape the log by rubbing it on the interior. The uncle was furious and told his wife he would now, more than ever, be sure to find and kill the boy.
The Jealous Uncle (cont.)
In this continuation, the boy is using the toys of his previous brothers to combat the uncle's mean doings. The uncle tries again to kill the boy when they're searching for ducks, but the boy overcomes once again. The boy was certain he could always come back home, despite what the uncle does to him. The uncle's wife wished for him to spare the boy, and he did not want that. The wife told the uncle she would be upset if this boy died, for which he didn't agree. Once again the uncle and boy went to see large clams, and one clam shut the boy in. The boy once again overcame this struggle and showed back up at the uncle's house, for which he was outraged. The next day the wife of the uncle saw the uncle making a box and asked what it was for. The uncle was building a plaything for his nephew.
The Jealous Uncle (end)
The uncle gives the plaything to the boy, and suggests he get in it. The boy does so, and the uncle encloses him in the box and sets him out down the river. The boy eventually gets picked up by Eagle people in age land, grabbed by two girls that were daughters of the village chief. The boy killed an uncle and allowed it to be a gift for his parents and others, but the uncle took it all for his own. The boy was able to kill the uncle - saying he would've forgiven him for trying to kill him and for killing his brothers, but not for cruelly treating his parents. The boy told the uncle to swim to the other side of the river to be spared, but he couldn't swim so he drowned. The boy and his family were content with his death and continued living in Eagle land together.
Yupik mother and child. Photo from Wikipedia.
This story was interesting. I wish it had ended at the continuation, as the end was kind of upsetting. If i retell this story, I want to make the continuation ending be the ending once again. The uncle would come to love his nephew and the two would be the best of friends. The uncle would learn that boys are his friends, not enemies.
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