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Reading Notes: Chinook Wind


Hi There! 


This week I chose to read the Pacific North West Unit. I took notes over "Why There Are No Snakes On Takhoma," "Chinook Wind," and "How Silver Fox Created the World"  because I thought they would be the stories that I could adapt well. Of those I have included here my notes over "Chinook Wind" that I took while reading. 

  • Chinook Brothers (5):
    • Warm Wind
    • Lived on Great River
  • Walla Walla Brothers (5):
    • Cold Winds
    • Walla Walla = “the meeting of the waters”        
  • Grandparents live at Umatilla “the place of the wind-drifted sands”
  • The brothers fighting caused hardship for the people.
    • “blew down trees and raised great clouds of dust”
  • Walla Walla Brothers suggested they wrestle and whoever loses gets their head chopped off
  • Coyote was the judge of the contest
  • Coyote told the Chinook Grandparents to put oil on the ground
  • Coyote told the Walla Walla grandparents to put ice on the ground
  • The ground was slippery
  • Walla Walla Grandparents got the ice down after the oil
  • Chinook Brothers lost – lost their heads
  • Oldest Chinook has a son “Young Chinook”
  • Son was raised to avenge their deaths
  • Young Chinook went to see his grandparents
  • Chinook Grandparents were cold and hungry
  • Walla Walla Brothers
    • Caused North east (cold) wind to always blow
    • Stole Chinook Grandparent’s Fish
  • Young Chinook takes grandfather fishing
    • kept the Walla Walla brothers from steeling the fish
  • Walla Walla Brothers Challenged Young Chinook to wrestle (same deal)
  • This time Coyote gave the same advice, but told the Chinook Grandparents to throw the oil last
  • The walla walla brothers lost, four fell down one yielded
  • The four were killed, the one was spared
  • Coyote told the last Walla Walla that he could only blow lightly and never freeze people  again
  • Coyote told Young Chinook that he would blow the hardest at night, and blow first on the mountain ridges to “warn the people”

“Thus, now winter is only a little cold” 

From this story, I could write a story about two families that are partners in a company. The grandparents are old and have retired. The grandsons are preparing to take charge in the company but there is a dispute over who should be the highest in charge. They agree to decide the rank by a competition of some sort that is judged by some person... maybe the family lawyer? 

Another way to approach the story would be from the Coyote's position. I would like to explore his motivations for telling the grandparents how to rig the competition without choosing a side the first time, but then told them how to rig it and chose a side the second time. Maybe at first he thought the competition was ridiculous and it wouldn't matter who won, but after he saw how bad the cold winds were he changed his mind and wanted the warm winds to win. 

Either would make a good story and are possibilities for the story this week. The photo I included at the top is of a coyote in Yosemite National Park, California. This is what I imagine the judging coyote would have looked like. I think I will use it in my story if I choose this story to base my own story on.


Bibliography

Photo Credit: By Christopher Bruno via Wikimedia Commons
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