Reading Notes: The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost

(Source: Pexels)

Notes on The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost:

Story Source: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913).

• A young man walking alone near the forest hears a voice that he is convinced in an owl. 
• As night approached, he laid down to rest but was woken by the sound of a woman’s voice calling out for her son. 
• The woman’s voice sounded very upset as she searched for her son. 
• The man did not move from his resting place and started another fire. He also tore a hole in his blanket in order for him to peer through. 
• He awoke aging but this time to the sound of someone approaching him. 
• He looked through the hole in his blanket and saw a woman dressed in old-fashioned clothing walking toward him. 
• The woman approaches the man and lifted his foot several times, only to release it and watch it thud to the ground each time.
• The man laid still until the woman pulled out a knife and raised it to his foot. When she did this, he sprung up and asked her what she was doing.
• She ran away into the forest screaming “Yun!”
• The young man laid back down but did not sleep again and in the morning set out to continue his walk. 
• Later that night he found a new place to rest where he built a new fire. 
• As he was sitting there, he heard a male voice singing loudly in the wood. 
• The singing man approached the young man and asked him for food. The young man lied and said he had none to which the singing man told him that he knew the young man had food. 
• He reluctantly shared his food and his tobacco with the singing man.
• Later, as they sat near the fire the young man realized the singing man’s hand had no flesh; it was only bone. He then noticed the same of the torso of the singing man. 
• The singing man looked at the young man and told him that they should wrestle. He told the young man that if he beat him, then he would be able to steal some horses. Then the singing man lunged at the young man and grabbed him with his bony hands. 
• As they fought, the man notices that if the ghost man pulled him toward the darkness he got stronger, but if the young man pulled him toward the fire the ghost weakened. 
• They fought for a long time until the sun rose and the ghost man fell to pieces. 
• In the end, the young man won and defeated his enemy and was able to steal some horses just as the man said. 
• That is why people always believe what ghosts say.