Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends, Part B
In Part B of the Alaskan Legends, the title of the story, "The Last of the Thunderbirds," caught my attention immediately. I'm not very familiar with the Alaskan concept of thunderbirds, but J.K. Rowling has borrowed the mythical beast for her Harry Potter universe, so I'm a little acquainted with the species--and I think they are so majestic. The story was a little different from what I expected, because the thunderbirds seemed more like typical bird species than not.
The story begins when the thunderbird population has dwindled to only two individuals left. They lived in a hollow basin at the summit of a mountain by the Yukon. When the thunderbirds flew, they looked like a black cloud, and would descend onto their prey and take it away back to their nest. One day, a fisherman's wife went down to the river for water, and the thunderbirds took her away. When the fisherman learned what happened to his wife, he went to the thunderbird nest, killing all of their young in retaliation. Upon discovering that their nestlings were dead, the thunderbirds shrieked in a fierce rage. First the mother thunderbird swooped down to attack the fisherman, but the man shot an arrow into her throat and she escaped to the northland. Then the father thunderbird attacked as well, but the man lodged an arrow into his wing, and the thunderbird flew away to the northland as well. Although the story doesn't say, it is implied that the thunderbirds are gone for good now.
If I were to retell this story, I think it would be so fun to retell it from the perspective of an outside observer who is seeing the whole story as it unfolds. Perhaps the format that the story would be a series of field notes that the birdwatcher takes as he watches what happens. It might be a good way to modernize the story for today's audience, while also making the story seem like it happened more recently.
Bibliography: "The Last of the Thunderbirds," Alaskan Legends unit, Katharine Berry Judson
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