Реклама. ООО «ЛитРес», ИНН: 7719571260.
A Guide to B.C. Indian Myth and Legend
A Short History of Myth-Collecting and a Survey of Published Texts
.....
(slower, all vowels more nasalized) “I wish some clouds would form.” He was thinking about killing these prairie dogs, so he wished for clouds, and there were clouds, (audience: smiles and silent laughter)6
The children know that Coyote wants rain so that he can pretend to be drowned in the flood, so that he can get Skunk to bring the prairie dogs to gloat over his “corpse,” and then he can jump them. They are already smiling at the way this circuitous plan is initiated. The mimicry and the special animal voice probably have something to do with this early laughter; and also the feeling that their father is not going to rush the story—it is going to be told well. Toelken’s transcription indicates the different kinds of laughter, including Yellowman’s own laughter at certain points. There are also footnotes to explain certain comic devices, and an extended commentary which shows the social importance of the humour. It is a very full treatment of a performance text, one which Archie Phinney, I think, would have appreciated. It might be too cumbersome for everyday use—though I am not so sure about that.7 In any case, it allows us to go back to texts like Phinney’s, and understand how they “reveal currents of subtle humor” (Introduction p. ix), and why Phinney in a letter can state that “Indians are better storytellers than whites” without expecting to be contradicted.
.....