Reading Compreh...

The following passage is adapted from a book about television and popular culture.

The following passage is adapted from a book about television and popular culture.

The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.
An understanding of any national literature depends very much on an awareness of the larger cultural context. Without some knowledge of language, of history, of inflection, of the position of the storyteller within the group, without a hint of the social roles played by males 5 and females in the culture, without a sense of the societys humor or priorities without such knowledge, how can we, as reader or listener, penetrate to the core of meaning in an expression of art? The difficulty of gaining access to the literature of a 10 different culture may be illustrated by an exemplary folktale (in translation) from the Tanaina (Athabaskan) culture of south-central Alaska. It would typically be told to a general audience within the society, including the full range of ages from young children to grandparents; it would be 15 recounted with gesticulation and exaggeration by a performance specialist. It would be expected to have different meanings to the various categories of listeners instructive, entertaining, reinforcing, or all three. Here is a brief version of the story:
Once upon a time there was a porcupine woman who decided to do some hunting on the far side of the river. She went to the bank, where she met a beaver. Hello, she said to him. I need to do some hunting over there. Will you ride me across on your back? 25 Id be glad to, replied the beaver. Hop on. So the porcupine woman climbed on his back, and he started swimming for the other side. When he had almost made it, the porcupine woman said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my sack. Ill need to go back to the other bank and 30 get it. All right, said the beaver, and swam back. He was panting while the porcupine woman went to get her sack. Okay, she said. Lets go. So they started across again. The beaver was swimming much more slowly. When 35 they had practically reached the other side, she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my needle. Well have to go back and get it. This time the beaver didnt say anything he didnt have enough breath! But he turned around and pulled them 40 back to the shore and nearly passed out while she got her needle
Hurry up, now, the porcupine woman said as she climbed back on his back. He could hardly keep his nose above water, but he had almost made it to the far bank again when she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten my staff. Well have to . . . . Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the bank, where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too, and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath, she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.
The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphemistically be described as difficult. Survival, especially 55 in the wild, is always precarious. Further, they were, in the precontact period, a nonliterate people. Oral communication was therefore the method of cultural transmission, legal understanding, and meaningful communication. It is also necessary to know that a staff, as mentioned in the story, functions as both a walking stick and a weapon, and that in the Tanaina symbol system, porcupines were supposed to be rather ponderous, dull-witted creatures, and beavers were thought to be energetic and industrious but overly spontaneous and erratic. For the reader armed with these data, the story becomes more accessible as a lesson in contract law, with several additional minor themes. A culturally attuned listener would notice, for instance, that when the porcupine woman proposed passage to the beaver, he agreed without any stipulations or clarifications of the terms. He gave a basically open-ended agreement made a contract and hence the porcupine woman was perfectly within her rights both in demanding that he return three times and in quilling him to death when he reneged.
The story is not, however, without its moral for the porcupine women of this world. Her stated aim is to go hunting, and yet she sets out without the three essentials of that endeavor: a sack in which to carry home her game, a needle with which to sew up the intestines, and, most important, an implement with which to hunt and defend herself. True, she had an open-ended contract, but where does she wind up at the conclusion of the story? Sitting, exhausted, quills used up, weaponless, and not only on the wrong side of the river from her home but on a bear path! The hunter is about to become the hunted, and all because of her own improvidence.

The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.
An understanding of any national literature depends very much on an awareness of the larger cultural context. Without some knowledge of language, of history, of inflection, of the position of the storyteller within the group, without a hint of the social roles played by males 5 and females in the culture, without a sense of the societys humor or priorities without such knowledge, how can we, as reader or listener, penetrate to the core of meaning in an expression of art? The difficulty of gaining access to the literature of a 10 different culture may be illustrated by an exemplary folktale (in translation) from the Tanaina (Athabaskan) culture of south-central Alaska. It would typically be told to a general audience within the society, including the full range of ages from young children to grandparents; it would be 15 recounted with gesticulation and exaggeration by a performance specialist. It would be expected to have different meanings to the various categories of listeners instructive, entertaining, reinforcing, or all three. Here is a brief version of the story:
Once upon a time there was a porcupine woman who decided to do some hunting on the far side of the river. She went to the bank, where she met a beaver. Hello, she said to him. I need to do some hunting over there. Will you ride me across on your back? 25 Id be glad to, replied the beaver. Hop on. So the porcupine woman climbed on his back, and he started swimming for the other side. When he had almost made it, the porcupine woman said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my sack. Ill need to go back to the other bank and 30 get it. All right, said the beaver, and swam back. He was panting while the porcupine woman went to get her sack. Okay, she said. Lets go. So they started across again. The beaver was swimming much more slowly. When 35 they had practically reached the other side, she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my needle. Well have to go back and get it. This time the beaver didnt say anything he didnt have enough breath! But he turned around and pulled them 40 back to the shore and nearly passed out while she got her needle
Hurry up, now, the porcupine woman said as she climbed back on his back. He could hardly keep his nose above water, but he had almost made it to the far bank again when she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten my staff. Well have to . . . . Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the bank, where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too, and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath, she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.
The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphemistically be described as difficult. Survival, especially 55 in the wild, is always precarious. Further, they were, in the precontact period, a nonliterate people. Oral communication was therefore the method of cultural transmission, legal understanding, and meaningful communication. It is also necessary to know that a staff, as mentioned in the story, functions as both a walking stick and a weapon, and that in the Tanaina symbol system, porcupines were supposed to be rather ponderous, dull-witted creatures, and beavers were thought to be energetic and industrious but overly spontaneous and erratic. For the reader armed with these data, the story becomes more accessible as a lesson in contract law, with several additional minor themes. A culturally attuned listener would notice, for instance, that when the porcupine woman proposed passage to the beaver, he agreed without any stipulations or clarifications of the terms. He gave a basically open-ended agreement made a contract and hence the porcupine woman was perfectly within her rights both in demanding that he return three times and in quilling him to death when he reneged.
The story is not, however, without its moral for the porcupine women of this world. Her stated aim is to go hunting, and yet she sets out without the three essentials of that endeavor: a sack in which to carry home her game, a needle with which to sew up the intestines, and, most important, an implement with which to hunt and defend herself. True, she had an open-ended contract, but where does she wind up at the conclusion of the story? Sitting, exhausted, quills used up, weaponless, and not only on the wrong side of the river from her home but on a bear path! The hunter is about to become the hunted, and all because of her own improvidence.

The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.
An understanding of any national literature depends very much on an awareness of the larger cultural context. Without some knowledge of language, of history, of inflection, of the position of the storyteller within the group, without a hint of the social roles played by males 5 and females in the culture, without a sense of the societys humor or priorities without such knowledge, how can we, as reader or listener, penetrate to the core of meaning in an expression of art? The difficulty of gaining access to the literature of a 10 different culture may be illustrated by an exemplary folktale (in translation) from the Tanaina (Athabaskan) culture of south-central Alaska. It would typically be told to a general audience within the society, including the full range of ages from young children to grandparents; it would be 15 recounted with gesticulation and exaggeration by a performance specialist. It would be expected to have different meanings to the various categories of listeners instructive, entertaining, reinforcing, or all three. Here is a brief version of the story:
Once upon a time there was a porcupine woman who decided to do some hunting on the far side of the river. She went to the bank, where she met a beaver. Hello, she said to him. I need to do some hunting over there. Will you ride me across on your back? 25 Id be glad to, replied the beaver. Hop on. So the porcupine woman climbed on his back, and he started swimming for the other side. When he had almost made it, the porcupine woman said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my sack. Ill need to go back to the other bank and 30 get it. All right, said the beaver, and swam back. He was panting while the porcupine woman went to get her sack. Okay, she said. Lets go. So they started across again. The beaver was swimming much more slowly. When 35 they had practically reached the other side, she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my needle. Well have to go back and get it. This time the beaver didnt say anything he didnt have enough breath! But he turned around and pulled them 40 back to the shore and nearly passed out while she got her needle
Hurry up, now, the porcupine woman said as she climbed back on his back. He could hardly keep his nose above water, but he had almost made it to the far bank again when she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten my staff. Well have to . . . . Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the bank, where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too, and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath, she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.
The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphemistically be described as difficult. Survival, especially 55 in the wild, is always precarious. Further, they were, in the precontact period, a nonliterate people. Oral communication was therefore the method of cultural transmission, legal understanding, and meaningful communication. It is also necessary to know that a staff, as mentioned in the story, functions as both a walking stick and a weapon, and that in the Tanaina symbol system, porcupines were supposed to be rather ponderous, dull-witted creatures, and beavers were thought to be energetic and industrious but overly spontaneous and erratic. For the reader armed with these data, the story becomes more accessible as a lesson in contract law, with several additional minor themes. A culturally attuned listener would notice, for instance, that when the porcupine woman proposed passage to the beaver, he agreed without any stipulations or clarifications of the terms. He gave a basically open-ended agreement made a contract and hence the porcupine woman was perfectly within her rights both in demanding that he return three times and in quilling him to death when he reneged.
The story is not, however, without its moral for the porcupine women of this world. Her stated aim is to go hunting, and yet she sets out without the three essentials of that endeavor: a sack in which to carry home her game, a needle with which to sew up the intestines, and, most important, an implement with which to hunt and defend herself. True, she had an open-ended contract, but where does she wind up at the conclusion of the story? Sitting, exhausted, quills used up, weaponless, and not only on the wrong side of the river from her home but on a bear path! The hunter is about to become the hunted, and all because of her own improvidence.

The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.
An understanding of any national literature depends very much on an awareness of the larger cultural context. Without some knowledge of language, of history, of inflection, of the position of the storyteller within the group, without a hint of the social roles played by males 5 and females in the culture, without a sense of the societys humor or priorities without such knowledge, how can we, as reader or listener, penetrate to the core of meaning in an expression of art? The difficulty of gaining access to the literature of a 10 different culture may be illustrated by an exemplary folktale (in translation) from the Tanaina (Athabaskan) culture of south-central Alaska. It would typically be told to a general audience within the society, including the full range of ages from young children to grandparents; it would be 15 recounted with gesticulation and exaggeration by a performance specialist. It would be expected to have different meanings to the various categories of listeners instructive, entertaining, reinforcing, or all three. Here is a brief version of the story:
Once upon a time there was a porcupine woman who decided to do some hunting on the far side of the river. She went to the bank, where she met a beaver. Hello, she said to him. I need to do some hunting over there. Will you ride me across on your back? 25 Id be glad to, replied the beaver. Hop on. So the porcupine woman climbed on his back, and he started swimming for the other side. When he had almost made it, the porcupine woman said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my sack. Ill need to go back to the other bank and 30 get it. All right, said the beaver, and swam back. He was panting while the porcupine woman went to get her sack. Okay, she said. Lets go. So they started across again. The beaver was swimming much more slowly. When 35 they had practically reached the other side, she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my needle. Well have to go back and get it. This time the beaver didnt say anything he didnt have enough breath! But he turned around and pulled them 40 back to the shore and nearly passed out while she got her needle
Hurry up, now, the porcupine woman said as she climbed back on his back. He could hardly keep his nose above water, but he had almost made it to the far bank again when she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten my staff. Well have to . . . . Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the bank, where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too, and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath, she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.
The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphemistically be described as difficult. Survival, especially 55 in the wild, is always precarious. Further, they were, in the precontact period, a nonliterate people. Oral communication was therefore the method of cultural transmission, legal understanding, and meaningful communication. It is also necessary to know that a staff, as mentioned in the story, functions as both a walking stick and a weapon, and that in the Tanaina symbol system, porcupines were supposed to be rather ponderous, dull-witted creatures, and beavers were thought to be energetic and industrious but overly spontaneous and erratic. For the reader armed with these data, the story becomes more accessible as a lesson in contract law, with several additional minor themes. A culturally attuned listener would notice, for instance, that when the porcupine woman proposed passage to the beaver, he agreed without any stipulations or clarifications of the terms. He gave a basically open-ended agreement made a contract and hence the porcupine woman was perfectly within her rights both in demanding that he return three times and in quilling him to death when he reneged.
The story is not, however, without its moral for the porcupine women of this world. Her stated aim is to go hunting, and yet she sets out without the three essentials of that endeavor: a sack in which to carry home her game, a needle with which to sew up the intestines, and, most important, an implement with which to hunt and defend herself. True, she had an open-ended contract, but where does she wind up at the conclusion of the story? Sitting, exhausted, quills used up, weaponless, and not only on the wrong side of the river from her home but on a bear path! The hunter is about to become the hunted, and all because of her own improvidence.

The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.
An understanding of any national literature depends very much on an awareness of the larger cultural context. Without some knowledge of language, of history, of inflection, of the position of the storyteller within the group, without a hint of the social roles played by males 5 and females in the culture, without a sense of the societys humor or priorities without such knowledge, how can we, as reader or listener, penetrate to the core of meaning in an expression of art? The difficulty of gaining access to the literature of a 10 different culture may be illustrated by an exemplary folktale (in translation) from the Tanaina (Athabaskan) culture of south-central Alaska. It would typically be told to a general audience within the society, including the full range of ages from young children to grandparents; it would be 15 recounted with gesticulation and exaggeration by a performance specialist. It would be expected to have different meanings to the various categories of listeners instructive, entertaining, reinforcing, or all three. Here is a brief version of the story:
Once upon a time there was a porcupine woman who decided to do some hunting on the far side of the river. She went to the bank, where she met a beaver. Hello, she said to him. I need to do some hunting over there. Will you ride me across on your back? 25 Id be glad to, replied the beaver. Hop on. So the porcupine woman climbed on his back, and he started swimming for the other side. When he had almost made it, the porcupine woman said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my sack. Ill need to go back to the other bank and 30 get it. All right, said the beaver, and swam back. He was panting while the porcupine woman went to get her sack. Okay, she said. Lets go. So they started across again. The beaver was swimming much more slowly. When 35 they had practically reached the other side, she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my needle. Well have to go back and get it. This time the beaver didnt say anything he didnt have enough breath! But he turned around and pulled them 40 back to the shore and nearly passed out while she got her needle
Hurry up, now, the porcupine woman said as she climbed back on his back. He could hardly keep his nose above water, but he had almost made it to the far bank again when she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten my staff. Well have to . . . . Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the bank, where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too, and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath, she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.
The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphemistically be described as difficult. Survival, especially 55 in the wild, is always precarious. Further, they were, in the precontact period, a nonliterate people. Oral communication was therefore the method of cultural transmission, legal understanding, and meaningful communication. It is also necessary to know that a staff, as mentioned in the story, functions as both a walking stick and a weapon, and that in the Tanaina symbol system, porcupines were supposed to be rather ponderous, dull-witted creatures, and beavers were thought to be energetic and industrious but overly spontaneous and erratic. For the reader armed with these data, the story becomes more accessible as a lesson in contract law, with several additional minor themes. A culturally attuned listener would notice, for instance, that when the porcupine woman proposed passage to the beaver, he agreed without any stipulations or clarifications of the terms. He gave a basically open-ended agreement made a contract and hence the porcupine woman was perfectly within her rights both in demanding that he return three times and in quilling him to death when he reneged.
The story is not, however, without its moral for the porcupine women of this world. Her stated aim is to go hunting, and yet she sets out without the three essentials of that endeavor: a sack in which to carry home her game, a needle with which to sew up the intestines, and, most important, an implement with which to hunt and defend herself. True, she had an open-ended contract, but where does she wind up at the conclusion of the story? Sitting, exhausted, quills used up, weaponless, and not only on the wrong side of the river from her home but on a bear path! The hunter is about to become the hunted, and all because of her own improvidence.

The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.
An understanding of any national literature depends very much on an awareness of the larger cultural context. Without some knowledge of language, of history, of inflection, of the position of the storyteller within the group, without a hint of the social roles played by males 5 and females in the culture, without a sense of the societys humor or priorities without such knowledge, how can we, as reader or listener, penetrate to the core of meaning in an expression of art? The difficulty of gaining access to the literature of a 10 different culture may be illustrated by an exemplary folktale (in translation) from the Tanaina (Athabaskan) culture of south-central Alaska. It would typically be told to a general audience within the society, including the full range of ages from young children to grandparents; it would be 15 recounted with gesticulation and exaggeration by a performance specialist. It would be expected to have different meanings to the various categories of listeners instructive, entertaining, reinforcing, or all three. Here is a brief version of the story:
Once upon a time there was a porcupine woman who decided to do some hunting on the far side of the river. She went to the bank, where she met a beaver. Hello, she said to him. I need to do some hunting over there. Will you ride me across on your back? 25 Id be glad to, replied the beaver. Hop on. So the porcupine woman climbed on his back, and he started swimming for the other side. When he had almost made it, the porcupine woman said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my sack. Ill need to go back to the other bank and 30 get it. All right, said the beaver, and swam back. He was panting while the porcupine woman went to get her sack. Okay, she said. Lets go. So they started across again. The beaver was swimming much more slowly. When 35 they had practically reached the other side, she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my needle. Well have to go back and get it. This time the beaver didnt say anything he didnt have enough breath! But he turned around and pulled them 40 back to the shore and nearly passed out while she got her needle
Hurry up, now, the porcupine woman said as she climbed back on his back. He could hardly keep his nose above water, but he had almost made it to the far bank again when she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten my staff. Well have to . . . . Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the bank, where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too, and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath, she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.
The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphemistically be described as difficult. Survival, especially 55 in the wild, is always precarious. Further, they were, in the precontact period, a nonliterate people. Oral communication was therefore the method of cultural transmission, legal understanding, and meaningful communication. It is also necessary to know that a staff, as mentioned in the story, functions as both a walking stick and a weapon, and that in the Tanaina symbol system, porcupines were supposed to be rather ponderous, dull-witted creatures, and beavers were thought to be energetic and industrious but overly spontaneous and erratic. For the reader armed with these data, the story becomes more accessible as a lesson in contract law, with several additional minor themes. A culturally attuned listener would notice, for instance, that when the porcupine woman proposed passage to the beaver, he agreed without any stipulations or clarifications of the terms. He gave a basically open-ended agreement made a contract and hence the porcupine woman was perfectly within her rights both in demanding that he return three times and in quilling him to death when he reneged.
The story is not, however, without its moral for the porcupine women of this world. Her stated aim is to go hunting, and yet she sets out without the three essentials of that endeavor: a sack in which to carry home her game, a needle with which to sew up the intestines, and, most important, an implement with which to hunt and defend herself. True, she had an open-ended contract, but where does she wind up at the conclusion of the story? Sitting, exhausted, quills used up, weaponless, and not only on the wrong side of the river from her home but on a bear path! The hunter is about to become the hunted, and all because of her own improvidence.

The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.
An understanding of any national literature depends very much on an awareness of the larger cultural context. Without some knowledge of language, of history, of inflection, of the position of the storyteller within the group, without a hint of the social roles played by males 5 and females in the culture, without a sense of the societys humor or priorities without such knowledge, how can we, as reader or listener, penetrate to the core of meaning in an expression of art? The difficulty of gaining access to the literature of a 10 different culture may be illustrated by an exemplary folktale (in translation) from the Tanaina (Athabaskan) culture of south-central Alaska. It would typically be told to a general audience within the society, including the full range of ages from young children to grandparents; it would be 15 recounted with gesticulation and exaggeration by a performance specialist. It would be expected to have different meanings to the various categories of listeners instructive, entertaining, reinforcing, or all three. Here is a brief version of the story:
Once upon a time there was a porcupine woman who decided to do some hunting on the far side of the river. She went to the bank, where she met a beaver. Hello, she said to him. I need to do some hunting over there. Will you ride me across on your back? 25 Id be glad to, replied the beaver. Hop on. So the porcupine woman climbed on his back, and he started swimming for the other side. When he had almost made it, the porcupine woman said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my sack. Ill need to go back to the other bank and 30 get it. All right, said the beaver, and swam back. He was panting while the porcupine woman went to get her sack. Okay, she said. Lets go. So they started across again. The beaver was swimming much more slowly. When 35 they had practically reached the other side, she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my needle. Well have to go back and get it. This time the beaver didnt say anything he didnt have enough breath! But he turned around and pulled them 40 back to the shore and nearly passed out while she got her needle
Hurry up, now, the porcupine woman said as she climbed back on his back. He could hardly keep his nose above water, but he had almost made it to the far bank again when she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten my staff. Well have to . . . . Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the bank, where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too, and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath, she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.
The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphemistically be described as difficult. Survival, especially 55 in the wild, is always precarious. Further, they were, in the precontact period, a nonliterate people. Oral communication was therefore the method of cultural transmission, legal understanding, and meaningful communication. It is also necessary to know that a staff, as mentioned in the story, functions as both a walking stick and a weapon, and that in the Tanaina symbol system, porcupines were supposed to be rather ponderous, dull-witted creatures, and beavers were thought to be energetic and industrious but overly spontaneous and erratic. For the reader armed with these data, the story becomes more accessible as a lesson in contract law, with several additional minor themes. A culturally attuned listener would notice, for instance, that when the porcupine woman proposed passage to the beaver, he agreed without any stipulations or clarifications of the terms. He gave a basically open-ended agreement made a contract and hence the porcupine woman was perfectly within her rights both in demanding that he return three times and in quilling him to death when he reneged.
The story is not, however, without its moral for the porcupine women of this world. Her stated aim is to go hunting, and yet she sets out without the three essentials of that endeavor: a sack in which to carry home her game, a needle with which to sew up the intestines, and, most important, an implement with which to hunt and defend herself. True, she had an open-ended contract, but where does she wind up at the conclusion of the story? Sitting, exhausted, quills used up, weaponless, and not only on the wrong side of the river from her home but on a bear path! The hunter is about to become the hunted, and all because of her own improvidence.

The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.
An understanding of any national literature depends very much on an awareness of the larger cultural context. Without some knowledge of language, of history, of inflection, of the position of the storyteller within the group, without a hint of the social roles played by males 5 and females in the culture, without a sense of the societys humor or priorities without such knowledge, how can we, as reader or listener, penetrate to the core of meaning in an expression of art? The difficulty of gaining access to the literature of a 10 different culture may be illustrated by an exemplary folktale (in translation) from the Tanaina (Athabaskan) culture of south-central Alaska. It would typically be told to a general audience within the society, including the full range of ages from young children to grandparents; it would be 15 recounted with gesticulation and exaggeration by a performance specialist. It would be expected to have different meanings to the various categories of listeners instructive, entertaining, reinforcing, or all three. Here is a brief version of the story:
Once upon a time there was a porcupine woman who decided to do some hunting on the far side of the river. She went to the bank, where she met a beaver. Hello, she said to him. I need to do some hunting over there. Will you ride me across on your back? 25 Id be glad to, replied the beaver. Hop on. So the porcupine woman climbed on his back, and he started swimming for the other side. When he had almost made it, the porcupine woman said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my sack. Ill need to go back to the other bank and 30 get it. All right, said the beaver, and swam back. He was panting while the porcupine woman went to get her sack. Okay, she said. Lets go. So they started across again. The beaver was swimming much more slowly. When 35 they had practically reached the other side, she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten to bring my needle. Well have to go back and get it. This time the beaver didnt say anything he didnt have enough breath! But he turned around and pulled them 40 back to the shore and nearly passed out while she got her needle
Hurry up, now, the porcupine woman said as she climbed back on his back. He could hardly keep his nose above water, but he had almost made it to the far bank again when she said, Oh my! Ive forgotten my staff. Well have to . . . . Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the bank, where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too, and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath, she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.
The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphemistically be described as difficult. Survival, especially 55 in the wild, is always precarious. Further, they were, in the precontact period, a nonliterate people. Oral communication was therefore the method of cultural transmission, legal understanding, and meaningful communication. It is also necessary to know that a staff, as mentioned in the story, functions as both a walking stick and a weapon, and that in the Tanaina symbol system, porcupines were supposed to be rather ponderous, dull-witted creatures, and beavers were thought to be energetic and industrious but overly spontaneous and erratic. For the reader armed with these data, the story becomes more accessible as a lesson in contract law, with several additional minor themes. A culturally attuned listener would notice, for instance, that when the porcupine woman proposed passage to the beaver, he agreed without any stipulations or clarifications of the terms. He gave a basically open-ended agreement made a contract and hence the porcupine woman was perfectly within her rights both in demanding that he return three times and in quilling him to death when he reneged.
The story is not, however, without its moral for the porcupine women of this world. Her stated aim is to go hunting, and yet she sets out without the three essentials of that endeavor: a sack in which to carry home her game, a needle with which to sew up the intestines, and, most important, an implement with which to hunt and defend herself. True, she had an open-ended contract, but where does she wind up at the conclusion of the story? Sitting, exhausted, quills used up, weaponless, and not only on the wrong side of the river from her home but on a bear path! The hunter is about to become the hunted, and all because of her own improvidence.