Storytelling for Week 10: Canine Kids

Canine Kids

(The Five Puppies! Source)

I used to live in a village with my family and our tribe. We had a sufficient little tent that kept us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. There weren't children of my own age that lived in my tribe for my parents were older in age upon conceiving me. So my sole companion was my dog best friend.

We did everything together, day in and day out. He would always sleep at the foot of my bed to keep me company and my feet warm. I never should have allowed him to sleep in the bed with me for he ruined my future. Little did I know until the day my belly grew out that my dog best friend turned into a human at night and lied with me with I slept. I was pregnant with my canine's children.

Father, in a rage, killed my dog while mother held me back. My family was ashamed of me and hated me because of my condition. They told the entire tribe and decided to leave me to die in the embers of my people's old village.

Hearing my sobs of sadness, Crow happened to stop by to see what the trouble was. I told her all that had happened and she took pity on me and nursed me until I had my children: four boy pups and one female. Crow took her leave to tend to her family once the kids were born and I was left to raise my five non-human offspring.

I learned to take very good care of them and they grew so quickly to the point where I needed to leave the house to search for food everyday to keep up with their hungry stomachs. One day as I left the house, I heard giggling and playing from behind the door I had just closed. I opened it as quickly as possible only to see my offspring huddled by the fire. I closed the door again. More giggling. I knew something was a miss.

I decided to put my shawl over the handle of a shovel to make my figure appear to be digging for clams. I snuck around to the back door and peeked inside at my children whom, to my shock, were all human! Four little boys and one little girl! I flew the door open and scolded them for hiding this form from their mother. Raising human children is a lot more practical than raising canine kids.

From that day on, my children remained in their human form and I taught my boys how to hunt everything under the sun and sea. My daughter learned in the ways of the house and helping me and I did not allow her a dog as a friend. I learned that lesson the hard way.

My sons became so skilled at hunting that soon the beaches were covered with the whales they had harpooned and we were never hungry. Crow stopped by one night to see why there were so many carcases on the beach and I told her of my now human children and their capabilities. We fed Crow to her stomach's content and I told her to not tell my tribe of our prosperity for their abandonment was still freshly pained in my mind.

Crow agreed and flew home to her family which was also where my tribe had moved to. I came to learn that Crow disobeyed me and told my tribe of what she had found. I know this because my entire tribe came from across the bay the very next day to move back.

I had grown an independent woman in the strife and hard times caused by the dog and my family and tribe. I did not want them moving back here. I did not want their fake apologies now that they knew we were prospering. So I denied them. I told them to leave back to where they came from and never to speak with me again.

All I need is my children. We have everything we need and all the love we could ever want.

Author's Note: This story was based off of the Native American Marriage Unit with the story of The Dog-Husband. In the original version, the story is told from the third person view of a narrator. I chose to change the perspective to that of the young girl going through all this trouble! That only made sense to me to include her thoughts on this story. Also, at the end of the story the tribe returns and the woman accepts them back. I hated that. The tribe was just using her at this point! Not okay. So I had her deny their return in my version, serves them right!

Bibliography: Stith, Thompson, The Dog-Husband, Tales of the North American Indians, 1929.