Native American Tales v European Tales

Personally, when I think of the question “how are Native-American stories distinctively different from those of European origins, and what makes them unique?” I instantly think that as a whole, humanities stories aren’t all that different. Moreover, I can think of four reasons why humans tell stories: evolutionary, emotional, human, and supernatural reasons. While every tale is told because of one of these four reasons, the story themselves is what sets all of them apart. For example, for the evolutionary reason deals with how to survive, thrive, and procreate (this can also include cautionary tales) and can be seen in the American Indian tale, “How Men and Women Got Together,” where it is discretely implied that procreation is caused by this act that makes the people smile and be happy. This can also be seen in Angela Carter’s European tale, “The Tiger’s Bride” where the woman’s transformation into a tiger is symbolized as both sex and birth. Now, the emotional/personal reason also dictates who wrote the story and what culture they are from. the emotional reasons differ because different things in cultures are valued—for example, in the American Indian tale, “How Mosquitos Came to Be” the idea prioritized here is how a certain animal was created. In a tale such as “Cinderella,” the key idea here that sparks a lot of emotions country-wide is marrying the prince—two totally different motives and emotional investments. Human reasons include folklore, escapism, entertainment. This could be like the American Indian tale, “The Flying Head” where it is humorous because the head keeps doing things in a mimicking fashion. Entertainment can also be seen (really) as any of these tales, on the surface. For children, the tales such as “Cinderella,” “Snow White,” and “Sleeping Beauty” don’t seem like cautionary tales, or emotional tales, they seem like pure, enticing entertainment. Lastly is the supernatural reason. As humans, we want to believe we are not alone and that there is something larger and stronger that we can connect to—a divinity or pure form, like God. This can be seen in many different varieties because each culture has their own set of beliefs—so the Native American tales and the European tales are completely opposite.