Fairy Tale Fix - 18: Don’t Go Chasing Butterflies

Episode Date: May 25, 2021

This week Kelsey tells the story that inspired one of her favorite video games, Kunuuksaayuka, an Iñupiat story by Robert Nasruk Cleveland and collected in the Stories of the Black River People. Abbie follows it up with a cautionary tale about butterflies, Tolowim Woman and Butterfly Man, from the Maidu Indigenous peoples.

nearly now i'm gonna have a hard time talking nearly 40 now i'm right now to read i got drunk with my sister the other night and i was trying to explain something that happens when i So I got drunk with my sister the other night. And I was trying to explain something that happens when I get drunk is like, I don't know what it is. People, other people that I don't know want to write on my arm. That's my least favorite thing. That's something I really hate.

I don't like when people draw on me. Okay. Do people want to do that a lot? I feel like that happens often enough that I'm like, I hate this. But if I get too much, if I get too many drinks in me, I allow it. And then I immediately hate it. So I was telling my sister that. So the first thing she does is start drawing on me. Sure.

Because of course. Because that's just what she does. It's also my sister and i'm like well you can draw on me that's fine right the rules the rules are different the rules don't apply to you you're very special i was like oh yeah i really want um a tattoo that says hey presto on my arms i like wrote it out but it's really terrible because i have awful handwriting and i messaged it to abby at like 12 30 a.m that's not because I have awful handwriting. And I messaged it to Abby at like 1230 a.m. That's not true.

You have beautiful handwriting. But yeah, I wrote, hey, Presto on my arm. And then I was trying to explain to my sister and her boyfriend why I love fairy tales. And I started telling our previous bonus episode. Yay. Yay. Excellent. You were trying to tell them the seven foals. I was trying to tell them the seven foals and mostly just about that old lady who's really into coming here.

She's my favorite fairy tale character of all time, I'm pretty sure. I wouldn't fault you for that one. Wouldn't fault you for that one. So if you guys need a push to join our Patreon, I mean, just that one bonus episode that Abby told me last week was so funny. It's so good. I was flipping randomly through the Asbjornsen and Moe fairy tale book that I have. I came to a picture of seven massive horses tromping around and being the horse girl I am immediately went

ooh. And it's so funny because the story itself isn't I mean it's like a pretty typical fairy tale. Yeah, it follows a very conventional formula but the details are so weird so yeah i used that one to explain drunkenly why i love fairy tales and i think it failed

i think everyone stopped listening to me as soon as like let me tell you why i love fairy tales so much let me tell you about this old lady who just likes combing people's hair. And that's literally all we find out about her. Yeah. Also, from our previous bonus episode, we also had a short conversation about Pirates of the Caribbean because I love those movies. Yes. Oh, my God. Those movies are so fun.

So I finished watching the fifth one. Or, okay. No, actually, I wanted to talk to you about the fourth one on Stranger Tides with the mermaid. Right. That's the Penelope Cruz one. Yes. Oh, my God. Penelope Cruz is so hot.

Damn, she's so good in that. God, she's good looking. But I love the mermaid side story. And I realized, because you had mentioned it it and I kind of forgot about it. They don't really explain how it ends. Like she just kind of takes that super religious guy under the water and you're like assuming like everything's fine. But I'm pretty sure she kills him. Why do you think so? Because they were trying to tell us that she really liked this guy. So why do you think she killed him? That is a mermaid thing to be like yes i'm in love

with you and then drown you that's fair and also like they all almost killed her so many times she probably wanted a little revenge i'm just saying that's how i like to who could blame her and who could blame her yeah i'm all about mermaids killing guys i remember i saw her like drag him under and i was like oh yeah i gotta watch and see how that ends and then they never showed it like nothing came of it i i like your ending better because i'm also positive that was the ending yeah i think that i think that's better than what i mean i don't think they thought that when they were shooting it but I do like your interpretation better. I think somebody was thinking that somebody maybe, but I think most

of them were thinking about the end. Did you ever see Splash? No. Oh, it's okay. You want a mermaid movie. I want a murderous mermaid movie. She's definitely not murderous. It was a 1984 rom-com. I just Googled it, but it starred Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. And basically Tom Hanks finds this beautiful woman washed up on the beach and she doesn't really seem to know like where she is or what she's doing here. So he takes her home,

you know, cause he's like a good guy, but he's like, he's like a super gentleman about it. And it turns out that this lady is a mermaid i forget i forget why she's on land anyway it's like an entire little rom-com about a guy that falls in love with the mermaid and then at the end of the movie she like she because she can't stay on land because obviously people are after her to imprison her and stuff so she so they run to the beach together and he's all like go save yourself and she's like come with me and he's all like okay okay that is the correct answer

that's the right answer tom hanks and so she takes him into the ocean and he's like, he's, he can't breathe, but then she kisses him and he suddenly can breathe. And so they swim away together under, under the water to go live with the merfolk. It's adorable. Spoiler alert. No, I'm just kidding. Sorry. It's still, it's still worth, it's still worth a watch because like, totally kidding. It's such a fun movie. It's on Disney+. Stupid Disney+. We're just talking about how we should stop talking about Disney. Stop talking about it. And is there anyone more lovable than 90s Tom Hanks?

No. Or maybe even 80s Tom Hanks. He was so cute. I think Tom Hanks at any time is the most lovable human. My favorite mermaid trope, and I know Abby knows this, just mermaid anything. My ideal mermaid is the mermaid from Monsterland episode six. Yes. Yes. Oh my gosh. That's the perfect mermaid. It's only like a 45 minute episode. I was really on and off on monster land like i wanted to like it but i just didn't most of the time but that was my favorite episode like

monster land episode six it's what is it it's kind of like splash except except um not except it's a real mermaid watch it it's so good it also has some i love horror movies with social commentary i think they're so like they're always have a lot of love put into them a lot of thought goes into that kind of story so i love it watch it it's so fucking good don't watch it with your kids don't watch it yeah no i mean definitely don't watch it with your kids just like this podcast please don't listen with your kids kids really shouldn't interact with us this is the podcast for the moms who are reading these stories to their kids and then you also want to talk to someone about what the fuck you just read to your kid. Anyway.

Anyway. Do you want me to tell you a story? And now for something completely different. Completely different. Tell me a story please i am so excited because i chose this story because i was on reddit which i recently um i'm on reddit i have not been doing that for very long and someone asked like what's a great game you love that has a fairy tale story or a folk tale story or based on a folk tale story and the first one that came to my mind was never alone so i decided to tell

you the story of kanuk sayuka by robert nazarick cleveland it is an inupiat story and it inspired the game never alone or kisima ingichuna, which translates to I am not alone in Inuit. So this game is fucking awesome. It's so beautiful and it has such a cool history. So Never Alone is the first game developed in collaboration with the Inupiat. That's an Alaska native people. Nearly 40 Alaska native elders, storytellers, and community members contributed to the development of the game. So in this game, it's like a side scroller. You can play as a young Inupiat girl and an Arctic

fox as they set out to find the source of an eternal blizzard, which threatens the survival of everything they know. So it's a side scroller game that you can play alone or co-op so if you like to play single player like abby i love playing single player i hate playing games with people whenever i talk about games um my husband adam's like you should ask abby to play with you and i'm'm like, she won't. I could. But she doesn't want to. And he just cannot comprehend that. Like if I'm playing a video game, I want it like it's because I have carved out some alone time for myself. And I want to be alone now. And Adam is the exact opposite. He lives to play with other people. And I'm kind of the same.

Sometimes I like playing alone. Most of the time I like a partner. I've noticed that most of the time the games that you're attracted to tend to be like multiplayer games. That's probably heavily influenced by Adam. But regardless. So if you play alone, you can switch between the girl and the fox. And both players have these like special skills that you need in order to finish the game. It's really fun.

It's really beautiful. It's based on the story of Canucks Ayuka. So there have been a few changes made to it. And the changes for the story for the video game were actually blessed by Robert's daughter, Minnie Gray gray which is really respectful and wonderful and what's so cool about this is the reason like they made this game a huge part of it was to kind of keep that inupiat story alive because a lot of these stories have been erased by colonialism yep it's a wonderful way and so as you play throughout the, there's actually these cut scenes of Inuit people talking about why it's important to them and how excited they are that somebody wanted to create a game based on their story. And like, it's exciting that their kids

get to kind of experience these stories in that way. So bringing these were like really old stories to the 21st century. And making them like interactive. old stories to the 21st century and making them like interactive and and also just keeping the the idea of their culture alive spreading that knowledge to other people which is super super important so in the game is absolutely gorgeous i will post some screenshots on our instagram so make sure to check it out and we'll also post the link to the game and the story in our show notes um it's awesome for sure check it out you can also like play it on your phone i think at this point yeah because it's like a relatively simple side scroller i do own the game i haven't i haven't played it yet but i bought it a little while ago there are some really hard parts i'm pretty sure there's a

polar bear that kicked my ass a lot in that game. That we had a really hard time getting past. Oh my gosh, but the game is so pretty. So a couple of things I saw from their website that I wanted to relay was while working to shape the story around Never Alone, the team has been blessed with the opportunity to hear a number of Inupiat narratives that have been passed down from generation to generation. So this is the story of Canucks Ayuka, as told by Robert Nazareth Cleveland, and collected in the stories of the Black River people about a young boy and his journey to discover the source of a savage blizzard. to discover the source of a savage blizzard. So Abby, give me three predictions for Canucks Ayuka. Okay, I have my predictions.

All right, suck them to me. One, the boy will encounter a trickster animal. Okay. Two, the boy must appeal somehow to the spirit of the blizzard to calm them down. Three, in a connected way, the blizzard is an entity unto itself and is very personally agitated towards humans and so that's why the blizzard is happening these are my predictions interesting okay i like them so tell me how wrong i am so here's the story of kanik sayuka it is said that a boy and his mother lived alone without any knowledge of anyone nearby. The son, whose name was Canucks Ayuka, was old enough to hunt and had grown capable of many things. He was able to hunt and there were many caribou. Thus was the life of the

woman and her son. So one typical winter day, there came a great blizzard that seemed to last longer than usual. And when one blizzard would pass, another would come. With each gust of wind, a powdery snow blew in every direction. It would stop briefly and then become windy all over again. So this, you know, makes it difficult to see in the blizzard. So the sun was unable to hunt. So they began to run out of food. Okay. And although Canucks Ayuko was a good hunter during the clear weather, the blizzardy weather simply was not a time to hunt. It was dangerous to travel at any distance and all one could see was a mass of white swirling snow.

any distance and all one could see was a mass of white swirling snow i'm a little irritated with myself because one of my predictions was going to be that the blizzard would make it would make it like hard to see um that he'd be like effectively blinded by the blizzard but i feel like that i'm that might have been a little too vague anyway but anyway i'm i'm good i'm good i'm good i'm interested i'm listening. How old is Canucks Ayuka supposed to be? I'm imagining like 17, 16, 17. It's like a teen. Yeah.

He's taking care of his mom. Yeah. But he's like old enough to go do the hunting on his own. Okay. So that's what I'm imagining. So Canucks Ayuka waited day after day for the weather to clear until finally one day he wondered what could be causing this treacherous weather and in saying this he dressed himself properly and went outside he walked facing the wind and began to walk up river along the bends and steep undercut sections of the riverbank meanwhile the wind blew the snow strongly in the blizzard.

He continued his way up the river and he hadn't gone far when he noticed a spot further up the river that wasn't as blizzardy. It was rather bright and the weather appeared to be clear beyond it. Interesting. He approached Yeah. So he's like, what the hell is this? Uh-huh. I'm gonna go over there.

He's like, well, that seems suspicious slash great. So he approached the spot and saw that for some reason the blizzard seemed to be originating from a small tundra meadow. He looked around carefully as he walked closer to it because he was curious to know what might be causing it. So there's something going on. He knows there's something happening here. This is not natural. Since light seemed to be filtering through the swirling mass of snow,

he grew even more curious as he looked carefully around and he found what looked like a person, a man, apparently working on the flat tundra. Interesting. I know. I was expecting a fox or bear, but it's just like some guy. He's working hard. He noticed that the man was working hard and he used something to mash the snow until it was loose.

And then he shoveled it off the ground. And each time he did this, a gust of wind came and blew the loose snow in the direction of kanuk sayuka's home rude uh-huh he saw this and said to himself so that's the one who does it and he had found the source of the blizzard so this guy is just like working in the snow you're kind of roughing up my life my guy like could you could you cool it maybe on the snow hoeing that you're doing or whatever and i love that they came up with this um with like a video game for this idea because even this interaction makes me think of like um super mario 64 where something really big is happening, but something really small happening, like, on the other end. Yeah, yeah. That this is just causing little ripples,

or that he's doing something relatively innocuous that is, like, dramatically impacting his neighbor. Uh-huh. Worst neighbor ever. Yeah, seriously. he briefly looked at the strange site retraced his steps and started to approach the man from behind the man was working so hard that he wasn't even aware of any approaching strangers apparently he worked this hard all day long with no thought of caution what is he working on i think he's just plowing snow like i'm not even sure what he's doing like and it just says he's a man like he's just it's some guy plowing snow he's a big this is like the paul bunyan of the nupiat he's tossing things out into the ocean for babe the big blue ox to go chase and it's causing tidal waves in florida sure i get it ain't nothing for him but

his mom is bad news so can you say you go in toward the man walking closer each time the the shoveled snow swirled with the wind. Every time it calmed down, Canuxayuca hid so that the man wouldn't see him. And this was the manner in which he crept up close behind him. Why wouldn't he just like stomp up and like tap on his shoulder and be like, hey. I don't know. I'm your neighbor from a couple miles down the road. He's a big dude.

Can you knock it off? He's a big dude. Canuxayuca's a teen. down the road. He's a big dude. Could you knock it off? He's a big dude. Kanusha Yuka is a teen. That's true. That's true. Teenagers always have to make everything harder. I'm pretty sure that's a rule. You know, it is a rule.

It's their job. They haven't really learned how to ask adults to like knock it off yet. So he had come close enough so that the next time there was a blizzard he would have been able to reach the man when the man started to mash the snow again he was a big man after he had mashed the snow he grabbed a shovel and as he began to shovel the snow quickly into the air kanuk sayuka ran toward the man's ads which is basically an axe um it's a d z oh cool cool cool cool okay yeah so it's like a it's like a uh a snow axe sure you learn something new every day i had to i now know what an ads is i also had to look up how to pronounce it because i wasn't sure

also i i genuinely apologize i'm sure i'm absolutely butchering some of i will be butchering a lot of stuff soon so yeah i'm sorry probably so um kanuk sayuka grabbed his ads who the man had used to mash the snow and ran off with it away kanuk sayuka went with the ads as the big man who shoveled the snow, creating blizzard after blizzard followed after. Wait, hang on. Okay, so how big is this guy? Is he Paul Bunyan big?

I'm imagining Paul. I mean, he's creating a literal blizzard with his ads. It's got to be big, right? Then how did Canucks Ayuka get his ads it's got to be big right then how did kanuka get his ads because his ads is probably equally sizable he just grabbed it and ran with it he's fucking strong he's okay i mean he's out here hunting caribou all by himself he's pretty strong that's fair that's fair he's taking care of his mama i mean yeah okay okay fine just you know i just wanted to clarify a couple of points because i mean if the ads is paul bunion sized okay maybe he's not paul bunion size maybe

he's just you know a big dude he's probably just big that's all it says just says he's big but he is creating like a human sized big but he's creating a blizzard which is not cool yeah so kanuka still is ads and i was running off i get it all right he's like bye and he's heading home because fine he needs they need to eat it's very important that's great however the big man saw him as kanuk sayuka grabbed the ads he threw down a shovel climbed up from the flat tundra and ran after him but kanuk sayuka was too fast the big man chased him without catching him until Canucks Ayuka had successfully entered his home. And once inside, Canucks Ayuka lay down in his bed. And it is said that he was situated across from his mother.

He hadn't lain down long when he heard someone climbing on top of their house to the skylight. Having climbed up to the skylight, the big man could be heard to sing about kanu sayuka and this is how it went he's he okay he is climbing up their house and singing about him things that that is creepy and i will post the inuit lyrics to this song. I'm not going to try to sing them. There is an English equivalent that I will speak. But I am sure that the actual singing of it by Inuit people is just beautiful. But I will not attempt this.

Okay. What are the lyrics? And actually, even the english equivalent has some like words that i don't know but it's like i apologize to all inubia people everywhere and just all indigenous people everywhere uh canook say you ka ha nya n, give me my ads-ya-ya, so that tomorrow when you go outside, you will find caribou feet. So I think he's basically saying, give me my ads and I will stop the blizzard. Okay, I mean, that sounded good to me. That sounded like, okay, I will make it so that you can actually continue sustaining yourself.

Correct. So I'm feeling that in typical teenage fashion, Kanuk Sayuka could have asked. That's how I'm feeling. And the big man is just singing. He's not like rampaging. Okay, that's way less creepy than I was thinking. Because usually if someone comes to your house and they're climbing on the roof and they're singing at you, it's because they're threatening to kill you. that's different this is different i genuinely feel like kanuk sayuka probably could have just asked but probably being in very teenager fashion made it way more difficult than it needed to be and it made this wonderful story so it is said that the big man sang the song over and over again outside of the skylight.

He wanted Canuxa Yucca to return the ads that he had brought inside the house. And after listening to him sing all day, Canuxa Yucca's mother finally grew tired of him and asked her son what she took from the big man. What did you do? Did you do exactly like hey uh hey kiddo is there something you want to tell me about there's a there's a big guy just kind of like hanging around who seems to want his ads back do we have it oh did you did you take something? Because I'm pretty sure. Yeah, it sounds like you took something.

And although we heard his mother's question, he did not answer her. Mm-hmm. So after that, again, typical teenager. Yeah. After that, he lay still for a while until he finally stood up. He then grabbed the ads and began to use it against the stones that surrounded the fireplace. And by hitting the rocks with it, he ruined the edge of the blade. And then he threw it out the skylight. He said he was going to stop.

So... This kid's doing the most and he doesn't need to. I really don't feel like this big man is the enemy here. But the big man saw his ads being tossed up and out of the skylight and it made him so happy he burst out laughing. And after this loud laugh, he was quiet for a while and then began to sing from above. And once again, he sang, Kanuk Sai Yuka Nyaya, who chipped the blade of my ads Nyaya, so that tomorrow when you go outside, you will see caribou feet. And it is said that he sang the same song, except he changed the words from chip the blade

instead of give me back which i totally don't understand i really think you have to like understand inuit to understand the song in its entirety it sounds like they're just explaining the lyric change which maybe there's like a pun or some wordplay there in in the actual the original language that we're just not getting. Yeah, definitely. But I love that he bursts out laughing. He just thinks that's so funny. That he chipped his blade?

This guy's way too nice. He's like, you little. And then he sings this new song. Yeah, you scamp. And then he left and could no longer be heard. The end. So it's just. Wow.

Like the cutest story. I love it so much. It's just like adorable. It's definitely about a teenager who just way overthinks. Way overthinking it. Like, I feel like he literally could have tapped this guy on the shoulder and said hey you're making a blizzard you know down the road could you go that way or yeah could you could you do this somewhere else or is there a project you could i could

help you complete faster like i love this big man's energy, though. Instead of rampaging or getting upset, he just sings. And then eventually when he gets his ads back, he just laughs. He thinks it's hilarious. And he's like, oh, you. Oh, you. Oh, you know what? I didn't have a fix for this story, but I love him so much.

I want him and the mother to fall in love. And then that turns out to be- Oh my God. And then he can be Canucks and Yuka's new dad. His new dad or uncle. I just love this man so much. He's got such a good energy about him. Got a good attitude. Honestly, oh my God. Okay. Yes. Fix for the story. Cause I was actually wondering why he didn't just knock and then ask the mom. Yeah. Hey, I think your son stole my ax. Yeah.

So in my version, he does exactly that. And they have a little meat cute. Oh my gosh. That's so cute. Maybe he takes over providing the caribou. Aww. In a very manly fashion.

I feel like he's got such giant energy, though. I feel like it's almost like... I feel like she'd be into that. Bugs that are bothering you and you're like... Maybe not a meet cute with the mom. Maybe he just becomes their scary spiritual guardian neighbor i don't know i love the meet cute idea they've been so cute i want that's so cute again with as most of these tales i just want more backstory

i want more information that's yeah literally all of them um amazing story um hold on amazing story by robert nazark cleveland and i just want more information and i also would like to hear the actual singing where i didn't totally butcher it i apologize to all indigenous people everywhere for even trying that i feel very to all indigenous people everywhere. For even trying that, I feel very... I think you sounded fine, but it is like inherently a little awkward. Yeah, that is what it...

That was like kind of the English translation from the blog from Never Alone which we will post in our show notes so you can read it yourself and actually like see see it in its original language it's a great game beautiful story and as

I have a little a little footnote for this story so as you hopefully already know the United States I have a little footnote for this story. So as you hopefully already know, the United States seized more than 1.5 billion acres from indigenous people between 1776 and 1887. And most of that land is held in trust by the government today, which severely restricts the rights of Native American people. So recognizing the original inhabitants of the spaces we occupy through awareness building and land acknowledgement is a very easy and very important step to take toward equity and a very small step at that. So there's this really cool thing. So I love museums.

And one of my museums in my town had this flyer that was like, text your zip code or city and state to this phone number and learn which native territories you're occupying. So the phone number is 907-312-5085. Go ahead. I'll wait. Text your zip code. Just do it. Do it right now. And it's really cool. You can also go to the website, land.codeforachange.org, which I'll post in our show notes. Oh, I have it as native-land.ca. But anyway, but there's, yeah, I'm sure there's a couple. On the native land one, you can do, you can search by zip code. You can search by your city. You can also, if you have more specific information, you can search by the territory if you already know it.

You can search by language if you already know it. And then you can also filter by treaty. Oh, that's fucking cool. Which is interesting. Yeah, it's fucking cool. Which is interesting. Yeah, it's awesome. It's just a really cool thing to know, you know, isn't in our school systems as much as it should be sadly, like just talking about the people that lived where you live, the land you are occupying are now. So I did that. And I wanted to talk about them a little bit, which I've lived in Chico, California, my whole life. So I already knew this. We both we both took a couple a couple classes where I think we learned more about the California

Trail of Tears. That was completely not talked about in our grade school education. I we had to we had to actually go to university to ever be told that california has its own trail of tears and that the land that we were occupying um had a really dark history with regards to that so it's really important to acknowledge and to talk about yeah so i live on the machuptah maidu land and the machuptah was a village community formerly located on little butte creek machuptah was a village community formerly located on Little Butte Creek. Machuptah oral tradition does not include a story of migration but rather makes a reference to the beginnings of this world at a place known as Tegdoico. I'm probably butchering that. I'm so

sorry. It was here that a raft carrying Kodoyampe, Earthmaker, and Turtle first came ashore on the soft, newly created Earth and a large depression was visible there for centuries until leveled for agriculture in the 20th century. And what's really cool about that is one of my beat college professors was half Native American and she...

Well, and Dr. Martinez at Chico State was my dude. I didn't have Dr. Martinez at Chico State was my dude. I didn't have Dr. Martinez. She was the dean of the anthropology department. Oh, she was the dean. Yeah. And I don't remember if she was Machuptah.

I know she was Maidu, but I don't remember if she was Machuptah Maidu. Oh, that's so cool. I never had her in a class, which is really sad because she was the dean at the time. Which is a bummer. Yeah, I never took any of her classes. Like, yeah, she was busy. She was busy being, you know, the administrative leader of the department at the time. So I don't think she was teaching as much. She helped me graduate on time. Thank you, Dr. Martinez. She met with me, which I didn't realize at the time, like deans

don't really meet with students to help them graduate. Not typically, but she was super nice. She did. And she was so helpful and amazing. I absolutely love her. And so basically, the area that they talk about in this is right in the middle of Chico State University, which is where we went. It's in that creek area, which is so interesting and also kind of sad. And rough. So I definitely want to make an effort to learn more about it. And I think, you know, everyone should do that. So I asked Abby to find out what land she occupies because she actually moved like pretty recently. I moved two years ago to the Baltimore area in

Maryland. And I looked this up on Columbus Day this year, and then I looked it up again for this episode. I used the nativeland.ca website, which is also a pretty great resource. like a pretty great resource they also when you look up your zip code it will take you to a map of your geographic area and then show you the territory of the people in in various colors and who occupied what parts of the land on which you now live and then it will also if available give you links to the tribal websites of those people. So it makes it really easy to find the people whose land you're living on and figure out where they are now, what their history is, and if they have any public requests of the colonists living on their land. So I live on the, I primarily live on the land of the Piscataway Kanoi people.

And they have historically been a Confederacy of tribes under the premier authority of the Tayak, which in their language, I think means emperor according to their website and their confederacy extended between the western shore of the chesapeake bay to the watershed of the potomac river in the area now known as virginia and so that that includes you know the baltimore chesapeake bay area all the way down to washington dc and then down into Virginia. So they had a very large territory. Yeah, huge territory. They first came into contact with Europeans in 1608. And by the 1660s, the English

had begun encroaching on their villages in a really egregious way. Basically, they signed a lot of treaties with a lot of English people that were subsequently immediately broken. Sounds about white. Sounds about white. No, absolutely. I feel like it's very nervous laughter. It's just very like... Well, this is a very uncomfortable conversation. Yeah. And it should be. I don't think anybody should be comfortable hearing these words or saying them. Yeah. This is very uncomfortable and very upsetting. But it's just the truth.

But it is just the truth. And so by the late 1660s, the Piscataway people or some tribal members of the Piscataway people chose to move to Pennsylvania, where there were still relatively strong native governments. And so they moved up to Pennsylvania, and then they became known as the Conoy. So Conoy is the name that the Iroquois gave them. And so that's why they're now known as the Piscataway Conoy tribe in modern times. So their full history is on their website, which is piscatawayconatribe.com if you're interested and want to go learn more about them. They were only recently recognized officially by the Maryland government in 2012. Jesus.

So their official government has only very recently actually been recognized. On their website, it says, thus reestablishing the historic government-to-government relationship that had been dormant in Maryland since the 1700s. Yes, that's whose land I'm living on. And I'm currently investigating what they would like from the people who are living on their land if they have any honor taxes that they're asking for or if they're trying to fund any particular causes or missions. So I will give an update on that at a future date. give an update on that at a future date and another really great way to port indigenous peoples is to listen to podcasts by indigenous peoples which i have one yeah i know you all love so i

absolutely love this podcast they are hilarious it is called metis in space they are so funny they are so they describe themselves as hilariously deconstructing the science fiction genre through a decolonial lens molly swain and chelsea vowel drink red wine which cheers to that from a tipsy decolonial perspective review sci-fi movies or shows featuring indigenous peoples tropes and themes so they are fucking hilarious and they are so incredibly smart and insightful and they just have really important takes on like you know things that and like a non-indigenous person such as i is super important wouldn't't you care? Like I've, I've listened to,

I've listened to a bunch of their episodes at this point. Cause I go through and I'm, and I'm like, and I'm always afraid to a little bit. I'm like, Oh no, they did this movie. I love this movie.

And then I listened to it and, and there's, and there's so funny about it. They're so interesting to listen to. They're hilarious. They're so right. And they're so funny about it. They're so interesting to listen to. They're hilarious. You're like, fuck, they're so right. And they're right. Exactly.

Because they say things and I'm just like, and I'm just like, and my feeling and I'm just, I can't believe I didn't see it before, but they're so right. Yep. The hardest one for me, think was um the futurama episode where the bugalos roam although that is one of my least favorite episodes of futurama i'm not gonna lie it's uncomfortable and like um and a bad take it's just a bad take for not even not even just indigenous but also asian people because of the Wong family. Like they just obviously didn't hire any writers that were indigenous at all. And it wasn't hard to listen to.

It was really funny to listen to, but also like, yeah, they fucked up. Big time. And I absolutely love them. They're so funny. So for sure, just go listen to them. It's Metis in Space. We will also link that in our show notes. Yes, absolutely. They're very worth a listen. The one that was most painful for me was their Atlantis episode. The Disney movie, Atlantis, The Lost Empire. I do listen to that. What do I Lost Empire, a movie that I love. So it's not that I don't still love that movie and have a lot of nostalgia for that movie. But yeah, listening to

them watch it was so funny. And also so, so completely true. It was wonderful. I can't remember which of them is this huge star trek fan yeah i'm not sure i want to say it's chelsea but i think it's i think it's chelsea but i might be misremembering but she's a huge star trek fan and i feel like we could be really good friends based on that i love i love them so much they're so funny oh my gosh definitely go listen to them it's all sci sci-fi stuff. They're nerds like all of us. They are our kind of people. They're absolutely our kind of people. I love them.

Yeah. And they hate anthropologists. But I hope that they would forgive us because we were just anthropology majors who decided not to become anthropologists. It's fair. fucking go listen it's so good and actually their whole network is pretty great i listened to red man laughing a little bit um a lot of it went over my head i mean i only listened to a few episodes but red man laughing was like super funny he's hilarious so it's just like important to listen to indigenous people even if it makes you uncomfortable fucking just do it yep go forth seek out indigenous artists seek out indigenous voices don't don't just listen to the two white chicks telling

indigenous stories so if you love fairy tales and folk tales, you have to love all of it. You have to love the people too. And acknowledge that we have a really awkward history with telling them that they're not allowed to tell their own stories. Which in recent decades, we've reversed and said like, oh, why don't you know your language anymore? Anyway, I'm devolving. I'm devolving into like a ranting. Yeah, this episode is, this is our social commentary. So this is why we really started a podcast. I do have a very short story.

This is a book that Stephen's grandfather on his Choctaw side gave to him. And it's American Indian Myths and legends selected and edited by Richard Erdois and Alfonso Ortiz. It's a big book. There's a fairly diverse selection of native American tribes in here with various, various stories divided into subsections by theme. And most of the stories in here were taken directly from indigenous informants and

then compiled into this anthology by uh these two gentlemen cuckoo i didn't google them i don't know if they're i don't know if they're indigenous or not themselves but yeah it's it's always hard to know even if you even if you do do Google them. Yeah. Sometimes. But one of the stories, and I was delighted to find it, is this actually is a Maidu story. Nice. Oh, my gosh. Really? Yeah.

Such a small community. I'm always like, like, it's neat that it's in a book. Yeah, that there's actually a story recorded. Yeah, yeah, yeah um but it's just a collection of of um american indian folktales very cool i'm so excited yeah it's very it's very short uh and then also i mean i also want to note that it's actually really hard to find first person or original source accounts for Northern Californian indigenous tribes for these because and I think this isn't really commonly known. It isn't even commonly known

among white people in California, like like I like Kelsey and I were talking about earlier, we had to actually go to university to learn about a lot of horrors visited on the indigenous community in california or any of them or any of them at all but especially but it's especially like buried it was almost the closer to home you got the less it was spoken about so there are there aren't a lot of northwest united states indigenous folk tales in this story because they're just harder to find because those groups were splintered horribly. They tended to be a little smaller in terms of organization. And many of these tribes actually still don't have official government recognition. Like I know, I know the Maidu don't, the Maidu aren't federally recognized as a Native American tribe currently.

So it can be difficult to source. So I just think it's just really impressive that they actually found like a Maidu story and included it in this anthology. But regardless, this is the story of Toluwim Woman and Butterfly Man, which is a Maidu story. It's very short. It's four four paragraphs you may give me one prediction butterfly man sounds like the best superhero ever wait what was it called again it's called toluwim woman and butterfly man butterfly man so i'm using this based off of what i knew about northern california butterflies i want it to be a story about the pipevine swallowtail about that butterfly and specific like maybe why it's that color or like how it came to be that would be fun for me but it also could be totally wrong and it probably is uh yeah

damn it i want to be butterfly man uh yeah you're already wrong but it's fine no okay this is toluwim woman and butterfly man and uh just right off the bat, I was not able to find a translation for what toluwim woman means. From the context, I think maybe it means the village that she's from, but I wasn't able to actually find a definition. So I'm sorry about that. So here is how it begins. A toluwim woman went out to gather food. She took her child with her and while she worked, she stuck the point of the cradle board in the ground and left the child alone. A large butterfly flew past and she started after it and chased it for a long time. She would almost catch it and then just miss. She thought, perhaps I can't run fast enough because of this heavy thing, and so she threw away her deerskin robe.

But still, she never could quite overtake the creature. Finally, she threw away her apron, too, and hurried on, chasing the butterfly until night came. And then, her child forgotten, she lay down under a tree and went to sleep. And when she awoke in the morning, she found a man lying beside her. Oh my. He said, you have followed me this far. Perhaps you would like to follow me always.

Oh. If so, I know. That's a meet cute. That's a meet cute. If only she hadn't left her child behind. Yeah. That's less cute. Story's not over yet. Story's not over yet.

Nope, not over yet. Nope. It's close, though. If so, you must pass through a lot of my people. Without thinking of her child at all, the woman rose and followed the butterfly man. By and by, they came to a large valley whose southern side was full of butterflies.

And when the two reached the edge of the valley, the man said, no one has ever before come through this valley alive, but you'll be safe if you don't lose sight of me. Follow closely. So not a superhero, a supervillain. Don't follow butterflies, y'all. Kelsey, if you wanted to learn a bit more about the butterflies in your area they're trying to kill you I could have guessed they are very pretty they're secretly very beautiful people who are trying to seduce you to no good I find swallowtails are like black but when the sun hits them they're blue i've got these bright orange like streaks on like little pips on their wings i'll also post a picture of those yeah they're

so beautiful their caterpillars are also very beautiful yeah beautiful yeah i could see how she would follow i would follow i would follow that butterfly anywhere not judging that has that same kind of beauty. Yeah, absolutely. Just anyone with that. Anyway, they're in the valley. He says, you know, don't lose track of me and you won't die. They traveled for a long time.

Keep tight hold of me. Don't let go, the butterfly man said again and again. When they come halfway through the valley, other butterflies swarmed around them in great numbers they flew every way all around the couple's heads and in their faces for they wanted to get the toluwim woman for themselves i know scandalous scandalous she watched them for a long time holding tightly to her new husband but at last unable to resist she let go of him and reached out to seize one of the others oh shit she missed that one and she tried to grab a new one now the other but always failed and so she wandered in the valley forever dazed and lost she died there and the butterfly man she had lost went on through the valley to his home and now when people speak of the olden times they say that this woman lost her lover and tried to get others but lost them and went crazy and died the end

that is a very what the fuck folk be very careful of butterflies in northern california what happened to her child i don't know and the story doesn't care who cares that's not the point uh the the footnote the foot there's a lot of footnotes on all of these various stories this footnote says based on a tale by Roland Dixon in 1904. Amazing. That was a great story. I just want to know what happened to the child. Me too. I think that the child probably got found by another person from her village and was raised by a much more responsible person.

That is my fix for the story because everything else was perfect. Everything else was great. That was also my only fix of like, oh, wow, I hope that kid's okay. Just, you know, if the child hadn't been in the story at all, it would have been a perfect folktale or fairy tale. Yeah. Amazing. Thank you. I love the idea. I love the idea of like seductive butterflies. They are.

They're so beautiful. They're very beautiful. You want to follow them? They're shiny. The sun hits them just right. And you're just enamored. And the butterflies in northern california are particularly beautiful so i can really understand why this story was perhaps

came about oh my gosh that one time we had the mariposa butterflies migrating yes the butterfly migration that was so cool there were so many um oh my god. It was hilarious because, I don't know, I love butterflies because they're kind of one of those creatures that you think are like fancy and you're like, oh, they're majestic. But they're also really clumsy and die very easily. Oh yeah, and the mariposa butterflies that came through. I remember, I think I messaged you. I was like, wow, they're actually really unimpressive because you're imagining these really giant orange ones. And they were just kind of muted, yellow and like small. Like they were scrawny, dull, yellow butterflies. They actually really didn't compare to the species of butterfly that we just kind of have around anyway. Unimpressed.

It was a little disappointing. The butterfly migration. Which is reminding me that at the time of this recording,'re recording in uh the first week of may and i am awaiting i am awaiting the swarm with great trepidation of a much less cool form of biological insect magic i'm very upset i don't want to be here for this. For mosquitoes? No, no. Do you not know about the swarm that comes to Maryland every 17 years? I do?

Oh, 17 years. Is that anyways? No. That's 30 years. God, that would almost be better. What is the swarm? The swarm is a specific breed of cicadas called brood X. Buries themselves in the soil and hibernates for 17 years in the northeastern United States.

But concentrated specifically in Maryland. And every 17 years, they emerge from the ground to have a sex fest. Yeah, they do. They waited 17 years. They go bananas on each other for a couple weeks. It's supposed to be loud as shit. I don't even know if I'm going to be able to record because it's supposed to be so loud. You can barely hear yourself talking if you're outside. I can't wait for you to experience this.

They waited 17 years, Abby. They deserve this. I know. I'm trying not to begrudge them. Just try to be happy for them. May is when it's actually nice here before we descend into mosquito filled June mugginess. But instead, it's going to be filled with cicadas. I'm not going to be able to hear myself think and they're and they're also really stupid. Like they won't they don't they won't bite,

but they don't fly very well because they've been in the ground for 17 years. So they just get in your hair and try to fly into your clothes and like hit the window and they're big, ugly. I just Googled what they look like. Cause I'm like, I hear, I hear them, but they're always like up in treetops, right? I don't want them. Yeah. They usually go into treetops, but, but there's going to be so many of them and I'm not looking forward to it. They're supposed to emerge this week

because it's finally been warm enough. You definitely have to post some... I'll take some pictures. Some stories or whatever. I will take some pictures of the cicadas and I will also take some pictures of me being very upset. They've got these bright orange derpy eyes.

Yeah. I hate, I just like, I'm, I don't want to be here. I just want to have some snacks. Why did I move to Maryland like just in time for the swarm? It only happens every 17 years.'s weird awesome yeah anyway so that's happening and i don't want it and i missed the butterfly migration because that was at least um prettier thank you so much for listening to fairy tale fix if you enjoyed the show which we hope you did please subscribe and leave us a review

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fairy tales your favorite folklore nursery rhymes and other such things at info at fairy tale fix pod.com you could end up on our listener tales episode. And the big man with the ads had a meet cute with Canucks. A yuca's mom. And he became like a father figure and her uncle figure and just released great giant energy world. And we thank him for that. We do. Thank you.

Giant man. And the Tola woman still dies in the Valley of the butterflies as she so richly deserves, still dies in the Valley of the Butterflies as she so richly deserves, but her child definitely is picked up by a much more responsible parent and is taken back to the village and grows up healthy and strong and happy. And they all lived happily ever after. The end. The end.