Two Fast Runners
Initially, when I read this one, I didn't get much from it. A deer and an antelope challenge each other to races, and each wins in his own respective home turf. But if I interpreted it really loosely—even for me—I think I could turn it into a story about a protagonist returning to her home turf and trying to use that to her advantage in the face of what looks like an impossible fight coming her way.
The Wolf Man
In this story, after a man is left for dead, he's rescued by a group of wolves. They take him to their camp, where one of their blind elders heals the man and transforms him into a sort of hybrid: part man, part wolf. If I were to use this story, I'd probably take that idea of someone being saved and taken in. He'd be the main character, but not the protagonist—that would be someone who's part of the group that's taken him in, and watches as he struggles to assimilate and always fails on some deeper, personal level.
The Dog and the Root Digger
From this one, I'd probably do something with a character (one the MC teams up with, probably) who can shape shift between a person and a dog. Not sure yet what kind of trouble they'd get into. Of course, I was also intrigued by the raven who knew to steer the buffalo away from the edges of the cliffs—but I'm not sure yet how I'd incorporate a raven in a way that ties back strongly enough to the source material.
The Camp of the Ghosts
There were tons of interesting things about this one, and any of them could be spun off into different stories: the ghosts' community, the feast with the dead, the old women who appeared to the protagonist in dreams to show him the way. The journey to the ghost camp was one of my favorite aspects of this story, but I don't think I'd have the space to do the camp that or the camp itself justice in this assignment; same issue with a character trying to bring a loved one back from the dead, unless we just showed a snapshot of that journey along the way, including the spirit of that loved one appearing to him sometimes. If anything, I'd probably use this one to tell a story about a character who can travel through dreams, via dreams—intentionally sometimes, and sometimes not so much—and see where that takes me.
The Buffalo Stone
In this story, there are rare, lucky stones—kind of like four-leaf clovers—that occasionally appear, and they bring good hunting luck. When the wife in this story hears a stone singing to her, she does what it says and brings it back to her community, and it does bring good luck. I like the idea of a magical object that talks to people, but I think I'd like it a lot better if this were spun out into a supernatural/horror direction: if the stone object weren't quite so benevolent, and actually used/influenced people to carry some nasty work for it.
How the Thunder Pipe Came
Maybe it's just because I'm in the Halloween spirit, but for me, the highlight of this one was definitely the insanely feared villain, Thunder, and the way he would swoop in and capture people and hang their eyes in his stone lodge. Granted, Home and Garden Television might take a little bit of issue with his taste in decor—but it makes for a great story and a great villain, and the atmosphere was great because of it. That's definitely the detail I'd use if I chose to retell this story.
Cold Maker's Medicine
As fun as the idea of an old-lady serial killer is—and I do mean that sincerely—I loved the idea of the dynamic between the Cold Maker and Broken Bow even more. They're good friends who make a great team, but it's the following few lines that really caught my interest: "When [Cold Maker] reached the camp he went to the lodge of Broken Bow—a brave young man, but very poor. He shivered when Cold Maker entered his lodge and drew his ragged robe about him. They were close friends." I'd definitely be interested in reinterpreting this one as two people who are really close despite the fact that one's presence hurts or is full-on toxic to the other, or something like that.
The Rolling Rock
Though the idea of bats as "night-hawks" was intriguing, for this one, I'd have to go with the dynamic between Old Man and the coyote for my main source of inspiration this time around. I love the trope where two characters are sort of forced together by circumstances and wind up working together in a mutually beneficial sort of way, and that's what I'd use in my interpretation.
Bear and Bullberries
My first instinct with this story was to do a piece featuring a Kid Loki-like interpretation of a trickster figure, and I do still think that could be fun, though it would take a very specific kind of story to set that up well and make it work. But once I got to the end of the story and the twist there—after almost drowning trying to get some bullberries deep below the water's surface, he realizes he was actually seeing their reflection, and they were above the water all along—I think I might rather go with something inspired by that instead. A story involving a quest that was backwards or misguided all along could work well for the shorter length of these assignments, and I think it could still be fun to experiment with.
The Theft from the Sun
In this story, no matter how far Old Man ran, he always woke up again in Sun's lodge. I like the idea of a character—a protagonist who always runs from his or her problems instead of sticking around to face them—finally coming up against an antagonist or obstacle that can't just be avoided, and seeing how that ends up playing out.
Bibliography: Blackfeet Indian Stories by George Bird Grinnell. Source: Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook.
Image Credit: "Raven Croak" by Franco Atirador. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
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