04/19/12 Property of CaladriaNapea Video 7: We Tell Oral Narratives Story of Raven and Octopus Woman (Moses) In a similar pedagogical

vein, the Tulalip storyteller Johnny Moses, in a taped bilingual performance, tells the story of the trickster figure Crow, who, visiting the members of its community in turn, makes itself unwelcome by displaying the kind of arrogant behavior that is the antithesis of Native etiquette. Whenever anyone tries to give advice of any kind at all, this trickster replies in a nasal, scratchy whine, I know everything; nobody can tell me anything, a kind of assertion tellingly close to the Western style of competitive individualism, which is the very opposite of Native kinship behavior. Moving from family to family in the village of animal people, Crow is warned first by Deer Woman and then by the Bear People not to visit Octopus Lady when the tide is out; at each warning, he repeats in his annoying whine the refrain I know, until all the people in village no longer want to entertain him. So, Crow, aggressively intoning, Nothing can bother me; Ill go wherever I want to go ventures down to the beach at low tide, where Octopus Lady appears, with the biggest head [Crow] had ever seen in the world. Octopus Lady welcomes Crow. But hed never seen Octopus Lady before because he never listened to the people; he knew everything. [ . . . .] Born in local experience, Native stories are that experience. But having never listened to the stories of the people, Crow, who thinks he knows everything, is unprepared for the deadly charms of Octopus Lady, when in her lilting voice she welcomes him into her multiple arms: Come a little closer; it is nice to see you, Crow

To which Crow whines charactetristically, I know, and moves closer. Oh, you are handsome, Crow, lilts Octopus Lady. To which Crow whines, I know, as she puts another arm around him. Where do you live; do you know a lot of things? I know everything, Crow whines again as she puts still another arm around him. One arm after the other as they talked longer and longer. He was getting hungry; he was getting very hungry, and so he demands: Im hungry. When are we going to eat? Liltingly, Octopus Lady replies, Were going to eat pretty soon, Crow. And then she got down to her last arm. And then, you know, when they were talking away, talking away, the water began to rise, began to rise, and the water was way up to his neck now. (65) When it was up to his neck, he demands of her again: What is for dinner? Im hungry right now. I want to eat something. What is for dinner? And as she wraps her last arm around him, she coos, You are the dinner, Crow. To which Crow, of course, replies, I know. Thus, knowledge, the narrative suggests, if it is not communally based, proceeding from reciprocity, is not only useless but potentially fatal. (Cheyfitz 64-65)

Symbolism: The Native American view of western individual-centered knowledge versus community-centered knowledge

Works Cited: Cheyfitz, Eric, ed. The Columbia Guide to American Indian Literatures of the United States Since 1945 New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. Moses, Johnny. "Johnny Moseses Northwest Native American Storyteller Presents: Octopus and Crow." Youtube. 1. Grahamsound, 2010. Web. 04/23/12.