compare/contrast essay

    When you visit a place that you have never been to before you don’t really get the chance to understand the values on which that society was built.  One of the best ways to learn about a foreign culture is to learn from their folklore.  Most folklore is somehow rooted in the thoughts and opinions of the people that founded that particular place.  Coyote and Wishpoosh is a Native American folk tale that shows the belief of the power and personality that animals posses, according to the beliefs of the Indians.  The Canadian piece of folklore that I read also expresses the importance and value of animals.  The Bells was a Mexican folk tale that made apparent Mexico's major connection to the dead or the spirit world.  All of these folk tales show an important belief of their homelands where they were first told.
    In the folk tale Coyote and Wishpoosh the classic tale of good versus evil begins the tale of how the Indians became to be.  Coyote is determined to defeat Wishpoosh so that none will have to fear the selfish creature ever again.  When Coyote finally triumphs over Wishpoosh he distributes the various pieces of Wishpooshs’ remains all throughout the land giving life to the different tribes of the Native Americans.
    In the mountains, a young husband, his wife, and mother struggle to get by.  As the days go on the husband and his mother grow weak from lack of food but the young wife remains healthy and strong.  Soon the husband and mother grow suspicious and discover the secret to the young woman’s good health.  The wife is using her powers to draw fish from the river and as the husband watches this he carefully remembers the words she says so that he will be able to get fish for him and his mother.  When the young woman wakes she sees and smells the fish that her husband and mother-in-law are eating and knows that her secret has been discovered.  She flees to the forest but it is to late her fate has been determined by her wrongdoings and she is turned into a plaintive owl and will wander through the air as a lonely bird for the rest of her life.
    In Mexico the greed of one priest affects many lives.  for a long time this priest hoarded away money from the congregation.  After he had put away a chestful of gold he buried it along with the body of the man that he killed to guard the money.  He had every intention to go back and get the money but his health took a turn for a worse and he died before he could get his money.  He told the man next to him on his deathbed that all one would have to do to find the money was to “follow the bells”.  A poor man with a family heard of the buried gold and he heard the bells one night so he took his shovel and went to dig up the gold.  He had not taken into account the ghost that was left to guard the gold.  The man with the shovel does not get all of the gold but the ghost sees his good intents for the money and leaves him enough money to pay for his son to go to school and to help the family financially.

All three of these folk tales has a strong theme of greed and how it is punished.  The Native American and Canadian stories both show how close the two cultures are to nature, specifically animals.  The Hispanic fold tale shows the strong connection that their people have with the dead.  All cultures vary when it comes to folk tales, but they also have surprising similarities.