Dempublicents1
16-04-2007, 20:23
I recently found this:
"If anyone desires a wish to come true they must
capture a butterfly and whisper that wish to it.
Since they make no sound, they can't tell the wish
to anyone but the Great Spirit.
So by making the wish and releasing the butterfly
it will be taken to the heavens and be granted.
Author Unknown"
It's always attributed as a "Native American" or "American Indian" legend. However, I know that these are very broad categories. I doubt that this can really be attributed to all Native American tribes, even if it is in a similar form to the way they might tell it. Does anyone know which tribe or tribes it might have originated with?
And, to make this topic much more NSG, we can talk about how many things tend to get attributed to tribal cultures as a whole, rather than to individual cultures. I've seen it with Native American tribes and also with African tribes. In fact, I quite often see someone say something like "The Africans sold themselves into slavery. It wasn't white people," as if all African tribes were exactly the same. Am I the only one who is sometimes frustrated by this?
"If anyone desires a wish to come true they must
capture a butterfly and whisper that wish to it.
Since they make no sound, they can't tell the wish
to anyone but the Great Spirit.
So by making the wish and releasing the butterfly
it will be taken to the heavens and be granted.
Author Unknown"
It's always attributed as a "Native American" or "American Indian" legend. However, I know that these are very broad categories. I doubt that this can really be attributed to all Native American tribes, even if it is in a similar form to the way they might tell it. Does anyone know which tribe or tribes it might have originated with?
And, to make this topic much more NSG, we can talk about how many things tend to get attributed to tribal cultures as a whole, rather than to individual cultures. I've seen it with Native American tribes and also with African tribes. In fact, I quite often see someone say something like "The Africans sold themselves into slavery. It wasn't white people," as if all African tribes were exactly the same. Am I the only one who is sometimes frustrated by this?