Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 299: Sioux- Eleventh and Twelfth Nights (Eastman)

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EP 299: Sioux- Eleventh and Twelfth Nights (Eastman) · Sandman Stories Presents

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  There's got to be some way for you to send your dogs away and
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  to leave the lamb alone. Welcome back, listeners to
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  Sandman's Stories Presents, a folklore podcast where I read
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  you to sleep or until the next story.
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  I'm your host Dustin, if you want more Sandman, I have extra
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  stories that are too spicy for the main feed available on my
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  Patreon. You can even join at the free
• 0:45
  tier and get everything. Today we are back in the Book of
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  Sufolk tales written down by the Eastman's.
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  We are here for the 11th and 12th nights.
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  On the 11th evening they talk about the feast given to the
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  little ones, the bumblebees, the birds, the bugs, all that.
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  And on the 12th night we learn about Aya, the Devourer.
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  OK, let's begin the 11th evening.
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  You are late tonight my grandchildren, Grumbles the good
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  old wife of Smokey Day as she stands in front of her low
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  doorway, peering under the folds of her dark blanket at the
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  little toiling figures slowly coming nearer and the many
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  twinkling lights across the snow.
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  My mother gave a feast today. Murmurs Tannegela in her soft
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  voice. There were so many people for us
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  to serve, I could not come any sooner.
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  But see, grandmother, I've brought you some boiled rice and
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  venison. She ends proudly bringing out
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  the heavy kettle from under her skin robe as they enter the well
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  smoked lodge. Ah, Exclaims the storyteller,
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  whose old eyes brighten at the sight of the good food.
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  We are going to feast tonight, it seems.
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  Therefore I should tell you of a feast and what came after the
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  festival of the Little People. The big voice of Bumblebee was
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  heard in every nook and corner of the wood and from end to end
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  of the deep valley. For Unctomy the generous was
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  giving a feast, and the bee was his herald, the crier of the
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  day. Ho every creeper, every buzzer,
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  all ye little people who fly without feathers, come to the
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  festival today. Boom, the bee almost prepared to
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  exhibit their best skills. The toad who can neither fly nor
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  run, his brother, the bullfrog with his band of musicians, and
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  even the flying squirrel with the rest.
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  Tanagala the Hummingbird will be the judge of beauty, and the bat
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  will be the judge of your skillful performance in the air.
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  That wise medicine man, the Serpent, will also be there.
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  So Unctomy's herald made the cedar fringe gulches and pine
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  scented hilltops fairly hum with his call.
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  It was July, the Moon of the Black Cherries and the Little
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  People gathered in great numbers in the place of the singing
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  waterfall which had been chosen for the meeting place.
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  The Happy Valley buzzed with millions of voices.
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  Then Unctomy, the Prudent, saw fit to appoint certain warriors
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  to keep order at the festival, for many were present, and
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  therefore a mishap or injustice might occur.
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  The Wolf was ordered to watch the surrounding hills so that no
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  enemy could come near, and the Owl was appointed to keep order
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  within the camp, and especially to see that neither the Bat nor
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  the Nighthawk nor the Swallow tribe were permitted to disturb
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  the little insect people. The day opened well with a
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  chorus of praise from a great orchestra, a sunrise song opened
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  by Tashiaka the Meadowlark, in which even the crickets joined
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  with their slender instruments. Then came the contest of beauty,
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  in which the butterflies and their gauzy dresses of every
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  color won the first prize. The bat, however, who was the
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  judge of feats on the wing, had slightly made a meal of some of
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  the lesser contestants. The owl swooped down upon him to
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  punish him, and there was great confusion.
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  Unk to me could do nothing with his guests.
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  The toad began to devour the smaller creepers, the snake
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  attacked the toad, and even the wolf came down from his station
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  on the hill to make raid upon the helpless little people.
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  Thus began the warfare and praying among these feeble
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  tribes that has lasted to this very day.
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  Smoky Day told the listeners, it is not wise to put the strong in
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  authority over the weak. The END.
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  We are capping out for each other, we are struggling when we
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  band together and we're standing up for the water.
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  OK, and the 12th evening tonight we will hear of a good deed done
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  by UNK to me, begins the old teacher, when all are in their
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  places. In the old days, longer ago than
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  anyone can remember, no one was more feared and dreaded than Aya
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  the Glutton, the devouring spirit that went to and fro upon
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  the earth, able to draw all living creatures into his
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  hideous open maw. His form was monstrous and
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  terrifying. No one seemed to know what he
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  feared or how he might be overcome.
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  Whole tribes of people were swallowed up by him, and there
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  was no help. At last came Unctomy, and by his
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  quick wit and genial ways he got the better of this enemy of our
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  race. AIA is very hard to kill for.
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  He often comes to life again even after he's been left for
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  dead. Perhaps AIA refers to the
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  terrible hunger or the sickness that runs like fire from lodge
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  to lodge and sweeps away whole villages.
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  The little ones leaned in to hear this scary tale.
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  Aya, the Devourer. Once Upon a time, an old woman
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  who was gathering wood found a lost babe deep in the forest and
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  bringing him to the camp, gave him to the chief's pretty
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  daughter. The girl, who was very tender
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  hearted, took the child and cared for him as her own.
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  She fed him often, but he was never satisfied and continually
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  cried for more. When he screamed, his mouth
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  stretched from ear to ear, and far down his red throat she
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  seemed to see a great company of people struggling in confusion.
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  However, she told no one, but patiently tended the strange
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  child and carried him about everywhere with her.
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  In the dead of night, when all the lodge were asleep, the
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  tender hearted maiden was aroused by the crying of her
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  babe. As she bent over him, there
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  seemed to come from his wide open mouth, as if from the
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  depths of the earth, the far off voices of many people in
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  distress. Then at last she went and awoke
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  the chief, her father, and said to him, Father, come and listen
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  to the voice of my babe. He listened for a moment and
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  exclaimed in horror, My child, this is AIA, he who devours all
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  things, even whole villages. What we hear is the crying of
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  the people that he has swallowed.
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  Now he has taken the form of an innocent babe and has come to
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  destroy us. We must sneak away quietly while
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  he sleeps, and travel fast and far before morning in whispers
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  they aroused the sleeping people, and all broke camp
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  without disturbing the child, who once more slept in the
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  chief's teepee, which they left standing.
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  All night they travelled, and when morning came they had come
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  to a wide and Deep River. Here Unktumi, the crafty one,
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  came to meet them, smiling and rubbing his hands.
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  When he had learned what caused the people of the whole village
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  to flee in the night, he kindly offered to help them against
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  their powerful enemy, even though they were terrified.
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  Even then they were unwilling, for they feared that he might
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  play some trick upon them. But Unktumi persisted and
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  retraced their steps to meet the Devourer.
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  He had not gone far before he saw Aya hurrying after the
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  fleeing ones, his ugly mouth gaping widely and his great
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  unwieldy body unsupported by a pair of feeble legs that
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  tottered under its weight. Where are you going?
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  Younger brother asked unk to me pleasantly.
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  How dare you call me? Younger brother angrily returned
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  the other. Don't you know that I was the
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  first one created upon this earth?
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  Well, if that is so, I must be older than you, replied Unk to
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  me in his good-natured way, for I was created upon the face of
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  the water before the dry land itself.
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  I know who you seek younger brother, and have come here to
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  help you. Those foolish ones that you're
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  following are encamped on the river nearby, and I will lead
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  you to them. They cannot escape you.
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  Why not rest a little now, and refresh yourself with the
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  delicacy that I've prepared for you?
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  See, these are human ears, nicely dried for your meal.
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  So saying, Unk to me pointed to a great heap of muscle shells
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  that lay on the hilltop. The greedy monster was deceived,
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  and hastily swallowed the shells, which caused him such
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  distress that he was helpless, and was easily dispatched by the
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  men of the village, who now came out to kill him.
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  No sooner had they cut open his enormous body with their knives
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  than a large company of people issued forth upon the plane and
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  began dancing and singing songs of praise for their deliverance.
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  The end we are capping out for. Each other.
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  We are struggling when we band together and we're standing up
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  for in the water. Well, that first story had a fun
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  way to describe why animals act in different ways and why they
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  don't all get along. And the second story has a
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  monster that actually scares me. The uncontrollable hunger shown
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  by AIA is also in human nature and the current money system
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  that we operate on in the States.
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  Greed is not good, no matter how many times Gordon Gekko says it.
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  I love these stories and I feel so lucky to continue reading
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  them. And the podcast shout out is to
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  that Florida feeling. You want to keep up with the
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  goings on in Florida. Let Jody keep you hip in the
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  wildest state in the nation. You will always hear about the
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  weird, the wild and the sometimes confusing straight
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  from the Sunshine State. And if you like her show as much
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  as I do, go and give her a like a rating and a review.
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  And the listener shout out is to Hamilton, Bermuda, the capital
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  of Bermuda. Its population is under 1000
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  people. The island is named after the
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  man who discovered it, Juan de Bermudez.
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  The capital was Saint George until 1815.
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  The islands had no native people living there until Europeans
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  came through. And most of the city is for the
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  insurance and reinsurance companies who are housed there.
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  There are about 400 companies based there.
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  I wonder how long until they have their own Panama Papers.
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  And so to my listener in Hamilton, I say thank you and
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  good night and pay your taxes.