Ted's Myth

Breaking ground

"Breaking ground for reader understanding.Ted is a full-blooded Pahvant Ute Indian. "

BREAKING GROUND FOR READER UNDERSTANDING My informant in this is Ted Pickyavit Pahyant Ute Indian He tells meinstance that in past generations oldfull-blood men beyond further usefulness were welcome thelr pittance of keep by the tribe according to their ability as tellers of storles to entertain the young and their elders during long winter evenings These men cultivated the art of entertainment reltng thelr tales with animation they recounied past martial glory with ful Jaudation of tribal heroes or humorous Dunting adventure held the audience enthralled especially it some beHttling incident in It fastenednickname ontofellowthing always dear t0 the Indian heart Tales of journeys wereIndianrecited with magnification of the trivial and exaltation of the outstanding These tales are Tolds told by grandather to boys Art surprise ingenuitythe comiewere interwoven into the fabric but the most acceptable wereall theadroitly myth-tales those that the creature-Kind talked with man and the animals themselves were the actors in them He says thattheir search for material the elderly men sometimes went to the rocks on which ancienttroglyphs were Incised and sat and studied them forday theor several days until firmly fixed in nemory and then from the profusion of glyphs deducingtale to accord this was then cast into an entertaining highly imaginative closely following the glyphs on the rocks These tales are of the form of Alice in Wonderland beasts birds fishes take partwisdomorderis omnipresent to all for never Is mistake madethe animal actor does brecisely the right thing at precisely the right timeand all for Man which with Ted is synonyuous with Pahvant Indian Ted says that one such Told in his tribe was man got from the group of petroglyphs reproduced by photo accompanying found Canyon butfew miles from his home In Kanosh Utah inThatClearas aGreek boy asspeclal reward because he among thie young listeners could recite the tale best of the hearers was tops his class he was taken to this group bydelighted an 0ld grandfather As Tedin rehearsed tale in each instance wlere it coincided with the petroglyphic tnerecord the Instructor clinchied the authenticity narration with such comment as There It true Rock say of the or handed down Jong timeShenobe write it And Shenobe being Told the mythical halt-god half-man supernatural culture-hero of the Pahvant Utes what more pressive record on the youthful mind than to find confirmation in mthe actual rocks from an original ancient beyond doubt It is this Told gives me His educationprobably of sixth or eight grade grammar Tedschool sohave purposely in some instances and unconsciously in others cast in places Into our more flowing mold of language but still retain the it tang or flavor of his idiom Let me add in conversation Ted could recite it very pleasingly and act the pantomime of the animal parts inimitably The tale is Teds Ted reverently believes that Shenobe the great Ute culture-hero actwally cut the record on the rocks aforetime when the world was young and the years were few and untried And hesincere in telling me that the Told has been kept allve by having been handed dows by grandfather-talks to boys aao Digital image 2003 Beckwith Family Al rights reserved