Week 9 Storytelling: Coming To You Live!

Seagulls (Source)

The disaster had already occurred. The sheer force of the wind had knocked many of the trees down, half of the land was flooded due to the over powering ocean waves, and many of the people were completely terrified. It was the aftermath of a hurricane.

“My name is Betty and this is XYZ coming to you live after a great disaster has hit the Gulf of Mexico,” boomed the young news caster clenching her microphone. This was not her first news report, but it was her first natural disaster. She was nervous. With her blonde curls hair sprayed to perfection and the red rouge flawlessly spread across her lips, Betty look confidently into the camera exclaiming,

“As you can see a great tragedy has struck the people of the Gulf. In fact, the hurricane waters were actually so strong it created three large islands just off the coast of Texas. With their land significantly reduced and their homes destroyed, it looks like it will be a long recovery for these peoples. I have here with me an eye witness who can tell us what happened.”

The camera panned to the right, paused, only for a second, and then tilted downward. It was a small boy, no older than five-years-old. Betty was gracefully squatting down next to the young child, holding the XYZ news labeled microphone up to his face.

“Can you tell us your name?” Betty asked the young boy.

“Umm, Michael,” he said nervously, unable to look away from the camera.

“Hi Michael. A little birdie told me that you were able to see everything during the hurricane and even before hand. Can you tell me about it?”

“Uh-huh.” Still unable to remove his eyes to the glossy black lends, Michael took a deep breath and began to account the events leading up to the disaster.

“Well we used to live out over there,” he said pointing to three large islands in the distance, “but because the fierce tribes from the north came down and started to be mean to the birds, the Storm God came and saved his birdies. At least that’s what my mom says.”

“Storm God!” Betty said with a shocked expression across her face. “Tell me about him.”

Michael grasped the mic from Betty’s hand and pointing out to the vast ocean he began, “Well the Storm God lives wayyy out there in the warm water. He’s kinda scary because of his pet bird he rides. His bird’s name is Hurakan and he is HUGE and shoots lightening! But it’s ok because they only come to visit us when he needs more feathers from our pretty birds to make his cloak. We always know when he is coming because suddenly everything is cloudy and the wind blows really hard and it gets kinda dark and then my mom comes and pulls me into our wigwam. So then I miss all the fun. My mom always seems much happier when the Storm God is gone though.”

“Wow that’s really a story there Michael. But can you tell me more about how this Storm God saved the birds?” Betty said with a glowing smile across her face.

“Sure!” he exclaimed. “Well when the mean tribe came they started being mean to all of the birds. The birds started being really loud making weird chirpy, quaking noises. Then all of the sudden there was a big BOOM and a POW, and lots of lightening. Nighttime then came really fast and the ocean water started to be really loud with gigantic waves!”

“Oh wow!” Betty began, but was quickly interrupted by an exclamatory “I know!” from Michael.

“I was in my wigwam with my mom and dad but I could still hear the wind because it was really loud and then there was lots of water everywhere! When it finally stopped I crawled out of my wigwam and saw the water start to leave and pieces of the land started floating way! I guess that’s where all the birdies live now since the Storm God loves them so much.”

“So you’re telling me that the Storm God created a big storm just to create islands for his birds to live and plants to grow?” asked Betty unbelievingly.

“Yes!” Michael exclaimed. “The Storm God loves his birdies!”

Betty took the microphone from Michael’s hands. “Well thank you so much for sharing all of this with me Michael.”

“Yeah!” he exclaimed. “You know I’ve never been on live television before. I’ve never ever been on live television!”

“Really now!” Betty said with a giggle. “Well you’re a natural!”

Michael grinned from ear to ear as Betty patted him on the head and, with a kind nudge, she sent him back to his mother who was standing just shy of where they were filming. As Michael galloped towards his mom, Betty stood up and brought the microphone to her lips.

With a smile she looked at the camera and said, “There you have it. A Storm God came to the Texas Gulf and created a hurricane to protect his precious birds. He is truly a humanitarian and super hero all in one. For XYZ news, this is Betty signing off!”

The Storm God’s birds now had a new home on the islands where they could live safely under the shelter of their beloved Storm God. And with that, the tribes went on to peacefully co-exist in the great land of Texas.

Pelican Island (Source)

Author's Note. This retelling is based off the story When the Storm God Rides, which tells the Tejas Indians legend of how hurricanes came to be. The Storm God lived off the coast in the warm water and would come to the main land to collect the feathers from the birds that lived on the Gulf of Mexico for his cloak. He would come in riding his great thunder bird Hurakan, which is where hurricane gets its name from, and essentially causing a hurricane every time he would visit the mainland. When a new Indian tribe moved in and started to treat the birds badly, the birds began to cry out to the Storm God for help. This sent the Storm God into a rage causing him to create, what I would consider, a category 5 hurricane. The hurricane was so tremendous that it created islands off the coast for the birds to live peacefully and safe, creating a sanctuary for the birds and plant. With the birds on their own island the Storm God could visit them anytime he wished.  There is actually an island in Galveston called Pelican Island where many of the different types of birds (mostly pelicans) live peacefully. They call it a bird sanctuary. 

I chose to do a newscast as a fun way to tell the legend of how hurricanes came to be. Whenever there is a natural disaster there is always a news report over it, but what I chose to do was incorporate the recent viral video, which you can find on YouTube, of a little boy who was interviewed on Good Moring America who has been dubbed ‘Apparently’ kid. 

Bibliography. When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).