Native America: Understanding the Past through Things

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 06.04.08

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Rationale
  3. What is a Myth?
  4. Religion and Human Sacrifice
  5. Writing and Literature
  6. Popol Vuh
  7. Brief Look at Inca Civilization 1200-1534 A.D.
  8. Inca Wealth
  9. Inca Human Sacrifice
  10. Inca Writing System—Khipu—Destruction and Impact on Literature
  11. Mythology of the Inca—Common Features
  12. Inca Myth Choice #One—"The Rod of Gold"
  13. Inca Myth Choice #Two—"The Boy Who Rose to the Sky"
  14. Inca Myth Choice #3—"Why the Fox Has a Huge Mouth"
  15. Inca Myth Choice #4—"The Mouse Husband"
  16. Other Tools Used in This Unit
  17. Fun Notes/Activities on This Unit
  18. Classroom Activities
  19. Pennsylvania Academic Standards
  20. Works Cited and Resources for Teachers
  21. Resources for Students
  22. Appendix A

Mythology of the Inca and Maya

Janelle A. Price

Published September 2006

Tools for this Unit:

Inca Myth Choice #4—"The Mouse Husband"

This story again personifies animals. It is also a story of love and revenge. The gentle mouse husband, the hero, falls in love with a woman. The woman is a shapeshifter. The woman's mother, whose face is like a cat's, is the shadow. The story also brings out another feature of myths by recalling a time when animals were magical. They could change into other things and were closer to humans.

The mouse husband transforms himself into a human for the daughter, but he never allows the mother to see him as he fears her cat-like face. The mouse is kind, loving, and a good provider. These are excellent traits in a husband by Inca and most other cultures' standards. The mouse husband tries to reveal himself as he truly is to his wife, but she cannot see him. Perhaps she does not have the love or need to see him. She only likes his attention and how he provides. When the mother brutally kills the mouse husband and her daughter's baby, she does it like a cat. Clawing and taking the air out of the baby's lungs. The mouse husband first buries his child in a place where he will keep the gravesite alive with his tears and then seeks his revenge. With his mouse companions, he empties the house of the food he has provided and then attacks and eats the mother. There is no mention of what happens to the daughter, but one can image she is abandoned because she failed to love the mouse husband and failed to care for her baby the way a true wife/mother would.

The ordinary world is the world the mouse husband comes from and the special world is the world with the humans. The journey the mouse hero takes is bittersweet. He achieves his ideal of having the woman as his wife only to realize that the prize has too high of a price. The mouse shows more emotion, particularly love, than his wife and the mother together. His revenge is swift and just.

Comments:

Hayden O'rourke

February 28, 2019 at 3:53 am

Inca Children at Work and Play

Dear Yale National Initiative, I wanted to thank you for creating a great lesson on having students use picture analysis skills and background knowledge of children for this activity. I really think the requirements and assessment anchors are well thought out and have a clear goal in the end. My only suggestion is if there is a way to make the images bigger?

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