Commentary: The Dead Wife, Part I

In The Yellow Fairy Book, Andrew Lang notes that The Dead Wife is an Iroquois tale; he gives no further detail. At the time of publication, the Iroquois nation most likely consisted of six tribes, also known as the Six Nations: Cayuga; Mohawk; Oneida; Onondaga; Seneca; and Tuscarora peoples. Each of these groups has its own mythology and folklore in relation to the dead and spiritual beliefs vary—as such, it is difficult to quantify and discuss exactitudes in the context of The Dead Wife. It's also important to note that the current beliefs of the groups within the Iroquois nation may be different to those of the past, and that the European and American understanding of both present and past sets of beliefs may be incomplete.

I've spent the past few days paging about JSTOR and the internet in general looking for information about the role of women and the wife in the above-mentioned Native American groups. I've also had a dig about for information about tale types concerning the dead. Scholarship relevant to this tale type has proven to be scarce, so this week's commentary will have more of an opinion-feel than usual. And now, on to Orpheus…

The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

The theme of the hero following a loved one to the underworld appears to be quite common in North American myth collections. Sometimes the tales include very specific details—like that of Orpheus and Eurydice, while others simply follow a "tale template," with a framework comprised of the following elements [Gayton, 1935]:

1. Following of the deceased
2. Hero has or receives supernatural aid
3. Discouragement from deceased
4. Westerly direction of journey
5. Encountering of obstacles
a) Water
b) Other physical obstacles
c) Obstacles of temptation
6. Overcoming of obstacles
a) Of water, by unstable bridge or broken canoe
b) Other obstacles, by scarcely adequate means
7. Presence of a guardian or chief of afterworld
8. Assistance given by this person
9. Attributes of afterworld
a) Place of happiness, especially dancing
b) Active at night, quiescent during day
c) Other reversals
d) Inexhaustible food
e) Objection to odor of living, person
10. Recovery of deceased contingent upon
a) Maintaining continence
b) Not opening soul-container
c) Other tabus, as, not looking, etc.
11. Conditions not fulfilled, or (rare) conditions fulfilled
12. Performance of a ceremony on return
13. Explanatory element
a) Nature of afterworld
b) How nature of afterworld is known
c) Why death is permanent, or why the dead cannot revisit
this world
Excerpted from The Orpheus Myth in North America, pp.263-264[1]

It is important to note that although a tale need not have all of the above elements to fit the Orpheus tale type, most tales contain what Gaytor calls a "major number" and that, while there are also North American

…stories of revivals, such as that of a dead girl in her burial tipi, so popular in the Plains, or of the revival of the first victim of death which occurs in Origin of Death stories general in western North America. But these are not related to nor to be confused with the Orpheus tale, for no pursuit to the afterworld and experience there are involved. Neither are stories of visitations from ghosts of concern here. Tales of a wife stolen and pursued to some exotic place such as the sky-world are unrelated to the Orpheus story[2].

So, where does The Dead Wife fit in? Two elements within our tale template fit the story—

2. Hero has or receives supernatural aid---Then she [the wife] spoke to him and said, "The Great Spirit felt sorry for you, because you would not be comforted, so he let me come back to you…

5.c) Obstacles of temptation---but you must not stretch out your hand to touch me till we have seen the rest of our people. If you do, I shall die."

Gaytor makes the point, however, that to belong in the Orpheus type, a tale must have a major number of the listed elements; it is reasonable to assume that a major number is greater than two. The other jarring inconsistency with placing The Dead Wife within the Orpheus tale type is that no visit to the afterworld or experience therein is present—in fact, all the interactions within the tale take place within the real world, and the only magical element is the wife's return. Moreover, the tale is not about a visitation, for the wife has returned, and is in fact, represented as flesh and blood. If she truly is flesh and blood, we cannot be certain, for she is replaced by the doll the very moment she is touched.

If The Dead Wife is not included within the Orpheus tale type, where does it belong? Well, I'm still looking; I'll post when I find out.

Iroquois Tales—What We Do Know

At first, I titled this section "What We Don't Know". Then I realised that not only is there too much that I don't know, but I'm not even sure what it is I don't know. So what we do we know?

In her paper, Psychological Types from Iroquois Folktales, Martha Champion Randle notes that the main body of Iroquois tales are intended for adults and that, though the stories are quite magical in content, they are also well-tied to the real world [Champion Randle, 1952]. The paper continues on, discussing tale types and characters, including notes on the role of women within the Iroquois. Tomorrow we'll focus on this, for although it is the male who is the "hero" or protagonist of our story, it's only in relation to his wife that he is important.