Richard J. Ronayne

Ghostwriting

The Urban Writers

Ghost-writing for the Urban Writers under a pen name, I have developed clients’ ideas through every stage of the process into fully published books.

Below I example the on-boarding demo, created from a simple brief.

Tales From the Night Pyre
Native American Folklore

 
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Wendigo
The Legend Of
Reviving the Wendigo
Chapter 2: Uktena
The Legend Of
Reviving the Uktena
References
 
Introduction
Compelling storytelling is education. As you go through your day, all of your powerfully evolved senses form a reality upon which you analyze and act within. You analyze what you see, hear, smell, taste and touch to form a narrative of your surroundings that your mind can understand and exist within. When you were a child however, finding context to your untrained analytical abilities was nigh impossible, resulting in a view of the world that was much smaller and significantly more confusing. Compelling storytelling is what teaches human children how to comprehend the concrete environments we have built around us, the emotional connections between family members, and even the greater universe that we have discovered that we exist within. 
None know of the importance of compelling storytelling more than parents and educators. There is evidence that reading to your child within the womb is where the critical benefits begin, and they are truly crucially critical to a child’s development. It is how they learn important social skills such as paying attention with patience to those speaking to them. This is how we become aware that others have thoughts and feelings that may even differ from our own. It improves their memory, their ability to communicate and accurately express themselves with a greater vocabulary. It allows a child the freedom to explore their imagination, encouraging creativity as well as instilling vital virtues. 
Realistically, it isn't always so easy. For those that remember a time before iPads and video resources on demand, there was always a difficulty, akin to a professional wrestling match, to retain the undivided attention of every child within a class. Even the child read to at bedtime could struggle to accept the inhumane attack on their civil liberties when asked to lay still and listen through a story. With the rise of technology, it is so much easier to justify letting them fall asleep playing their game or watching their favorite cartoon. Unfortunately, this often results in an addiction to electronics and debilitated attention spans. How can you possibly compete with such visually addictive on-demand libraries? 
Every parent and teacher are engaged in a brutal arms race against streaming services, for the eternal fight of influencing their child's development. In this dystopian normality, not all visual resources are useless as not all books are useful, and the secret to success is often to simply maintain the ability to compete. To stay in the race. For as many hundreds of thousands of quick clicking online videos there are, there is also an overwhelming amount of children's literature being released in response. 
Powerfully compelling storytelling is behind all the success of our species. We arrived here today on the words of all those that came before us. Millennia old stories are still relevant today and are widely underutilized and overlooked. Gather around the warm flames with your ancestors and arm yourselves with compelling stories from Native American Folklore, Myths, and Legends. 
 
 
Chapter 1: The Wendigo
Life in ancient Northern America was often deathly harsh and unforgiving. Larger and more vicious carnivores than we know now were not as scared of attacking competing human hunters. Though most tribes were peaceful nature-respecting groups, others were more aggressive. War was common between tribes as an easy source of conflict resolution and means to expand. When strange foreigners arrived from across the ocean and began their unstoppable conquest of the entirety of America, most tribes tried for peaceful measures, yet found death anyway. None of these tragedies could remotely claim a similar headcount to sickness and famine as the most common cause of death. 
As every tribe grew, supporting the increased population became increasingly difficult. Although more hunters would come of age, loss was common, and aging hunters that survived long enough would be forced to retire before inevitably perishing in the wilderness, or at least becoming a liability in the hunt. Flora and fauna would wax and wane as Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, gave as often as he took away. Therefore, even the most carefully cared for crops, wild berries and fruits, could elude sufficient harvest some years. Natural disasters, terrible storms, forest fires, plagues of insects could all lead to breaking of the natural life cycle that led to sufficient sustenance for growing tribes.
When the berries and fruit are absent, all life suffers. The spritely deer population leaves to find greater gains. The mighty bison herds starve and slow, becoming easy prey to predators, or simply starving to death to the benefit of none. Even the wolves and bears suffer for this, becoming ravenously hungry in the absence of prey, increasingly tempted to hunt the tribes. Whom themselves suffer similarly in the harshest conditions, as it is the winter that kills and restores the balance of prey and predator. Every winter is a struggle to survive. 
As isolated families became increasingly desperate to survive, they all had to fight temptations that are mostly alien to us now in our plentiful modern civilization. Without our comforts and protections, we would otherwise encounter similar fates more often. For how hungry must one get before the darkest, most desperate thought enters their mind? Cannibalism. The epitome of greed. Where one not just decides that their survival is more important than another's, but that their sustenance is an acceptable survival method. 
Everyone would be starving in the harshest of winters, and yet only the few would resign to their temptations. A few chose not to go hungry like the rest of their tribe or the surrounding families and groups. Those few chose to become predators to their own species. Opportunistically preying upon the weak and vulnerable, they would be consumed by their monstrous appetites. They would become Wendigo, growing larger in size, as well as appetite, for every taste of human flesh they could not resist. As their heart turned to ice, and a cloud of stinking death surrounded them. 

The Legend Of The Wendigo: Example Of Storytelling
Starving, through another hard winter, Akecheta woke, determined to go once more on the hunt, however desperate. His father, Annawon, had long ago retired from hunting, leaving it to his physically capable son to perform what he spent many years teaching. As Akecheta took up his bow, he looked around at his starving skeletal looking family. Annawon still lay huddled to his wife, Tehya, in their blankets, with barely the strength to move. His wife, Olafe, cradled their whimpering child, Onida, who was crying for more food, which Olafe was struggling to produce as she herself had not eaten sufficiently despite being prioritized over the others so the child’s growth would not be stunted. Olafe looked up at Akecheta as they shared a silent knowing look. This would be the last winter for Annawon and Tehya, and it was probable that Onida would also not see the spring unless Watan Tanka chose otherwise and sought to graciate Akecheta’s hunt. 
Turning away from them, after so little food for so very long, dark thoughts entered Akecheta’s mind but for a moment. The need to survive was taking hold as a whisper of cannibalism tried to take root in his mind. His parents were certain to perish, but the nourishing gifts his parents could give them could allow for his child to survive. Akecheta summoned what strength he had within to resist and eliminate the cursed thought. He spat the evil taste from his skull onto the ground in stoic refusal and headed out into the wilderness. 
Akecheta had exhaustedly traveled great distances between the traps that he laid for game, each one showing no signs of any activity. He crouched now, within a wilted forest blanketed with snow, investigating a telling trap he had set for a rabbit. The trap had been activated and blood was splattered around the scene, yet there was no sign of the catch. He saw no signs of wolves, bears, or cougars having stolen his hard worked-for spoils either. As he stowed his bow and found no signs of the remains, he stumbled upon large inhuman prints nearby. Immediately, a disgusting taste of death was carried through a freezing wind, violating his nose and mouth. He slowly pulled his bow out and readied an arrow, recognizing the danger from the tales his parents had told him in similar winters passed. 
A blood curdling scream was quietly carried across the wind which became more violent around Akecheta. He spotted the slightest of movements and laid his gaze upon the creature. A ruinously stretched humanoid shape, twice as tall as a man, with exaggeratedly elongated limbs stared back at him from behind a tree with white pupiless eyes. He could see its weathered gray skin, barely clinging to its skeletal but clearly powerful form. Long dark greasy hair clung to its horrifying visage of a face, horrifying fanged mouth held impossibly wide, enough to fit an entire human skull within. A Wendigo. 
As the Wendigo poured salivation from its mouth, tilting its head slowly to one side, Akecheta knew it could not be satiated. Cursed with unending hunger for performing the most abhorrent of crimes, cannibalism. This Wendigo was a person once, and now its heart had frozen to ice. Suddenly, it burst forth at unreal speed towards him. Akecheta had been waiting for it to get closer, and let his arrow fly true into the horrid beast's left eye. Screaming otherworldly and kicking up snow as it roiled in pain, it quickly spat towards him before scurrying away unnaturally on all fours quicker than Akecheta could ready another arrow. 
Akecheta would live to see another day, but he would return home without food once more. Proud nonetheless of his skill, he stowed his bow away from another long, fruitless day of hunting as he approached his home. Olafe stood outside the tent in the falling snow as Akecheta realized that two freshly dug mounds in the ground were the buried bodies of Annawon and Tehya laid to rest. He also saw a smaller one beside them and understood immediately that Onida had surprisingly also perished. Olafe was uncontrollably weeping, holding her head in her hands in a collapsed heap beside the small grave. 
Flinching away at Akecheta’s physical attempts to console her, as he tried to inquire as to what had happened, he saw a glimpse of blood on her hands. Standing back, and arming his bow, she finally turned to face him, and as he saw her missing left eye, a stinking, deathly freezing gust of wind surrounded them as Akecheta's eyes went wide with the realization that not every member of his family had had his strength to resist the dark hunger. 

Reviving the Wendigo 
An important part of Native American culture was that of the tribal elders whose responsibility it was to pass on the history and culture of their peoples to the next generation. These were carefully remembered oral renditions of the very same stories once told to them by generations passed and it continued efficiently, without iPads,  for 15-30,000 years ago when the first migration crossed the now sunken Siberian landbridge from ancient Eurasia. 
That’s not bad considering modern Western cultures predominantly rehash altered renditions of Catholic Church approved stories dating back only just over 1,000 years. There are many European tales from folklore that are not well known until a recent resurgence of cultural interest created by the Information Age’s downfall of Christian traditions. Pagan stories that survived only did so if they were fortunate enough to be written down, and even then the Church would often consume them and after leagues of holy editing, release them to the public with no account for their wild plagiarism. 
Fortunately, for culture and history, the Catholic Church did not have access to the entire world, where large civilizations of indeginous peoples could survive with impunity. The cultures protected from the Pope’s heavy handed redactions. Today, surviving groups of Native American tribes hold onto their proud history tightly, often refusing to share stories of their folklore to this day. Yet some, like the Wendigo, they have kindly shared so that their people’s culture could be better understood. 
The Tribal Elders would share compelling storytelling through a mixture of mediums that are still effective today. Reading from a book has its uses, but have you tried speech, song, ballads, prose or verses? The Tribal Elders enjoyed mixing up the oral transmission of storytelling to keep the kids on their toes, famously including dance and shadow puppets. 
A quiet space would be made at every opportunity, whether a family or community gathering, ceremony or ritual, where any story told would never be told the same way twice. Artistic additions could be added between generations to improve the story, or modernize it, or they would embellish or omit particular parts that may not have been appropriate to that individual occasion’s audience. One would be wise to bear that in mind with the tellings of the Wendigo. 
These oral narratives were essential for retaining and growing their cultural identity, where members of the audience were permitted to join the storytelling, each adding respective alterations to an individual telling to create a collaborative essence that further engaged the listeners and would do well in modern classrooms today. 
These exchanges of stories, folklore, myths, legends, philosophies, and narratives all powerfully exchanged educational information regarding history, literacy, morality, values, and coming of age. If that sounds familiar, it is because it is exactly the same methods we use today, explaining the success of Native American storytelling for so many thousands of years. 
Critically, moralistic values were established through compelling storytelling. Apache Elders would use compelling storytelling to establish social offenses to their culture of honor and heritage. The Sioux tribe would use a mischievous protagonist to example the foolishness of negative traits such as pride and vanity whilst the Ojibwe tribe told of characters that would enact punishment for misbehavior. 
Their stories also ground their culture in respect for their origin to maintain an eco-friendly respect for the world around them, establishing their place in existence. The Sioux told of a Great Race between humans and buffalo, that man barely won, giving respect and thanks to the creatures while also allowing room for empathetic perspective of how it could have been the other way around. Apache culture told stories even through their naming of places, as the name would tell of the history that occurred there. This served as a social anchor that passively taught mindfulness of a tribal member's life, behavior and responsibilities within the community. Cheyenne culture similarly encouraged idealistic values in naming sacred places after their greatest heroes, where one could literally walk the same path. 
Often, in Native American storytelling, the morals are not explicitly explained, encouraging deep thought from even children to ponder upon and find their own meaning from the story by asking questions, performing or retelling the story themself. 
With these in mind, the purpose of the Wendigo stories are open to you as well as the children you choose to pass the story onto. There are varied tellings of the Wendigo between differing tribes, but all agree that the Wendigo is the ultimate embodiment of gluttony, never satiated by its meal and forever cursed to continue feasting hopelessly, teaching important values of the need for cooperation and moderation, especially in difficult times. 
The tribes closest to the arctic wastes would even perform a ceremonial dance during such times of famine to further highlight the serious warnings of the Wendigo. Known as wiindigookaanzhimowin, the tribes would wear masks and dance backwards around a drum to create the greatest possible spectacle to forewarn of the very real dangers of starvation. 
We know today that these dangers are true psychological afflictions that people are susceptible to, even still. Known as Wendigo Psychosis, for which there are many very real reports of individuals becoming “possessed by the Wendigo spirit” to survive horrendous situations that leave them no other choice to survive. The affliction is a retroactive diagnosis given to countless reports and factual encounters of desperately isolated indiginous individuals. 
There are modern western plane crash survivors that were forced to turn to cannibalism for survival, but did not then struggle to return to their post-event diets after the fact. This leads to Wendigo Psychosis being characterized as a culture-bound syndrome, unique to the specific culture of First Nations due to psychiatric and somatic symptoms. The prevalence of this illness has all but gone extinct in the modern world of sedentary, less rurally isolating lifestyles. So, there is thankfully no fear of accidentally turning children into cannibals after telling them of the Wendigo. Their teeth are too small anyway. 
We should tell the story of the Wendigo as it is more than just a horror story about a corrupted individual, but a metaphorical concept that can be carried through to teach of all forms of tempting gluttonous corruptions found in all aspects of life, from politicians to ideologies, concepts to society itself. Corruption and greed are particularly pervasive within capitalism, causing widely known continued destruction throughout the history of the world. 
In more recent times, the Native Americans would use the tales of the Wendigo to not just characterize destructive tendencies in those fallen to tempting desires, but also to help their children understand complex ideas such as one group, perhaps colonials, dominating another group. They describe the colonials as agents of the Wendigo. Haven forced them from their ancient lands, throwing the natural world out of balance. American colonization itself being the cannibalistic monster here, and this social cannibalism is difficult to argue against. 
The story of the Wendigo has very modern applications, and could be used to aid in the explanation of the world’s growing inequality, excess materialism, pollution, deforestation and war. It is a difficult concept for children to not want for more than they need, particularly in a world of increasing ease of access for commodities and entertainment. Instilling the important values to suppress an individual’s selfish and excessive desire for what they enjoy, whether it be food, money, belongings or attention. The long curling fingers of the Wendigo’s afflicting greed reach far and wide to almost all aspects of life. 
Those afflicted by the Wendigo will perhaps achieve a great deal of success regarding their chosen target, which in the real world hopefully isn’t human flesh, but it is inevitable that they will leave destruction and pain in their wake, destroying lives and relationships on their ravenous path. Take the child that doesn’t want to share their toys, but wants others to allow them to play with theirs, obviously a Wendigo. That one in the classroom that always wants to answer the questions to consume all the positive recognition from the teacher, you know they’re a Wendigo, right? Luckily, we know better, and the Native Americans held out such judgment for cannibals, but the story of the Wendigo clearly has many opportunities to be employed to teach gratitude. 
There are many famous educational texts regarding greed as it is globally recognized as a vitally virtuous value to esteem. Some of the most esteemed are Aesop’s fable of “The Flies in the Honey-Pot” or darker toned tales from the Brothers Grimm such as “The Juniper Tree” and “Rumpelstiltskin”. Tales of the Wendigo would sit gruesome hand in hand with such similarly toned warnings. 
Darker toned tales can be difficult to explore with children if applied inappropriately or mistimedly, yet it can provide many important positives for young minds. Darker toned stories can provide access into the more difficult conversations and topics to prepare children for the larger world. Provocative stories offer particular words to the youth to communicate their feelings through context, as well as providing a guide to grieving, processing emotions, or experiencing or witnessing traumatic events. If simply left to only experience fluffy happy books, then a child’s whole development is not being reinforced and they will struggle with mature reading that is essential in later educational years, let alone the difficult world with which they are to be part of. 
So, while there are advantages to reading lighter stories on the topic of gluttony such as “The Talking Eggs”, “It’s My Tree” or even the lovable “Pig the Pug” series, think perhaps of returning to these darker toned stories of ages past. Revive the Wendigo.  

Chapter 2: Uktena
Needless to say, the tribes that made up all the nations of the Native Americans were rather superstitious. Superstition, defined as a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation. Which could also be said of all modern cultures too, when western airlines deliberately avoid a thirteenth aisle or gate, hotels forego any rooms of the number, and architects often attempt to never make a thirteenth floor wherever possible. Good luck charms are countless and on the rise in younger generations, already surpassing statistics of superstition in their parents and grandparents.
The critical differences here are that today we know that these superstitions are nonsensical, and that a creepy rabbit’s foot doesn't actually bring us good luck, but choose to believe in them because it gives us a sense of control over elements of existence which we do not. This harmless habit effectively treats anxieties and strengthens confidence, regardless of what our scientific minds know full well.
The Native Americans did not know that their superstitions were scientifically illogical. They fully believed them, as they had so very little control over elements of existence which we do have now. This is evident in their stories, as our ancestors did the same in passing down desperate attempts to understand the forces of the world around them. It was necessary to their very survival. Particularly in the point of when one is informed of a superstition and the consequences of disobeying it, one will not want to risk tempting fate in refusing to abide. This is particularly important for the cost effectiveness of a superstition, where, for example, extra effort is consciously applied when around mirrors to not break them, not just because of respect for the object, but because we all believe it will have dire consequences. In the tales of the Uktena, there is a warning to these costs.
The Uktena is a creature of the underworld, though it can sometimes find its way to the surface world, where it nests in lakes and rivers. It is said to be as thick as a tree trunk, and immeasurably long, covered in treasures, as its scales are made of glistening diamonds, with one large diamond on its head shining like the sun. Ulun’suti is the name given to that large diamond, and it grants a person or tribe great boons. Possession of an Ulun’suti will guarantee success in all things from hunting to love,  rainmaking to miracle cures. Greater still, does it permit the owner to consult the future, where the Ulun’suti will conjure an image to answer any questions they wish premonitioned. Will your child live to be an old man? Will your husband return from the battle? Will you recover from your sickness?
However, the Ulun’suti is not so easy to obtain from the skull of an Uktena. The gargantuan serpent has rings of color along its swollen length, and is impervious to physical harm but for exactly the seventh spot under the head, where resides its heart. Not only that, but if the Uktena sees you, you become spellbound by the gleaming ray of light from Ulun’suti, and forced against your will to run suicidally straight at the great serpent without any mind to attack or even defend yourself. Furthermore, instant death occurs to any unfortunate enough to inhale even the smallest amount of the creature’s pestilent breath. And, just to prove the Uktena fights unfairly, not the hunter, but their whole family die if he looks upon the Uktena during its slumber.

The Legend Of The Uktena: Example Of Storytelling
Akecheta, the hunter of his family, had left his wife Olafe and newborn daughter Onida in the care of the wealth of wisdom that his parents Annawon and Tehya possessed. In the heights of the summer season, the sun shone down with relentless oppression, and yet his wife had become gravely ill in recent days. Without her mother’s health and care, his daughter’s life would also be in danger.
These were the fearful thoughts that distracted Akecheta during his hunt. As his traps proved inefficient, each catch outwitting him, leaving only broken pieces in the hasty escapes so he could not even repurpose them. His morning was fruitless. After several hours of tracking deer, all his arrows failed to fly true. The deer bleating as they scurried away triumphantly, almost as if taunting him. His frustration swelling, he sought to cool his body and his worries in the cold clear waters of a nearby river.
As he lay floating on the surface, his mind emptied and his primed hunting senses returned to him at last. Just in time to alert him to motion further down the river, as a huge, glisteningly scaled serpent’s body slowly slithered away. As thick as a tree trunk, he could only guess as to how long the creature was, with only a partial segment currently visible.
He remembered hastily stories told by his parents of the monstrous demon serpents from the underworld, Uktena. He recalled the story piece by piece. A horned gargantuan snake of swollen size, its ringed scales made of glistening diamond, with a still larger gem atop its forehead. An Ulun’suti, which would grant success in all things, as well as the ability to see into the future, to those who can pry it from a slain Uktena.
Excitement at curing his wife, and achieving endless success for his family thereafter rushed into his mind. Though this gave him the confidence to challenge the Uktena, it clouded his mind to elements of the serpent told in the stories. He struggled to recall two more facts. That the snake would charm those who it gazes upon, forcing them to charge forward without a care for self defense, presenting an easy meal for the demon. Uktena additionally possessed a pestilent breath that brought instant death to those who inhale it, and were impervious to physical harm, but for the seventh coloured ring beneath it’s head, for this is where the creature’s black heart lay.
Akecheta was desperate to save his wife, so he excitedly set about his mission, dismissing the final facts taught to him long ago, where to gaze upon the beast whilst sleeping brought death not to the hunter, but to his family. How else could he defeat such a creature, if not whilst it slept, surely this must be a superstitious embellishment.
With these things in mind, he focused his mind, and followed the tail of the Uktena from a distance, leading him to a cave which he deduced must be where it nested. He waited patiently for nightfall, mentally preparing himself for the battle ahead. When he deemed it was time, he crept into the cave and found the creature's body stretched throughout the cave systems within.
Upon approaching its massive, horned head from behind, he found it was indeed asleep. Counting seven rings down from its skull, he took a deep breath and plunged his knife through, his arm pushing into his shoulder, piercing something soft inside. The creature’s eye, larger than Akecheta’s body, opened suddenly before falling limp, confirming its death.
Akecheta wasted no time, in cutting the Ulun’suti away from the Uktena’s forehead, and rushing home, plotting to return for the scales the next day, he truly believed he had saved Olafe and Onida with the boons of the Ulun’suti. If only he had obeyed the warning against gazing upon a sleeping Uktena.

Reviving the Uktena
The legend of the Uktena is a longstanding and widely used narrative throughout Native American history and culture. They are seen as counterparts to the overworld entities known as Thunderbirds, and when thunder can be heard and lightning lights the dark nights across the great plains, it is thought that these two entities are warring in an epic battle of powers beyond the understanding of men.
Though the Thunderbirds are certainly held in high esteem, always sitting atop the famous totem poles due to their importance, they are not seen as purely good creatures, as the Uktena are not seen as purely evil beings either. Nowhere in Native American culture is there such a black and white perception, all their characters and revered spirits, even Wakan Tanka, the closest thing to a deity within their culture, is multifaceted and understood to be beyond the understanding, and certainly the judgements, of men.
Within this understanding, is a relentless teaching of respect and humility. The story of the Uktena is a useful continuation of this, as a warrior would risk everything to obtain the Ulun’suti, certainly if he does not heed the complicated multifaceted details taught within the story revealing how to defeat the Uktena safely. Thus reinforcing the importance of patient listening alongside the skills required to weigh up risks and rewards.
Useful application within a modern classroom might seem obvious here to some, as Native American children would have paid intense attention to every word, so as not to meet a foolish end for themselves, or their family, in the chance encounter with such a being that they wholly believed to be true. As a positive of truly believed superstitious cultures, this intense attention would then carry through to other stories that were shared. Of course, they never had to perform the grueling test of combating such creatures, as far as we know, and still, a written exam is probably more effective in today’s education systems. Potentially.

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