The Story of Yan
Created | Updated Aug 21, 2003
Once upon a time, there was a woman, whose name nobody knew, so we'll just call her, Yan.
Yan ate people whenever she got a chance. She'd invite them to dinner and they, little knowing they were on the menu, gratefully accepted the invitation, because food was hard to come by. When the people would fall asleep after the big meal, she'd carve the flesh off their bones and dry it on a rack in back of her lodge.
Old Man Coyote came by and by, but he wasn't fooled by the dinner invitation. He stayed awake the whole time and instead of getting eaten, he married Yan and they had many children together, all the children in the world in fact.
Now, many years later some of these children started growing red hair and they began to practice the cannibalism of their grandmother. Besides having red hair, they also had white skins like ghosts and were widely feared.
One day some white people came into the country and the people were very frightened and began to run away. But a little girl couldn't keep up and no matter what her mother said to her, she wouldn't budge. So when her aunt came along, the aunt told the mother to bury the little girl so the cannibals wouldn't find her.
So that's what they did. They buried the little girl up to her neck and put bush over her face so the sun wouldn't burn it and they left her there the whole day. Finally, after it was dark, they returned to get the little girl.
After such an annoying experience, the little girl decided she didn't want to be buried everytime some white people came into the country, so when she grew up, she became a Christian.
Yan ate people whenever she got a chance. She'd invite them to dinner and they, little knowing they were on the menu, gratefully accepted the invitation, because food was hard to come by. When the people would fall asleep after the big meal, she'd carve the flesh off their bones and dry it on a rack in back of her lodge.
Old Man Coyote came by and by, but he wasn't fooled by the dinner invitation. He stayed awake the whole time and instead of getting eaten, he married Yan and they had many children together, all the children in the world in fact.
Now, many years later some of these children started growing red hair and they began to practice the cannibalism of their grandmother. Besides having red hair, they also had white skins like ghosts and were widely feared.
One day some white people came into the country and the people were very frightened and began to run away. But a little girl couldn't keep up and no matter what her mother said to her, she wouldn't budge. So when her aunt came along, the aunt told the mother to bury the little girl so the cannibals wouldn't find her.
So that's what they did. They buried the little girl up to her neck and put bush over her face so the sun wouldn't burn it and they left her there the whole day. Finally, after it was dark, they returned to get the little girl.
After such an annoying experience, the little girl decided she didn't want to be buried everytime some white people came into the country, so when she grew up, she became a Christian.
