July 21, 2004
Way with words
Storyteller Simon Otto shares Native American tales and writing journey
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The oral tradition of area Native Americans conveyed culture, taught lessons and entertained. For generations before there was a written language, members of area tribes nurtured their rich tradition in words.
Giving a glimpse into the past, traditional storyteller Simon Otto of Petoskey wove tales and described his personal journey into storytelling and writing Saturday afternoon at the Grand Traverse Heritage Center. The event was part of the ongoing exhibit at the center entitled "One with the Land: The Anishinaabek of Grand Traverse Bay," which runs through September 29.
Otto, a member of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa Indians, is an Ottawa and Ojibway Elder. A native of Petoskey, he grew up listening to the tales of his father, grandfather and a medicine woman who lived across the street named Susan Madwagon.
"The stories are based on memories of my mother, father and grandfather, who was a lumberjack and a medicine man," said Otto, who grew up during the Great Depression. "To be a storyteller, you have to be raised in the field and I heard many stories when I was small."
His parents eschewed traditional Native American ways, as was common in that era. The did not teach Otto his native language, though he did manage to learn it from another source, absorbing the culture along with it.
"The medicine woman across the street, she talked Indian to me and I understood it then," he recalled. "My mother and father were forced to go to an Indian boarding school and they could not talk Indian or practice any of their ways. They didn't want us [Otto and his nine siblings] to learn it either."
Otto shared the story of the origin of the red-headed woodpecker, the rainbow and fireflies. These are just some of the many stories he has written down or created over the past 30 years. Otto wrote a weekly column for the Traverse City Record-Eagle in the 1980s and has also written regularly for other newspapers in the region. He has compiled his stories into four books and believes he has material enough for three more.
Because the tradition of Native Americans is both private and a spoken one, he obtained the approval of tribal elders before he began writing.
Marrying a woman of Irish and Norwegian heritage provided the spark for his writing. Curious about each other's culture, they enjoyed sharing tales from their respective traditions. His many tales, vividly recalled from his childhood, fascinated his wife, who encouraged him to write them down for publication. She edited his work for years. Although she died three years ago, Otto said he still feels her guidance as he writes.
"When she passed on, the first thing I thought is that I'm not going to write anymore," he recalled. "She was my inspiration but that night I had a dream and she told me to go ahead and write. Now I edit myself and I can hear her telling me what to do."
In keeping with Native American oral tradition, Otto's stories have a central tenet that guides listeners into appropriate behavior.
"There's a moral to every story that I tell, so I like to tell kids to listen to the moral," said Otto, who occasionally speaks to schoolchildren in the region.
He noted that the most common question he is asked by the children is whether he lives in a teepee (the answer is no.)
"Another boy asked once why I was wearing Nikes instead of moccasins and I said these are more comfortable on cement floors when you're growing old," Otto said.