How the North Wind Lost His Hair

How the North Wind Lost His Hair

What I really liked about this story is that I could tell it was set in Texas. There is a clear preference for warm weather and it is also the norm for the setting. I appreciated how the story incorporated the real geography of Texas by claiming the setting was home to the South warm wind and the cold wind didn't come often. The battle scene of a fight between a cold and warm wind almost sounded like a tornado which could also explain why people originally thought it was a hurricane. 

Spanish Moss (Wikimedia Commons)

Plot summary:

• The woods still have signs of a great fight between the cold, elderly North Wind and the warm, young South Wind.
• No one liked the North Wind and hid in their houses when he came around in the Southern woods.
• Everyone liked the South Wind because he was from the South.
• One spring the North Wind drove the South wind out of his home and would not go away
• The North blew the South over the gulf until June and spring weather did not come.
• The young South wind hit the North wind as hard as he could with all his breath.
• The winds howled in each others faces tearing up the clouds, trees, beach, snow and birds.
• When the North wind was out of breath the South Wind grabbed the north winds hair and whirled him around until part of his hair broke off and he flew away back to the North. 
• In celebration the South wind began dancing and he swung the North winds hair over the trees.
• The hair is till there and it is called Spanish Moss and it reminds the North Wind of how much he is afraid of the South Wind.

This story is part of the Tejas Legends unit. Story source: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).