Olivella Flower Boy
Tewa Pueblos · mortal · Tewa Pueblos traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Olivella Flower Boy is a recurring young hero of Tewa oral literature, named for the pale, flower-like olivella shell prized as an ornament. In the tales recorded by Elsie Clews Parsons at Ohkay Owingeh and neighboring pueblos, he is the desirable youth courted by the Corn Girls: won by the clever Sweet Corn Girl, he loses her when the jealous Blue Corn Girls trick her into the shape of a fox, and he grieves, unable to recognize his transformed wife. He belongs to the register of named mortal protagonists, alongside the Corn Girls and Olivella Flower's rivals, through whom the Tewa dramatize courtship, jealousy, transformation, and the moral order of village life.
Domains
- heroism
Powers
- endures the trials of the tale
Sources
- Olivella Flower Boy is a recurring young male protagonist in the Tewa folktales collected by Parsons, notably the cycle concerning Sweet Corn Girl and the jealous Blue Corn Girls.: Parsons, Elsie Clews. 1926. Tewa Tales. Memoirs of the American Folklore Society 19. New York: American Folklore Society. (primary)