This is a beautiful example of the Cherokee version of the "tar baby" story that is also told all over the African Continent and throughout the African Diaspora. For more about the profound back-and-forth sharing of stories among African and Native storytellers in the southeastern United States, see this book: When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote. The animals in this story use a "tar wolf" to trap the Rabbit, who kept taking water from their well even though he refused to help do the work of digging it.
This is an eerie story about Rabbit and the magical Ravens, where Rabbit is in possession of something and, like any good trickster, he is wondering just how he can turn what he has into something of even greater value... and, like every trickster, he runs the risk of his greed causing him to lose it all. I won't spoil the ending of this story for you; you'll have to read the book and find out what happens in the end!
This book is the result of a creative project which Murv Jacob explains in the introduction to the book: building a "new mythology" for Kansas by weaving together facts from nature and from history along with traditional legends and practices, like the Cherokee ball-game. The central motif here is the Kansas jayhawk with its red and blue feathers... feathers that Rabbit wants to possess for himself. So, Rabbit goes to Kansas...
So, I hope you will take a look at some of these wonderful Rabbit books from today and yesterday, and I'll be back tomorrow with more Cherokee books from the Archive!
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