Trickters. Duvall and Jacob's Rabbit

Yesterday, I wrote about the collaboration between Gayle Ross and Murv Jacob, and today I want to turn to the work that Murv Jacob did with Deborah Duvall (who was born and raised in Tahlequah, Oklahoma), specifically their books about the Cherokee trickster rabbit, Jistu (or Tsisdu). There are seven of these books at the Archive, so I'll feature four of them today, and then I'll be back tomorrow with three more. Plus there are more of their books not at the Archive, but those might show up at the Archive someday; you can see a complete list at WorldCat.

So, here are today's books:

How Rabbit Lost His Tail:
A Traditional Cherokee Legend

You can see Rabbit's beautiful bushy tail there on the cover of the book, but his rivalry with Otter is going to give us the Rabbit we know today, without a beautiful busy tail!

Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting:
A Traditional Cherokee Legend

This is another story about Rabbit's rivalry with Otter! (And if you are wondering, these are river otters; you can find out more at Wikipedia.)

The Opossum's Tale:
A Grandmother Story

Even though Rabbit is not in the title of the story, he is very much part of the plot; you can find more versions of this famous Cherokee story in the book I wrote about earlier this week: Living Stories of the Cherokee, edited by Barbara Duncan.

Rabbit Plants the Forest:
A Cherokee World Story

This story is about Rabbit and Saloli the Squirrel, and be sure to see Murv Jacob's note at the start of the book where he speculates about an ancient Cherokee origin for Wampus Cat stories. And, yes, Wampus Cat is part of this story, which is inspired by the animals of Cherokee storytelling tradition but which is not a traditional story. There's also a lovely key at the back of the book to all the illustrations of the plants and animals in this story:

And like I said, I'll be back tomorrow with more from Duvall and Jacob! Enjoy!