Tricksters: Iroquois Stories

Today's book from Joseph Bruchac (this is a week devoted to his books) is a treasure trove of stories; you will find over 30 stories here in fact! Iroquois Stories: Heroes and Heroines, Monsters and Magic:

What is most exciting for me here in terms of trickster traditions are the animal stories, some of which feature trickster animals. One of my favorite Rabbit stories is here for example: Rabbit and the Fox. In addition to being cunning, this trickster rabbit is also a shapeshifter (danger! danger! the fox is such a fool for even trying to chase him), plus this rabbit has other magical powers, like being able to make his moccasins walk on their own and mislead the fox, at least temporarily.

The illustrations are by Daniel Burgevin, and here is his illustration for Rabbit and Fox. Look closely and you'll see the Rabbit int he bushes watching Fox make a fool of himself by eating that stump!

When researching Dan Burgevin, I learned that he does art for Acorn Designs... gorgeous stuff! So I ordered his tortoise journal: it will be my official trickster journal! (Tortoise being my favorite trickster these days!)

Six of the stories told here also appear in a children's book, The Boy Who Lived with the Bears, and Other Iroquois Stories, which has beautiful illustrations by Murv Jacob. 

You can read more about Murv Jacob at Wikipedia; he died just a few years ago, in 2019. He is best known for his illustrations of books about Cherokee traditions.

Here is his illustration for Rabbit and Fox; there go the moccasins on their own!

So both of these two books are a delight to read, and both are just a click away at the Internet Archive!

Iroquois Stories:

Heroes and Heroines, Monsters and Magic

by Joseph Bruchac

The Boy Who Lived with the Bears,

and Other Iroquois Stories

by Joseph Bruchac

Tricksters: Native American Games and Stories

In yesterday's book from Joseph Bruchac, Keepers of the Earth, there were learning activities included, so I wanted to divert here this week and include a book by Joseph Bruchac coauthored with his eldest son, James Bruchac; this book also has wonderful stories and activities: Native American Games and Stories.

The games and stories are divided thematically: ball games and team sports; bowl games and other games of chance; games of skill; and awareness games.

Here are the stories you will find in the book: The Ball Game between the Animals and the Birds; The Ball Players in the Sky; The Good Mind's Game; Kesitce: the Moccasin Game; How Day and Night Came to Be; How the Two Brothers Followed the Hoop; and Nanabush and the Ducks.

As you can guess, tricksters are not the kinds of characters you want to play games with. Coyote, for example, plays the game of Kesitce, but he loses everyone's trust as a result. You can also read about the trickster Nanabush, and the famous story of how he fooled the ducks. 

The illustrations are by Kayeri Akweks, an artist and illustrator how is a member of the Upper Mohawk tribe in Ontario, Canada. Both the stories and the games have illustrations! Here are girls playing ring and pin, and there are instructions how to make this game using a coat hanger:

And here is Coyote playing kesitce, the Navajo moccasin game:

To play this game, you just need a small object to hide, shoes to hide it in, and a guessing stick to point with. It sounds like fun!

You can find out more about James Bruchac at his website, and I'll be back with more from Joseph Bruchac tomorrow. For now, enjoy both the games and stories, all just a click away at the Internet Archive!

Native American Games and Stories

by James Bruchac

Tricksters: Native Stories from Keepers of the Earth

Yesterday I wrote about a book of plays for children written by Abenaki storyteller Joseph Bruchac, and today I want to focus on an anthology of stories: The Native Stories from Keepers of the Earth. 

As you can see from the title, this book features stories, told by Bruchac, from a larger book, Keepers of the Earth, which Bruchac coauthored with Michael Caduto, an ecologist and storyteller.

This larger book contains environmental information and activities for young readers, in addition to the stories themselves, blending ecological science with the Native American storytelling traditions.

The stories are organized thematically: Creation; Fire; Earth; Wind and Weather; Sky; Seasons; Plants and Animals; and Life, Death, Spirit. You will see trickster figures throughout the stories, including Gluscabi, Raven, and Coyote.

The illustrations for both books are by John Kahiohnes Fadden. Here, for example, is Coyote being chased by the Rock, a story found in many Native American story traditions where a trickster character takes back a gift or steals something from the Rock... and the Rock comes after the trickster for justice!

So, you can read the stories OR you can see how Caduto and Bruchac have integrated the stories into an activity-based learning experience for children (or adults!). Both books are just a click away at the Internet Archive:

The Native Stories

from Keepers of the Earth

by Joseph Bruchac

Keepers of the Earth

by Michael Caduto and Joseph Bruchac

Tricksters: Pushing Up the Sky

For today's contribution to the week of books by Joseph Bruchac, it is a book of plays! I'm a big fan of reader's thater, so I was excited to see that Bruchac did this book of plays for children. These are children's theater scripts, so that means in addition to the spoken words of the script, there are also non-speaking roles, tips for the scenery and props, etc. And... several of the plays have trickster themes! The book is: Pushing Up the Sky: Seven Native American Plays for Children.

There is a Gluskabe story: Gluskabe and Old Man Winter. In this story, Gluskabe uses his tricks to benefit humanity; he brings summer into the world.

Possum's Tail is a play about the Cherokee trickster Rabbit.

Even if you are not going to perform the plays, the book is a delight to read, with illustrations by Teresa Flavin. Here, for example, you can see Rabbit and Possum along with the other animals who are characters in that play:

There is also a play about the Cheyenne trickster Wihio. Here you can see Wihio and the dancing ducks:

In addition, the Zuni story in the book, The Strongest One, is based on a chain tale which is found in various forms all over the world, including India, Africa, Europe, Asia... all over! It is a story that likes to travel. :-)

So, whether you're looking for scripts or just stories to read, there is lots to enjoy and learn from here:

Pushing Up the Sky:
Seven Native American Plays for Children

by Joseph Bruchac

Tricksters: Gluskabe and the Four Wishes

The focus this week is on Abenaki storyteller Joseph Bruchac and the many books of Native American stories he has published. Yesterday's book by Bruchac included some stories about the Algonquian trickster character Gluskabe (Glooskap), and the book I chose for today is a children's book about Gluskabe: Gluskabe and the Four Wishes.

The story takes place after Gluskabe has moved away from the world of humans to live on a far-away island, and the legend goes that anyone who travels all the way to where Glukabe lives will have a wish granted. The book is about four such travelers, each with a different wish for himself. They travel together in a canoe, and each one uses special powers to help them through the difficult journey, but the real adventure is what happens to each one after they meet Gluskabe and receive his gift. You will be surprised by what happens to each one!

Gluskabe in this story is a giver of gifts and a culture hero, the most positive manifestation of the trickster character. Sometimes the trickster acts selfishly but still benefits humanity by accident. In this story, however, Gluskabe is more like a good-hearted god, and his gifts have a creative, world-changing power that befits the trickster identity.

The illustrations are by Christine Nyburg Shrader is an artist based in Washington state; here's her rendering of the canoe making its dangerous journey to Gluskabe's home:

You can find out more about Gluskabe at Wikipedia, and I'll be back tomorrow with more from Joseph Bruchac. Meanwhile, enjoy this book: the story is beautiful and will leave a lasting impression I am sure! 

Gluskabe and the Four Wishes

by Joseph Bruchac

Tricksters: Return of the Sun

After last week's focus on secondary literature about tricksters, I'm returning to the stories this week, and I'll be focusing on the books by Joseph Bruchac, a wonderful Abenaki storyteller. To start things off, here is an anthology of stories: Return of the Sun: Native American Tales from the Northeast Woodlands.

This is a book with various genres of stories: there are origin stories here, animal stories, stories of human beings... and stories of tricksters, including Glooskap and Nanabush. The illustrations are by Gary Carpenter, a musician and artist based in Santa Cruz, CA. Here is his illustration of Glooskap and the Whale:

The geography ranges from the Great Lakes in the west to the Atlantic coast, including what is now New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and parts of Canada, although those names and boundaries did not exist in the time these stories were first told. The peoples of that time spoke varieties of Algonquin languages and of Iroquoian languages. Bruchac himself is of Abenaki descent, and the Abenaki are an Algonquian-speaking people who lived in what is now New England and Quebec. The Iroquoian peoples include the Mohawk and the Cherokee.

Be sure to read Bruchac's introduction about his process for retelling stories that will appear in print. He works from original languages, but he only retells stories that have already appeared in print, honoring the Native storytellers who are preserving oral stories that have not been written down, without being detached from the oral tradition by appearing in print. Bruchac also visits the places where the stories took place in order to bring that awareness to his retelling. 

So, there is so much to learn from here, and so many stories to enjoy!

Return of the Sun:
Native American Tales
from the Northeast Woodlands

by Joseph Bruchac