Tehanetorens (1910–2008)

"Long ago, the Birds had no songs. Only Man could sing..." The Good Spirit decided that Birds should also have songs, and said that the Birds should fly as high as they could: "When you can fly no higher, you will find your song." The little hermit thrush secretly hides on the eagle, and flies highest; but, the thrush is so ashamed of cheating that it never shows itself. Sometimes, however, "he cannot restrain himself, and he must sing his beautiful song.

Gorgeous painted illustrations show the People, the Good Spirit, and most of all, the Birds.… (mais)

In traditional story telling form, this tale makes a lovely read-aloud.

At one time, only humans could sing. Birds would sit by and listen, wishing that they too could produce such lovely tunes. When the Great Spirit walks across the landscape, he notices the birds' desire and creates a contest, allowing them to have the chance to gain the most beautiful song of all. But there's one little bird, which is disappointed. Unless the poor Hermit Thrush comes up with a plan, it knows it doesn't have a chance.

It's always interesting and fun to discover myths from other cultures, and the Mohawk is one which lays close to home. The tale in this book is one, which is entertaining and intriguing enough to draw listeners in. The Hermit Thrush is an underdog, and young listeners will wonder how the small bird can pull of his biggest wish while rooting for him the entire time. The story is written in a way, which listeners can easily understand while still holding tight to a more traditional, story form. It isn't overly wordy, but sticks to the point to keep boredom away. I can see this one as making a very nice read-aloud.

The illustrations offer many details and tons of opportunity for listeners to gaze at and study on their own. The birds are depicted with enough true-to-life accuracy to keep them very recognizable. But what I truly enjoy is the attention paid to historic details—who the Mohawk people were and how they lived. It's not set on center stage, but rather shown. And this offers a great opportunity for guardians or adults sharing the read to dive deeper into the Mohawk culture...without interfering with the tale, while reading it. Anyone wanting to introduce young readers to the Mohawks or open up discussions in this direction, will definitely find this book a treat.

I received an ARC and found this tale interesting and a wonderful way to introduce listeners to the Mohawks.… (mais)

This short collection of Mohawk folk-tales and legends was first released in pamphlet form by the Six Nations Museum and the Akwesasne Mohawk Counselor Organization, before being collected and published by the news-magazine, Akwesasne Notes in 1976. I think that it has recently been reprinted in a slightly reorganized form as Legends of the Iroquois, with a few additional selections.

The first section is a Key to Indian Pictographs, and presents 12 pages of picture-symbols used in storytelling. Some are quite straightforward, while others require a little background knowledge of Iroquois culture. For example, the picture for Adadarhoh is a man with snakes coming out of his head. Anyone familiar with the epic tale of Deganawidah's quest to bring peace to the peoples of the earth should recognize this figure. I was fortunate enough to have read White Roots of Peace directly before this book, and so was able to make the connection - but I have no doubt that numerous other pictographs reference cultural information of which I am completely unaware.

Some of the tales that follow are completely textual, but the majority of them are presented in two columns, one with pictographs, the other with words. The result of this, for me, was that although the text was very minimal, I spent a great deal of time on each story, trying to understand the pictographs in their own right. It was really quite fascinating to see how "simple" pictographs were sometimes combined to express larger, more complex ideas. It reminded me of Chinese in many ways, with simple characters and radicals combining to form more complex ones, which makes sense, because Chinese writing evolved from pictographs.

The stories themselves did not disappoint. They include: Creation (the tale of the fall of Skywoman, the formation of Turtle Island, and the rivalry of the Good and Evil Spirit); The Rabbit Dance; The Gift of the Great Spirit (in which the Bear Clan is rewarded for its kindness with medicinal knowledge); The Wampum Bird; Thunder Boy (which appeared in a slightly altered version as part of the TV miniseries The Dreamkeeper); The Hermit Thrush; The Discovery of Fire - A Tradition; The Invention of the Bow and Arrow - A Tradition; The Great Gift, Tobacco; Sagoianawasai, Our Grandfather; Why We Have Mosquitos; The Seven Dancers (which explains the origins of the Pleiades); The Story of the Monster Bear, the Giant Dipper; The Flying Head; The Fierce Beast; and a modern fable called Conservation As the Indian Saw It. The book concludes with a poem by June Fadden.

I highly recommend this collection to anyone interested in the Iroquois people, or in folklore in general. Tehanetorens is the Mohawk name of Ray Fadden, to whom an entire chapter of Douglas M. George-Kanentiio's book Iroquois on Fire is devoted. The black and white illustrations are credited to Kahionhes, who I assume is the same person as the John Kahionhes Fadden who illustrated White Roots of Peace. Would Tehanetorens and Kahionhes be father and son then? Just wondering ...

And finally: can any knowledgeable Mohawk speaker out there tell me how these two names are pronounced? Some of the Mohawk words used in the book had pronunciation guides, which gave a few helpful hints (K seems to sound like G, and R like L), but I'm still unsure about the author and illustrator. Let me know...… (mais)