Native American Legends of the Animal People

By Ty Nolan

From the NY Times and USA Today Best Selling Author comes a delightful book for children.

Based on the Huckleberry Feast—a traditional Native American Thanksgivings ceremony of the Pacific Northwest--this story tells of how different Animal People gather together to celebrate. Details about the Huckleberry Feast and other rituals are explored and their importance to Plateau Native culture are discussed. The story then expands to Native American legends of how the different Animal People came to be the way they are today. The stories give the answer to such questions as:  How did Chipmunk get his stripes? What happened when Rabbit cheated? How did the animals steal fire? The book is richly illustrated with both whimsical drawings of the Animal People as well as examples of the different Native American cultural items described in the text. A heart-warming choice to read to children at bedtime from an award-winning author.

Includes:
• Why Chipmunk Has Stripes
• How Duck Got His Beautiful Feathers
• How Animals Stole Fire
• Raccoon And His Grandmother
• The Mouse Sister Who Stole The Roots
• The Bone Game
• Mouse Boy Learns To Dance

Excerpt:

Raccoon and His Grandmother
Long ago, Raccoon was very lazy and didn’t want to do any work. His grandmother asked him to go fetch some water and handed him a basket to take down to the stream and fill.  As he walked to the stream, he thought about how heavy the basket would be once it was full.
Raccoon didn’t want to carry a heavy basket.
He took one of his sharp claws and dug a hole into the side of the basket. He dipped the basket into the water. When he filled it, the water started to leak out as he walked back to his grandmother.  When he handed it to his grandmother, it was less than half full.
“Oh, I need more than this,” she said. She sent him back to get more. On the way there he used his sharp claw again and dug a hole even lower on the side of the basket. When he returned it to his grandmother, there was less than a cup of the water left.
Frustrated, she sent him out again. He dug a hole even deeper on the side and when he returned the water had leaked out so much there was barely a thimble full of water left. When she lifted the basket up to take a drink, there was so little water, she mostly swallowed leaves that had been left in the basket as the water leaked out.  She began to cough and choke on the leaves.
“Hurry,” she told him, her voice rough and scratchy. “I need water! Hurry!” She handed him the basket and he went to the stream. This time he dug a hole in the bottom of the basket, so when he returned it to his grandmother, there was no water left in the basket at all.
“Cough, cough, cough,” his grandmother was choking so badly! “Cough, cough—Kaw! Kaw!” Her harsh voice began to turn into a terrible cry and she turned into a crow. Then she flew away and Raccoon realized he was now all alone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eagle Feather Press
• Release date: Nov 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502241962

Ty Nolan

My mom was one of the very first Head Start teachers on the reservation, and she always worked with three year olds. I would visit her in the classroom, and without warning, she'd walk out, leaving me with 15 preschoolers. Out of desperation, I would tell them a legend and teach them the song and dance that went with it. It wasn't until much later I realized my mom was forcing me to use the Stories I had been taught. Most recently I've worked with the National Science Foundation's Flagship Project, Synergy. I was asked to teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)professors at over a dozen colleges how to use Storytelling to more effectively communicate complex concepts about technology to a general audience. I currently live in Arizona, where our local college (South Mountain Community College) has one of the only Storytelling Institutes in the United States, where one can be certified as a storyteller. .

Book preview

Native American Legends of the Animal People

Ty Nolan

Huckleberry Feast

This is a story about the celebration of the Huckleberry Feast which is part of the Plateau culture of the Pacific Northwest. The Plateau culture includes the Native American Nations of the Yakama (Washington State), Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (Oregon), Colville (Washington State), Nez Perce (Idaho), and Umatilla (Oregon). This is like Thanksgivings Day in the United States or Canada. It is one of the many days of Thanksgivings for the Native people. They will also have a Thanksgivings Day Feast for the first Salmon that returns and the first Roots of the season. There are over a dozen Feasts like this. Huckleberry Feast is held in August when the berries are ripe enough to pick. It isn’t held on a specific day—it all depends on Nature’s message of when the berries are ready—not on a calendar date. The Huckleberry is similar to a Blueberry, but has a flavor that is more tart. It is traditionally dried in the sun or by heat, so it can kept and stored for a long time to use after Berry Season is over. Later on, Native people also started to can them.

Squirrel Man is carrying a basket made from cedar root that has been decorated with bear grass. When bear grass is gathered it is a bright green but it is then dried in the sun until it turns an ivory white. The basket maker can also dye the bear grass in different colors. For example, a dye can be made from alder bark that will turn the bear grass a brownish red. Oregon grape can turn it yellow.

The top of the basket has been lightly covered in pine needles to keep the berries fresh.

Squirrel Man is dressed in a loin cloth and is wearing a headdress called a roach. It is made from the tail of a deer and the long guard hairs of a porcupine. This would be worn for social or Powwow dancing. In the center is a single tail feather of a golden eagle.

Stories say long and long ago, the Creator explained the Huckleberry was one of the Sacred foods given to People. Traditionally the Huckleberries are not picked by most tribal members until after the Huckleberry Feast. Instead, community members share the Huckleberries they had picked the previous year. This is the teaching not to take more than one can use.