Category: Folktale

Categories
1910s African American Fable Folktale Short Story Wild animals

The Hare and the Tortoise

The Hare and the Tortoise

By Anonymous
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
John T. Bowen. Texian Hare. Hand-colored lithograph on wove paper, 1848, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Jameson. Public domain.

(Original byline: A Negro fairy Folk-Tale From Uganda. Selected by M. N. Work.)[1]

The hare and the tortoise were great friends. One day they decided to search for food. They went to an ant hill and dug a hole in it so as to trap the ants. The next day, as the time drew near for them to visit the hole, the hare said, “Why should an old fool like the tortoise share this feast with me? I can easily outwit him.” So he told his friends to wait in a quiet place for the tortoise and when he came by to seize him and carry him into the tall grass through which he would have great difficulty in pushing his way. His friends did as he requested. They waited and as the tortoise came by they caught him and carried him into the tall grass. In the meantime the hare ate all the ants he wanted and scampered off home.

The tortoise, after a long struggle, managed to get out of the grass. Tired and vexed he made his way to the ant hill, but found no food. He saw there, however, the footprints of the hare, and as it flashed upon him that he had been outwitted, he became angry and said, “Never mind, my cunning friend, I will get even with you for this.”

When he reached home the hare rushed out to meet him and said. “How thankful I am to see you safe. I feared you were killed. I only escaped myself by the merest chance. Three spears just missed me. We must never go back to that ant hill.”

“Have no fear”, said the tortoise. “Our enemies are not likely to come to the same spot again. It will be quite safe for us to go there another day.”

The tortoise, knowing that the selfish hare would sneak off alone to feast on the ants, arranged with his friends to catch the hare when he was busy eating. “Wait for him”, said the tortoise, “and when he has his head deep in the hole pounce upon him, but,” he added, “do not kill him.”

“Oh” said the friends, “we like hare’s meat; we want to eat him.”

“Very well”, said the tortoise, “but if you kill him quickly he will be tough. You must take him home, then make a pot ready half filled with fine oil and salt. Put the hare in the pot leaving a hole in the cover so that you may add cold water from time to time, for if you let the oil get hot you will completely spoil the hare. Be very careful, therefore, not to let it boil.”

The friends did exactly as they were told. They trapped the hare and carried him home. Then they put him in a pot with the best of oil, the proper amount of salt and placed the pot on the fire. Water was added occasionally through the hole made in the cover. After some hours, when all was thought to be ready, the friends, having washed their hands and nicely laid out the dishes, seated themselves expectantly. The pot was placed in their midst and the cover was withdrawn when hoy! presto! out jumped the hare, and to their horror, ran away. As he rushed into his house he found his comrade waiting.

“Dear me” said the tortoise, “Where have you been?”

“Alas! said the hare, “I have been in great danger. I nearly lost my life. I’ve been caught and cooked. It was only by a miracle that I escaped.”

As he said this he began to lick himself. The tortoise, noticing that a look of pleasure rapidly succeeded that of fright, went across to him and also began to lick.

“How delicious”, said he.

“Get away”, said the greedy hare. “You have not been in the pot or through all the trials I’ve been through. Keep off.”

The tortoise, feeling that his cunning had supplied the oil and salt, began to get angry.

“Let me have your shoulder and left side to lick?”

“I will not”, said the hare, more and more enjoying himself.

The tortoise, in great fury, left the house. He had not gone far before he met his angry friends coming to meet him

“What do you mean”? they asked.

“Through your advice we have lost not only the hare, but also our fine oil and salt. When we uncovered the pot the hare jumped out and ran off with the oil and salt all clinging to him.”

The tortoise, in his rage, lost every feeling of friendship for the hare and said, “I will tell you what to do. You arrange a dance and invite the hare and when he is dancing to your tom-tom seize him and this time kill him.”

The dance was arranged. The hare was invited and came. While he was dancing the friends suddenly seized him. To make sure that he would not escape this time they killed him, skinned him and cut him up.

Thus the hare, and because for once, was outwitted of his greediness, miserably perished.

John Anderson (Scottish naturalist). Burmese Roofed Turtle. Hand-painted illustration, 1873, University of St Andrews, Scotland. Public domain.
 “THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE.” THE CRISIS’ VOL. 12, NO. 6 (OCTOBER 1916): 271-72.

[1] In October of 1912, The Crisis published a nearly identical version of this short story: “Mr. Hare: A Story for Children.” The ending of the current version, selected by Monroe Nathan Work and published four years later in the same magazine, during World War I, is significantly less coddling than that of the 1912 version. While the 1916 hare dies, the one from 1912 survives the tortoise’s revenge. 

Contexts

Starting in 1912, the October issues of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, were dedicated to children. A typical edition of these children’s numbers would contain a special editorial piece and two or three literary works specifically for children, while still including the serious pieces about contemporary issues with a focus on race that The Crisis was known for. These October numbers were sprinkled with children’s photographs sent in by the readers.

In his first editorial for the Children’s number in 1912, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that “there is a sense in which all numbers and all words of a magazine of ideas myst point to the child—to that vast immortality and wide sweep and infinite possibility which the child represents.”

The success of The Crisis’ children’s number led to the standalone The Brownies’ Book, a monthly magazine for African American children that circulated from January 1920 to December 1921 under the editorship of Du Bois, Augustus Granville Dill, and Jessie Fauset.

Categories
1910s Folktale Wild animals

The Hare and the Elephant

The Hare and the Elephant

By Anonymous
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
John James Audubon. Lepus americanus. Erxlebein. Northern Hare. Summer. Natural size. 1, Male. 2, Female. Lithograph with applied watercolor, 1843, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX. Public domain.

(Original byline: Stories Collected by Sir Harry H. Johnston in his “Uganda Protectorate.”)[1]

One day a hare came upon an elephant standing expectantly at an ant-hole which had only that morning been dug by himself with a view to his evening meal. “What hard luck!” said the hare. “What can I do against that big hulking brute, who wants to steal my dinner? I will try a plan.” He returned to his home, made a torch of four reeds, and passed by the elephant at a great pace. “Who are you?” said the latter. “I am a hare.” “Where are you going?” “Oh,” said the hare, “we hear that an elephant is stealing our ants,” and then scampered off. A little farther on he put out the torch, and sneaked round by a by-way to his home, relighted the torch, and again went to the elephant. “Who are you?” said the big beast. “A hare.” “Where are you going?” “Oh,” said the hare, “my comrades called me because an elephant is stealing our ants,” and again went off quickly. As before, he sneaked round to his home, and then passed the elephant. “Who are you?” said the elephant. “I’m a hare.” “Where are you going?” “Haven’t you seen m y fellows pass this way? We are meeting in numbers, as we mean to have our meal which an enemy is trying to steal,” and again ran off. Going round once more to his home, he again came up with the elephant. “Who are you?” said the big animal. “I’m a hare.” “Where are you going?” “Are you blind that you haven’t seen my comrades passing? However, I’ve no time to talk.” The elephant, affected by the air of mystery, became uneasy, and thought it time to be off. When the hare came round for the last time he saw nothing but the wagging of the elephant’s tail in the distance. So he screamed out, “There he is! there he is! After him! After him!” and laughed uproariously as he heard the big brute crashing through the woods. He then went quietly back alone to his feast, chuckling as he thought of the splendid success of his stratagem.

Eadweard Muybridge. Animal Locomotion. Photomechanical print, 1887, Library of Congress. Public domain.
 “THE HARE AND THE ELEPHANT” THE CRISIS’ VOL. 16, NO. 6 (OCTOBER 1918): 270-71.

[1] Uganda was a Protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (1858-1927), also known as Harry Johnston, worked as a colonial administrator of the Uganda Protectorate from 1899 to 1901. Johnston was also an explorer, botanist, zoologist and artist. His book The Uganda Protectorate was first published in 1902.    

Contexts

Starting in 1912, the October issues of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, were dedicated to children. A typical edition of these children’s numbers would contain a special editorial piece and two or three literary works specifically for children, while still including the serious pieces about contemporary issues with a focus on race that The Crisis was known for. These October numbers were sprinkled with children’s photographs sent in by the readers.

In his first editorial for the Children’s number in 1912, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that “there is a sense in which all numbers and all words of a magazine of ideas myst point to the child—to that vast immortality and wide sweep and infinite possibility which the child represents.”

The success of The Crisis’ children’s number led to the standalone The Brownies’ Book, a monthly magazine for African American children that circulated from January 1920 to December 1921 under the editorship of Du Bois, Augustus Granville Dill, and Jessie Fauset.

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

stratagem: A skillful military plan, scheme, or approach, esp. a trick, manoeuvre, or ploy designed to deceive or surprise an enemy. Also in figurative contexts.

Contemporary Connections

Elephant poaching due to elephant ivory demand is a major environmental concern in Africa.

The Kataara Women’s Poverty Alleviation Group (KWPAG), a small community project in Uganda, promotes the creation of crafts with paper made out of elephant dung. This project seeks to combat elephant poaching, which “during the political turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s . . . decimated the elephant population in Uganda . . . from an estimated 30,000 elephants to less than 800.”

Video on how poachers threaten the survival of the African elephant.

Categories
1910s Fable Folktale Wild animals

The Bird and the Elephant

The Bird and the Elephant

By Anonymous
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
A Landscape in Uganda. Original Sir Harry H. Johnston’s painting for The Uganda Protectorate (1902), p. 106. Public domain.

(Original byline: Stories Collected by Sir Harry H. Johnston in his “Uganda Protectorate.”) [1]

Just as the season for sowing grain was drawing near, the bird and the elephant met, and became involved in an argument as to who had the bigger voice. The dispute getting heated, they decided to lay the question before the big assembly. “We have come,” piped the little bird, “to have the question settled as to who has the bigger voice, my friend the elephant or myself?” “Yes,” grunted the elephant, “this insignificant little thing has the impudence to say his little squeak is more powerful than my trumpeting.” “Well,” said the lit­tle bird, “our homes are two hours away. Do you think that, if you bawled your loudest, your people would hear you call from here?” “Of course,” sneered the elephant; “but what do you think you are going to do, you puny little thing?” “Now, don’t get angry,” chirped the bird. “Tomorrow morning we will meet at dawn, and both call to our friends to have our dinner ready; but, as you sneered at me, we will make the stakes ten cows, to be paid by the loser to the winner.” “Right you are!” chuckled the elephant. “I want some more cattle. Good-bye, you little fool!” and went off laughing. The bet was confirmed by the “baraza.” The cunning bird at once made arrangements. He got his mates to perch within hearing distance of each other along the line to his house. “Now we will see,” said he, “how wit can triumph over brute force.” At dawn the next morning they met as agreed. The elephant was given “first try,” and bawled four times in his loudest voice. “Have you quite done?” chirped the little bird. “Yes,” sneered the elephant; “squeak away.” The little bird gave his orders, and they tramped off together. They decided that the elephant being the bigger, they would visit his home first. As they drew near, the elephant became uneasy at the quiet that reigned, and was extremely angry to find not a soul about. One was away getting food, another drawing water, another gathering firewood, and the rest, not expecting anything to occur, were also out. “Now,” said the bird, “we will try my luck.” As they approached they heard great sounds of bustling; the pathways were clean, the courtyard swept, the bird’s friends were all neatly arranged in lines to do honor to the guest; mats were laid down in the house, and an abundant feast was prepared. “Ah, my friend,” piped the little bird, “do not be down-hearted. Be thankful you have learnt at so small a cost not to despise a rival, however small he may be. So now let us ‘eat, drink, and be merry.’” Next day the elephant handed over the cattle to the bird.

Giovanni Antonio Guardi (1699-1760). Elephant. Oil on canvas, n.d., Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
“THE BIRD AND THE ELEPHANT” THE CRISIS’ VOL. 16, NO. 6 (OCTOBER 1918): 271-72.

[1] Uganda was a Protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (1858-1927), also known as Harry Johnston, worked as a colonial administrator of the Uganda Protectorate from 1899 to 1901. Johnston was also an explorer, botanist, zoologist and artist. His book The Uganda Protectorate was first published in 1902.  

Contexts

Starting in 1912, the October issues of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, were dedicated to children. A typical edition of these children’s numbers would contain a special editorial piece and two or three literary works specifically for children, while still including the serious pieces about contemporary issues with a focus on race that The Crisis was known for. These October numbers were sprinkled with children’s photographs sent in by the readers.

In his first editorial for the Children’s number in 1912, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that “there is a sense in which all numbers and all words of a magazine of ideas myst point to the child—to that vast immortality and wide sweep and infinite possibility which the child represents.”

The success of The Crisis’ children’s number led to the standalone The Brownies’ Book, a monthly magazine for African American children that circulated from January 1920 to December 1921 under the editorship of Du Bois, Augustus Granville Dill, and Jessie Fauset.

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

baraza: (East African) A meeting, assembly, or council. In early use also: a reception room.

Contemporary Connections

Elephant poaching due to elephant ivory demand is a major environmental concern in Africa.

The Kataara Women’s Poverty Alleviation Group (KWPAG), a small community project in Uganda, promotes the creation of crafts with paper made out of elephant dung. This project seeks to combat elephant poaching, which “during the political turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s . . . decimated the elephant population in Uganda . . . from an estimated 30,000 elephants to less than 800.”

Video on how poachers threaten the survival of the African elephant.

Categories
1910s African American Fable Folktale Myth

How the Spider Won and Lost Nzambi’s Daughter

How the Spider Won and Lost Nzambi’s Daughter

By Anonymous
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
Ward, Herbert. A Bakongo Girl. Bronze sculpture, 1901, Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History.

Nzambi, the goddess who dwelt upon earth, had a beautiful daughter. Nzambi vowed that no earthly being should marry her daughter un­less he first brought the heavenly fire from Nzambi Mpungu, who dwelt in the heavens above the blue roof.[1] Now, the daughter was very beautiful and the people marveled saying, “How shall we secure this treasure, and who on such conditions will ever marry her?”

Then the spider said, “I will win Nzambi’s daughter if you will help me.” And they all answered, “We will gladly help you if you will reward us.” The spider than began to travel upward until he reached the blue roof of heaven. He then dropped down again to the earth, leaving a strong silken thread firmly hanging from the roof to the earth below. He now called the tortoise, the woodpecker, the rat and the sand-fly and bade them climb up the thread to the roof.[2] They did so. Then the wood­ pecker pecked a hole through the blue roof and they all entered the realm of Nzambi Mpungu, the god of the heavens.

Nzambi Mpungu received them court­eously and asked them what they want­ed. They answered him saying, “Oh, Nzambi Mpungu, of the heavens above, great father of all the world, we have come to fetch some of your terrible fire for Nzambi, who rules upon earth.”

“Wait here, then,” said Mpungu, “while I go to my people and tell them of the message you bring.”

But the sand-fly, unseen, accompanied Mpungu and heard all that he said. The Mpungu returned to the visitors and said, “My friends, how can I know that you have really come from the ruler of the earth and that you are not imposters?”

“Put us to some test,” they said, “that we may prove our sincerity to you.”

“I will,” said Mpungu. “Go down to your earth and bring me a bundle of bamboos that I may make myself a shed.”

And the tortoise went down and soon returned with the bamboos.

Then Mpungu said to the rat, “Get thee beneath this bundle of bamboos and I will set fire to it; then if you escape, I shall surely know that Nzambi sent you.”

The rat did as he was bidden. Mpun­gu set fire to the bamboos, and lo, when they were entirely consumed, the rat came forth from amidst the ashes un­harmed.

“You are, indeed,” said Mpungu, “what you represent yourselves to be. I will go and consult my people again.”

The sand-fly was again sent after Mpungu and bidden to keep well out of sight, to hear all that was said, and, if possible, to find out where the fire, that is the lightning, was kept. He soon came back and related all that he had heard and seen.

Then Mpungu returned to them and said, “Yes, I will give you the fire you ask for if you will tell me where it is kept.”

And the spider said, “Give me then, O, Nzambi Mpungu, one of the five cases that you keep in the fowl house.”

“Truly,” said Mpungu. “You have answered me correctly, O spider. Take therefore, this case and give it to Nzambi, who rules upon earth.”

The tortoise carried it down to the earth and the spider presented the fire from heaven to Nzambi and Nzambi gave the spider her beautiful daughter in marriage.

But the woodpecker grumbled and said, “Surely the woman is mine, for it was I who pecked the hole through the blue roof, without which the others could never have entered the kingdom of Nzambi Mpungu.”

“Yes,” said the rat, “but see how I risked my life among the burning bamboos. The girl, I think, should be mine.”

“Nay, O, Nzambi,” said the sand-fly, “the girl should certainly be mine, for without my help the others would never have found out where the fire was kept.”

Then Nzambi said, “Nay, the spider undertook to bring me the fire and has brought it. The girl by right is his, but as you will make her life miserable if I allow her to live with the spider and as I cannot give her to all of you, I will give her to none, but instead I will give each of you her market value.”

Nzambi then paid each of them fifty bolts of cloth and a cask of gin, but the daughter ever after remained unmarried and waited on her mother.

 “HOW THE SPIDER WON AND LOST NZAMBI’S DAUGHTER.” THE CRISIS’ VOL. 10, NO. 6 (OCTOBER 1915): 301-02.

[1] This story sems to come directly from Kongo mythology. The Kingdom of Kongo was a large kingdom in western central Africa. In Kongo lore, Nzambi Mpungu is the father god who lives in the heavens and protects the secret of fire. Upon creating the earth, Nzambi Mpungu sends Nzambi there, who becomes princess of the earth. Eventually, Nzambi Mpungo comes down to earth and marries Nzambi, his own creation.

[2] Sand flies are small golden, brownish, or gray flies. The females feed on blood. These insects transmit several diseases like the pappataci fever virus, kala azar, Oriental sore, espundia, and bartonellosis.

Contexts

Starting in 1912, the October issues of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, were dedicated to children. A typical edition of these children’s numbers would contain a special editorial piece and two or three literary works specifically for children, while still including the serious pieces about contemporary issues with a focus on race that The Crisis was known for. These October numbers were sprinkled with children’s photographs sent in by the readers.

In his first editorial for the Children’s number in 1912, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that “there is a sense in which all numbers and all words of a magazine of ideas myst point to the child—to that vast immortality and wide sweep and infinite possibility which the child represents.”

The success of The Crisis’ children’s number led to the standalone The Brownies’ Book, a monthly magazine for African American children that circulated from January 1920 to December 1921 under the editorship of Du Bois, Augustus Granville Dill, and Jessie Fauset.

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

bolt: A roll of woven fabric: generally of a definite length; being, in various cases, 30 yards, 28 ells, or 40 feet.

Resources for Further Study
  • Under the title “How the Spider Won and Lost Nzambi’s Daughter,” the editors from The Crisis added the following text: “A Negro Folk Tale After Dennet; from the collection by M. N. Work.”
    Dennet refers to Richard Edward Dennett (1857-1921), a Chilean-born English trader who later in his life wrote influential sociological and anthropological research on West African cultures. His book Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (1898) contains more than 30 traditional stories from the French Congo.
    M.N. (Monroe Nathan) Work (1866-1945) was an African-American sociologist who founded the Department of Records and Research at the Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute.
  • Bayeck, Rebecca. “Unsung History of the Kingdom of Kongo.”

Categories
1910s African American Family Folktale

A South African Red Riding Hood

A South African Red Riding Hood

By Anonymous
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
Original image and caption from “A South African Red Riding Hood” as it appeared in The Crisis, volume 14, number 6, from October 1917, p. 287.

(Selected by Monroe N. Work)

Once upon a time there was a Bechuana man who had a daughter named Tsélané.[1] One day he set off with his family and flocks to seek fresh pastures; but his daughter would not go with him. She said to her mother, “I won’t go. Our home is so pretty that I cannot leave it.”

Her mother said, “Since you are naughty you may stay here all alone. But shut the door fast, lest a Marimo (a cannibal) comes and eats you.”

With that the mother went away, but in a few days came back bringing food for the daughter She called “Tsélane, my child, Tsélané, my child, take this bread and eat it.”

“I hear my mother speaking.” said Tsélané, “like a bird coming out of the wood.”

For a long time the mother brought food to Tsélané. Whenever she came she would call, “Tsélané, my child, take this bread and eat it.”

One day Tsélané heard a gruff voice saying, “Tsélané, my child, Tsélané, my child, take this bread and eat it.”

Tsélané laughed and said, “That gruff voice is not my mother’s. Go away, naughty Marimo.”

The Marimo went away. He lit a big fire, took an iron hoe, heated it red hot and swallowed it to clear his voice. Then he came back and again tried to beguile Tsélane. But he could not, because his voice was still rough and harsh.

The Marimo went and heated another hoe and swallowed it red hot. Then he came back and said in a small voice, “Tsélane, my child, Tsélané, my child, take this bread and eat it.”

Tsélané thought it was her mother’s voice and opened the door. The Marimo entered, put her in his sack and carried her off. Soon he felt thirsty and, leaving his bag in the care of some little girls, went to a village to get some beer. The little girls peeped into the bag, saw Tsélané and ran and told her mother, who happened to be near. The mother let her daughter out of the bag and stuffed it, instead, with a dog, a scorpion, a snake, and bits of broken pots and stones.

When the Marimo got home with his bag and opened it, intending to take Tsélané out to cook and eat her, the stones bruised him, the bits of broken pots wounded him, the scorpion stung him, and the dog and snake bit him. In great pain and agony he rushed out and threw himself into a refuse heap and was changed into a tree.

The bees made honey in the bark of this tree. In the spring the young girls gathered the honey and made honey cakes.

This bit of African folk-lore reminds at once of two truths: first, how like the races of men are and how curiously their minds run in the same direction. Second, how peculiar and exquisite is African genius and how different from the ways of other folk. Could one conceive a more original tale than this?

George Harper Houghton, [Tree]. Photograph, 1861-62, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. Public Domain.
“A SOUTH AFRICAN RED RIDING HOOD.” THE CRISIS 14, NO. 6 (OCTOBER 1917): 287.

[1] The Bechuanaland Protectorate, established in 1885 by the United Kingdom, became the Republic of Bostwana in 1966.

Contexts

Starting in 1912, the October issues of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, were dedicated to children. A typical edition of these children’s numbers would contain a special editorial piece and two or three literary works specifically for children, while still including the serious pieces about contemporary issues with a focus on race that The Crisis was known for. These October numbers were sprinkled with children’s photographs sent in by the readers.

In his first editorial for the Children’s number in 1912, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that “there is a sense in which all numbers and all words of a magazine of ideas myst point to the child—to that vast immortality and wide sweep and infinite possibility which the child represents.”

The success of The Crisis’ children’s number led to the standalone The Brownies’ Book, a monthly magazine for African American children that circulated from January 1920 to December 1921 under the editorship of Du Bois, Augustus Granville Dill, and Jessie Fauset.

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

  • Bechuana: A member of a black African people inhabiting the country between the Orange and Zambezi rivers in southern Africa, and speaking a Bantu language, Tswana (formerly called Sechuana).
Resources for Further Study
  • The University of Southern Mississippi’s The Little Red Riding Hood Project gathers sixteen English versions of the well-known fairy tale that were published between 1729 and 1916.
  • The Oxford Bibliographies‘ overview of cannibalism or anthropophagy reveals that the term “cannibal” first came to use in the context of the European colonization of the Americas. The trope of cannibalism followed European imperialistic incursions in Africa and Southeast Asia, wherein, in some cases, accusations of cannibalism justified cruelty and conquest.
  • The Morgan State University’s African Folk Tale Library project seeks to gather African “folk tales from both historical sources and contemporary informants in the original language with English translations.”
Categories
1910s African American Education Folktale Wild animals

Mr. Hare: A Story for Children

Mr. Hare: A Story for Children

By Anonymous [1]
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
Cover Page of the The Crisis magazine from October, 1912, the first Children’s Number and the one in which “Mr. Hare: A Story for Children” appeared. Public Domain.

Mr. Hare and Mr. Tortoise were, of course, great friends. Well, one nice warm day, when the sun was very hot in the thick African forest, they went out together a-hunting food, for they were very hungry. They walked and talked and talked and walked, when suddenly Mr. Tortoise stopped.

“Hello!” said Mr. Tortoise, pointing ahead.
“Well, I never!”[2] answered Mr. Hare, beginning to scamper, for there right before them arose in the air, in one tall, slim column, a nice tall white-ant hill.[3]
Now everybody in Africa knows what sweet morsels fat white ants are, and you can believe that Mr. Hare and Mr. Tortoise were overjoyed at the sight of the hill and lost little time getting to it. Carefully they dug a nice little hole at the bottom of the hill and then sat down patiently to await the coming out of the ants.

As Mr. Hare waited he got so hungry that he began to reckon that after all there would be just about enough ants on that hill for Mr. Hare himself, and it seemed a shame to give up any of this fine food to a great sleepy tortoise.

So greedy Mr. Hare began to look about with one eye, keeping the other on the ant hill. Pretty soon Mr. Tortoise fell sound asleep just as Mr. Hare, pricking up his ears, heard some of his friends going through the forest. He ran quickly to them and asked them to carry the sleepy tortoise into the tall grass, where Mr. Hare knew it would he hard for him to crawl out.

“But be careful not to hurt him,” said Mr. Hare.

When the tortoise was out of the way, Mr. Hare sat down and ate and ate until he could hardly waffle, and then crept off home. Poor Mr. Tortoise, awaking in the tall thick grass, had a long hard journey to get out. When at last, late and exhausted, he arrived at the ant hill, lo! there was nothing left and Mr. Hare was gone.

“So ho! my fine friend,” said Mr. Tortoise, angrily.

“I’ll be even with you yet,” and he crawled off home.

Mr. Hare met him and made a great fuss.

“My dear old fellow!” he cried, “how glad I am to see you safe! I feared you were dead. I myself escaped by the merest chance. Three spears grazed me!” and Mr. Hare pointed to a very small scratch on his soft side.

‘”Humph,” said Mr. Tortoise, busily making his bed.

“We must not go to that ant hill again.” said Mr. Hare, licking his chops.

“Humph,” said Mr. Tortoise as he went to sleep.

Now Mr. Tortoise knew full well that early in the morning Mr. Hare would make a beeline to the ant hill for breakfast. Sure enough, up jumped Mr. Hare at dawn and slipped away. No sooner was he out of sight, however, than up jumped Mr. Tortoise and also crept quickly away to his friends.

“Wait for him.” he told them,” and when he has his head deep in the hole pounce on him.”

But Mr. Tortoise was kind hearted, and he remembered that Mr. Hare had been careful not to let his friends injure him when they carried him to the jungle. So he added:

“But don’t kill him.”
“Oh, but we like rabbit—we want to eat him!” cried the friends.
“Very well,” said Mr. Tortoise, “but if you kill him quickly he will be tough. You must take him home and make a big pot ready, half filled with fine oil and salt and nice herbs. Put Mr. Hare in it, but leave a hole in the cover so that you may add cold water from time to time. For if you let the oil get hot it will spoil the meat. So be very careful and not let it boil.”

The friends of the tortoise did exactly as they were told. Just as Mr. Hare was finishing the nicest breakfast imaginable, and stopping between mouthfuls to chuckle over the outwitting of the tortoise, he was suddenly seized from behind, and despite his frantic struggles hurried through the forest and dropped, splash! into a big pot of oil and herbs. Salt was added and the pot raised on sticks. Soon the crackling of a fire struck the scared ears of Mr. Hare, while Mr. Tortoise’s friends sat around in a circle and discussed the coming meal.

Albrecht Durer. Young Hare. Watercolor, 1502. Public Domain.

“I certainly do like rabbit,” said one.

“Do you think it as good as elephant steak?” asked another.

“Oh, better—much better,” said a third.

Here Mr. Hare, faint with fear and heat, was just about to give up, when, splash! and through a hole in the cover of the pot came a nice dash of cold water. Mr. Hare revived and looked about cautiously. This program was kept up for some hours, making poor Mr. Hare very nervous, indeed, until at last the patient cooks decided that their meal was ready; and indeed, the oil and herbs were giving off a most tempting smell.

All the feasters washed their hands, laid out the dishes, and, seating themselves in a circle, ran their tongues expectantly over their lips. The pot was placed in the middle and the cover removed, when, presto! out popped the very scared and bedraggled Mr. Hare and leaped into the jungle like a flash leaving a thin trail of oil.

“Dear me!” said Mr. Tortoise, as Mr. Hare rushed gasping into the house, “wherever have you been?”

“Whew!” cried Mr. Hare, “but I surely had a narrow escape. I was nearly murdered. I’ve been caught and cooked, and only by a miracle did I escape,” and he began hastily licking his oily sides.

Mr. Tortoise with difficulty kept back his laughter and watched Mr. Hare lick himself. Mr. Hare kept on licking and Mr. Tortoise crept nearer. Mr. Hare took no notice and Mr. Tortoise perceived that bit by bit the fright on Mr. Hare’s oily face was being replaced by the most emphatic signs of pleasure as Mr. Hare continued to lick himself greedily. Mr. Tortoise was interested, and stepping over quickly he began to lick the other side.

“My! how delicious,” he exclaimed in rapture, tasting the fine oil and salt and the flavor of the herbs.

“Get away!” cried the greedy Mr. Hare. ” You have not been in the pot and boiled. Keep off!”

Mr. Tortoise, feeling that he had had a hand in that oil and salt, began to get angry.

“Let me have your left shoulder to lick,” he demanded.
“I will not,” said Mr. Hare, who was now thoroughly enjoying himself. Mr. Tortoise stormed out of the house in a great fury and almost ran into the arms of his friends. They, too, were in a towering rage.
“What did you mean?” they cried. “Through your advice we’ve lost our hare and all our beautiful oil and salt.”
”Dear me!” exclaimed Mr. Tortoise, losing in his indignation all thoughts of friendship. “This is very, very sad. Now I will tell you what to do. Arrange a dance and invite Mr. Hare. When he is dancing to your tom-toms seize him and kill him.”

And this should have been the end of Mr. Hare. But it wasn’t.

Jean-Charles Chenu. Grinning Tortoise. Drawing, 1856, Encyclopedie d’histoire naturelle, Reptiles et Poissons (1856). Public Domain.
ANONYMOUS. “Mr. Hare: A Story for Children.” the crisis, Vol. 4, No. 6 (October 1912): 292-94

[1] “Mr. Hare: A Story for Children” appeared in the October, 1912 edition of The Crisis under the following byline: “Adapted from the folk tales of the Banyoro Negroes in Uganda, Central Africa, as reported by George Wilson in Sir Harry Johnston’s Uganda Protectorate.”

[2] British colloquial expression used to express surprise or indignation.

[2] White ants are not ants at all, but termites, social insects that build large nests and, due to the damage the cause to wooden structures, are widely classified as pests. Termites are actually edible. A good source of protein, fat and minerals, they probably figured in our ancestors’ diet. Many people eat them today.

Unknown. Single Termite Mounds or in Clusters. 1884-85, Popular Science Monthly. Public Domain.
Contexts

Starting in 1912, the October issues of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, were dedicated to children. A typical edition of these children’s numbers would contain a special editorial piece and two or three literary works specifically for children, while still including the serious pieces about contemporary issues with a focus on race that The Crisis was known for. These October numbers were sprinkled with children’s photographs sent in by the readers.

In his first editorial for the Children’s number in 1912, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that “there is a sense in which all numbers and all words of a magazine of ideas myst point to the child—to that vast immortality and wide sweep and infinite possibility which the child represents.”

The success of The Crisis’ children’s number led to the standalone The Brownies’ Book, a monthly magazine for African American children that circulated from January 1920 to December 1921 under the editorship of Du Bois, Augustus Granville Dill, and Jessie Fauset.

Categories
1920s African American Dogs Folktale Short Story Wild animals

The Dog and the Clever Rabbit

The Dog and the Clever Rabbit

By A. O. Stafford
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
Gerald H. Thayer. The Cotton-Tail Rabbit among Dry Grasses and Leaves. Opaque watercolor with touches of translucent watercolor and graphite on smooth-textured paper-surfaced pulp board, 1904, Brooklyn Museum, NY. Public domain.

There were many days when the animals did not think about the kingship. They thought of their games and their tricks, and would play them from the rising to the setting of the sun.

Now, at that time, the little rabbit was known as a very clever fellow. His tricks, his schemes, and his funny little ways caused much mischief and at times much anger among his woodland cousins.[1]

At last the wolf made up his mind to catch him and give him a severe punishment for the many tricks he had played upon him.[2]

Knowing that the rabbit could run faster than he, the wolf called at the home of the dog to seek his aid. “Brother dog, frisky little rabbit must be caught and punished. For a nice bone will you help me?” asked the wolf.

“Certainly, my good friend,” answered the dog, thinking of the promised bone.

“Be very careful, the rabbit is very clever,” said the wolf as he left.

A day or so later while passing through the woods the dog saw the rabbit frisking in the tall grass. Quick as a flash the dog started after him. The little fellow ran and, to save himself, jumped into the hollow of an oak tree. The opening was too small for the other to follow and as he looked in he heard only the merry laugh of the frisky rabbit, “Hee, hee! hello, Mr. Dog, you can’t see me.”

“Never mind, boy, I will get you yet,” barked the angry dog.

A short distance from the tree a goose was seen moving around looking for her dinner.

“Come, friend goose, watch the hollow of this tree while I go and get some moss and fire to smoke out this scamp of a rabbit,” spoke the dog, remembering the advice of the wolf.

“Of course I’ll watch, for he has played many of his schemes upon me,” returned the bird.

R. Metzeroth. Rabbit standing on hind legs. Lithograph, circa 1853-1856, Library of Congress.

When the dog left, the rabbit called out from his hiding place, “How can you watch, friend goose, when you can’t see me?”

“Well, I will see you then,” she replied. With these words she pushed her long neck into the hollow of the tree. As the neck of the goose went into the opening the rabbit threw the dust of some dry wood into her eyes.

“Oh, oh, you little scamp, you have made me blind,” cried out the bird in pain. Then while the goose was trying to get the dust from her eyes the rabbit jumped out and scampered away.

In a short while the dog returned with the moss and fire, filled the opening, and, as he watched the smoke arise, barked with glee, “Now I have you, my tricky friend, now I have you.” But as no rabbit ran out the dog turned to the goose and saw from her red, streaming eyes that something was wrong.

“Where is the rabbit, friend goose?” he quickly asked.

“Why, he threw wood dust into my eyes when I peeped into the opening.” At once the dog knew that the rabbit had escaped and became very angry.

“You silly goose, you foolish bird with web feet, I will kill you now for such folly.” With these words the dog sprang for the goose, but only a small feather was caught in his mouth as the frightened bird rose high in the air and flew away.

Stafford, A. O. “The Dog and the Clever Rabbit,” IN THE UPWARD PATH: A READER FOR COLORED CHILDREN, ED. MYRON T. PRITCHARD AND MARY WHITE OVINGTON, 109-12. HARCOURT, BRACE AND HOWE, 1920.

A. B. Frost. Br’er Rabbit. Watercolor, ca. 1881-1928, Collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, MA. Public domain.

[1] Rabbits are usually trickster characters in African, African-American, and Native American Culture. Br’er Rabbit, for example, is a trickster that recurs in many stories from the oral traditions of enslaved communities from the Southern United States.

[2] There are three recognized species of American wolf: the gray wolf, the eastern wolf, and the American red wolf. 

Contexts

This short story was included in The Upward Path: A Reader for Colored Children, published in 1920 and compiled by Myron T. Pritchard and Mary White Ovington. The volume’s foreword states that, “to the present time, there has been no collection of stories and poems by Negro writers, which colored children could read with interest and pleasure and in which they could find a mirror of the traditions and aspirations of their race.”

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

  • scamp: A good-for-nothing, worthless person, a ne’er-do-well, “waster”; a rascal. Also playfully as a mild term of reproof.
Resources for Further Study
  • Overview of tricksters in African American literature..

Categories
1920s African American Birds Folktale Short Story

A Legend of the Blue Jay

A Legend of the Blue Jay

By Ruth Anna Fisher
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
Blue Jay, from the Birds of America Series (N4) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands. Commercial color lithograph, 1888, The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick. Public Domain.

It was a hot, sultry day in May and the children in the little school in Virginia were wearily waiting for the gong to free them from lessons for the day. Furtive glances were directed towards the clock. The call of the birds and fields was becoming more and more insistent. Would the hour never strike!

“The Planting of the Apple-tree” had no interest for them. Little attention was given the boy as he read in a sing-song, spiritless manner:

"What plant we in this apple-tree?
Buds, which the breath of summer days
Shall lengthen into leafy sprays;
Boughs where the thrush, with crimson breast,
Shall haunt and sing and hide her nest."[1]

The teacher, who had long since stopped trying to make the lesson interesting, found herself saying mechanically, “What other birds have their nests in the apple-tree?”

The boy shifted lazily from one foot to the other as he began, “The sparrow, the robin, and wrens, and—the snow-birds and blue-jays—”

“No, they don’t, blue-jays don’t have nests,” came the excited outburst from some of the children, much to the surprise of the teacher.[2]

When order was restored some of these brown-skinned children, who came from the heart of the Virginian mountains, told this legend of the blue-jay.

Long, long years ago, the devil came to buy the blue-jay’s soul, for which he first offered a beautiful golden ear of corn. This the blue-jay liked and wanted badly, but said, “No, I cannot take it in exchange for my soul.” Then the devil came again, this time with a bright red ear of corn which was even more lovely than the golden one.

This, too, the blue-jay refused. At last the devil came to offer him a wonderful blue ear. This one the blue-jay liked best of all, but still was unwilling to part with his soul. Then the devil hung it up in the nest, and the blue-jay found that it exactly matched his own brilliant feathers, and knew at once that he must have it. The bargain was quickly made. And now in payment for that one blue ear of corn each Friday the blue-jay must carry one grain of sand to the devil, and sometimes he gets back on Sunday, but oftener not until Monday.[3]

Very seriously the children added, “And all the bad people are going to burn until the blue-jays have carried all the grains of sand in the ocean to the devil.”

The teacher must have smiled a little at the legend, for the children cried out again, “It is so. ’Deed it is, for doesn’t the black spot on the blue-jay come because he gets his wings scorched, and he doesn’t have a nest like other birds.”

Then, to dispel any further doubts the teacher might have, they asked triumphantly, “You never saw a blue-jay on Friday, did you?”

There was no need to answer, for just then the gong sounded and the children trooped happily out to play.

School Children Before a Log Schoolhouse. Photograph, circa 1895, Library of Virginia Special Collections.
Fisher, Ruth Anna. “A Legend of the Blue Jay,” IN THE UPWARD PATH: A READER FOR COLORED CHILDREN, ED. MYRON T. PRITCHARD AND MARY WHITE OVINGTON, 218-19. HARCOURT, BRACE AND HOWE, 1920.

[1] American nature poet and journalist William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) wrote “The Planting of the Apple-Tree,” a poem included in school readers like The Rand-McNally List of Selections in School Readers (1896) and Constructive English for the Higher Grades of the Grammar School (1915).

[2] Blue jays do build nests. However, according to the Audubon Society‘s website, they are very quiet and inconspicuous when around them.

Job, Herbert Keightley. Blue Jay Nesting, Kent, Connecticut. Lantern Slide, 1900, Trinity College Watkinson Library: Ornithology Lantern Slides.

[3] According to folktales and fables that circulated within enslaved communities in the antebellum American South, the blue jay was never seen on Fridays because on those days he was carrying sticks to the devil to pay his debt. In other stories, the bird acted as the devil’s helper or messenger. Some of these accounts appear in Ernest Ingersoll’s Birds in Legend, Fable and Folklore (1923), Martha Young’s Plantation Legends (1902), and others.

Contexts

This short story was included in The Upward Path: A Reader for Colored Children, published in 1920 and compiled by Myron T. Pritchard and Mary White Ovington. The volume’s foreword states that, “[t]o the present time, there has been no collection of stories and poems by Negro writers, which colored children could read with interest and pleasure and in which they could find a mirror of the traditions and aspirations of their race.”

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

  • sing-song: To utter or express in a monotonous chant.
Resources for Further Study
  • Brief essay posted in The Conversation about the role of African American folklore in the preservation of history and cultural memory.
  • An overview of education in Virginia from 1869 to the present helps contextualize the school where Fisher’s story takes place. For example, under the Jim Crow system of education, “[o]ften transportation was provided to white schools but not to black ones. White teachers earned more money than black teachers, and male teachers were paid more than female teachers.”
  • A defense of the blue jay, a bird that “birders love to hate.”
Contemporary Connections

Blue jays are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1918.

Categories
1910s African American Education Folktale Short Story Wild animals

The Boy and the Ideal

The Boy and the Ideal

By Joseph S. Cotter Sr.
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
Bullard, William. Portrait of a Boy Sitting on the Grass. Photograph, c. 1904, courtesy of Frank Morrill, Clark University and the Worcester Art Museum. Public Domain.

Once upon a time a Mule, a Hog, a Snake, and a Boy met. Said the Mule: “I eat and labor that I may grow strong in the heels. It is fine to have heels so gifted. My heels make people cultivate distance.”

Said the Hog: “I eat and labor that I may grow strong in the snout. It is fine to have a fine snout. I keep people watching for my snout.”

“No exchanging heels for snouts,” broke in the Mule.

“No’” answered the Hog; “snouts are naturally above heels.”

Said the Snake: “I eat to live, and live and cultivate my sting. The way people shun me shows my greatness. Beget stings, comrades, and stings will beget glory.”

Said the Boy: “There is a star in my life like unto a star in the sky. I eat and labor that I may think aright and feel aright. These rounds will conduct me to my star. Oh, inviting star!”

“I am not so certain of that,” said the Mule. “I have noticed your kind and ever see some of myself in them. Your star is in the distance.”

The Boy answered by smelling a flower and listening to the song of a bird. The Mule looked at him and said: “He is all tenderness and care. The true and the beautiful have robbed me of a kinsman. His star is near.”

Said the Boy: “I approach my star.”

“I am not so certain of that,” interrupted the Hog. “I have noticed your kind and I ever see some of myself in them. Your star is a delusion.”

The Boy answered by painting the flower and setting the notes of the bird’s song to music.

The Hog looked at the boy and said: “His soul is attuned by nature. The meddler in him is slain.”

“I can all but touch my star,” cried the Boy.

“I am not so certain of that,” remarked the Snake. “I have watched your kind and ever see some of myself in them. Stings are nearer than stars.”

The Boy answered by meditating upon the picture and music. The Snake departed, saying that stings and stars cannot keep company.

The Boy journeyed on, ever led by the star. Some distance away the Mule was bemoaning the presence of his heels and trying to rid himself of them by kicking a tree. The Hog was dividing his time between looking into a brook and rubbing his snout on a rock to shorten it. The Snake lay dead of its own bite. The Boy journeyed on, led by an ever inviting star.

Bridges, Fidelia. Bird on a Stalk, Singing. Chromolitograph, 1883, Library of Congress.
cotter, joseph s, sr. “the boy and the ideal,” in negro tales, 141-43. the cosmopolitan press, new york, 1912.
Contexts

This short story was also included in The Upward Path: A Reader for Colored Children, compiled by Myron T. Pritchard and Mary White Ovington, and published in 1920.

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:

  • beget: To get, obtain, acquire; to win, gain; to procure (something) for someone, furnish, provide. Also: to take hold of, seize.
  • kinsman: A man of one’s own kin.
  • meddler: A person who meddles or interferes in something; a nuisance, a troublemaker.
Resources for Further Study

Categories
1900s Folktale Myth Native American Short Story

Legend of Horn Lake

OK sunset at Washita NWR Public domain

Legend of Horn Lake

By Stella Le Flore Carter (Cherokee-Chickasaw), age 9
Annotations by Karen L. Kilcup
OK sunset at Washita NWR Public domain
Sunset at Washita National Wildlife Refuge, OK. Public domain.

My Aunt Lizzie lives at the head of the beautiful Washita canyon. [1] She is almost a full-blood Chickasaw, and has all the ways of a full-blood Indian. She tells many beautiful stories about her people, as she calls the Chickasaws. [2] She calls these tales legends and traditions, but Papa says they are pipe stories. Among others she told me what she calls the legend of Horn Lake, which I will tell you as she told it to me. [3]

Many years ago, when your Great Grandfather wore the breech clout and hunting shirt, a clan of my people lived in a beautiful valley, near the line of Mississippi and Tennessee.

The Chief of this clan had a beautiful daughter, named Climbing Panther. [4] She was known among all the Chickasaws for her pretty face and perfect form. One day the young men of the tribe cut down a large bee tree for they wanted the honey. [5] The trunk of the tree was found to be hollow and full of water, and a fish was seen coming to the surface for air. Climbing Panther wanted to get the fish, but the old Medicine Man fussed at her, and told her not to do it. But she took the fish home to her father’s wigwam[,] cooked it and ate it. She became very thirsty and they brought her water, but she could not get enough. At last she went to the spring and drank the water as fast as it ran from the spring. Before leaving camp she told her father that she was sick, and to call his people together and have a big Pashofa, or Medicine Dance. [6]

Her father called the people together that night, and when they were forming lines for the Tikbahoka, [7] the men on one side and the women on the other, they heard an awful roaring noise. A big snake as big as a horse appeared between the two lines. It had long horns and on its head was the face of Climbing Panther. Then they all knew that Climbing Panther had turned to a snake.

The lightning flashed and the Heavens gave a mighty roar. The body of the snake burst open, the ground sank and everything was covered with water except the long horns of the snake. This is the way Horn Lake was made. And the great horns of the snake can be seen sticking above the water today. And it was all caused by Climbing Panther’s disobedience.

STELLA LE FLORE CARTER, “LEGEND OF HORN LAKE,” TWIN TERRITORIES 5, NO. 5 (MAY 1903): 182-83.
7th US Cavalry charging on Black Kettle's village Nov 27 1868
Attack on Peace Chief Black Kettle’s village near the Washita River by the Seventh U.S. Cavalry let by Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, November 27, 1868.
Harper’s Weekly 12 (December 1868): 804. Public domain.

[1] The Washita River, which meanders across many miles in southwest Oklahoma, figures tragically in Native American history. See Contexts and Resources for Further Study, below.

[2] The Chickasaw people were among the groups called the “Five Civilized Tribes” that the U.S. Government removed to Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma) on the Trail of Tears.  See Resources for Further Study, below.

[3] Horn Lake does not appear in any contemporary or historical maps of Oklahoma. The location the story references is almost certainly in the traditional homeland of the Chickasaws. Crossing the Tennessee-Mississippi border, Horn Lake appears on a 1932 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers topographic map, as well as on contemporary Google maps. Thanks to Jessica Cory for locating this information.

[4] The name Climbing Panther may suggest that the chief’s daughter belonged to the Panther Clan, traditionally regarded as hunters.

[5] As its name suggests, a bee tree contains a colony of honeybees. Those we regularly reference today are not native to North America but were brought here from Europe in the seventeenth century. Before this time, American Indians “enjoyed a different kind of honey prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. The Mayans and Aztecs ate honey from a bee, Melipona beecheii, that used hollowed-out logs as hives.” See Carson in Resources for Further Study, below.

[6] “Pashofa” is a traditional Chickasaw dish composed of pashofa corn and pork. The Chickasaw Nation website, which contains recipes, comments that it “was, and still is, served at large gatherings of Chickasaws, for celebrations and ceremonies.”

[7] The author may have transcribed this word imprecisely, for a search reveals no results. The context suggests that it references the Medicine Dance mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Contexts

Stella Carter’s story exemplifies a notable genre of Native American literature, the traditional tale that explains the origin of a natural feature. The story’s key emphasis, however, lies in what the narrator calls “Climbing Panther’s disobedience”: in rejecting her elders’ wisdom and prioritizing her individual desires, she endangers the entire tribe.

Carter’s narrative does not mention the 1868 Washita Massacre, but her aunt would almost certainly have known about this attack in which U.S. soldiers led by Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer decimated the village of Peace Chief Black Kettle and killed the chief. Four years earlier, the horrific Sand Creek Massacre by U.S. soldiers in Colorado had killed many women and children, but Black Kettle attempted to maintain peaceful relations with the federal government. The websites of the National Park Service (NPS) and the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site in Oklahoma provide some historical background, although readers should be wary of non-Native accounts. The NPS description acknowledges that “Black Kettle, a respected Cheyenne leader, had sought peace and protection from the US Army and had signed the Little Arkansas Treaty in 1865 and the Medicine Lodge Treaty in 1867.” For eyewitness Cheyenne accounts, see Hardoff, below.

Resources for Further Study
  • Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. 1970; rpt. New York: Henry Holt, 2007. See 167-68, 243.
  • Carson, Dale. “The Origins of Golden Honey and its Gastronomic and Medical Uses.” Indian Country Today, January 26, 2013.
  • “Carter, Charles David, 1868-1929.” Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress.
  • Hardoff, Richard G., ed. Washita Memories: Eyewitness Views of Custer’s Attack on Black Kettle’s Village. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. Notable because it contains accounts by Cheyenne Indians who witnessed the massacre.
  • Hatch, Thom. Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace But Found War. Hoboken: John Wiley, 2004. See Chapters 8, 9, and 12.
  • “History.” Office of the Governor. The Chickasaw Nation. This site encompasses Chickasaw history from the pre-settler period to the present.
  • Horwitz, Tony. “The Horrific Sand Creek Massacre Will Be Forgotten No More.” Smithsonian, December 2014.
  • Kosmerick, Todd J. “Carter, Charles David (1868-1929).” Oklahoma Historical Society.
Pedagogy

Boatman, Christine. “Lessons Learned in Teaching Native American History.” Edutopia. George Lucas Educational Foundation, September 18, 2019. “A white teacher shares resources and things she’s learned: Be humble, find the gaps in your knowledge, and listen to Native voices.”

“Chickasaw Nation Curriculum.” The essential guide for teaching primary and secondary grades about the Chickasaw Nation.

“English Language Arts: Oral Traditions.” Oregon Department of Education.

“Maps and Spatial Data: Map Resources for Teaching Oklahoma History.” Edmon Low Library. Oklahoma State University. Includes maps of Indian Territory from 1889 and of the proposed State of Sequoyah from 1905.

Reese, Debbie (Nambe Pueblo). “American Indians in Children’s Literature.” Website with numerous pedagogical resources.

———. “Proceed with Caution: Using Native American Folktales in the Classroom.” Language Arts 84, no. 3 (January 2007): 245-56. Open-access article that contains additional valuable resources for teachers at various levels.

“Teacher’s Guide. American Indian History and Heritage.” EDSITEment! National Endowment for the Humanities. “Transforming teaching and learning about Native Americans.” Native Knowledge 360° Education Initiative. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian. The site offers educators and others free webinars, including many hosted by Native Americans, aimed to correct problematic narratives about Native Americans; it maintains an archive of previous sessions.

Contemporary Connections

For a Native American perspective on the events of November 1868, see Winter Rabbit (Métis). “Washita Massacre of November 27, 1868: 151st Anniversary.” Daily Kos, November 27, 2019.

Northwest of Foss Reservoir (and of the town of Washita) lies the 8,075-acre Washita National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1961. The refuge encompasses both resources for geese and other wildfowl and seven active natural gas wells. The Washita Battlefield National Historic Site lies near Cheyenne, Oklahoma.

css.php