Category: Thursday’s Tales

The book I talked about yesterday featured a seagull in the opening scene, so today I went searching for a seagull story. This tale comes from the Innu people of Canada. When spring came, the bear woke from hibernation and came out of her den. She went for a walk to the place where most of the snow had melted so that she could eat berries. She left her children behind where they were still asleep. After she had finished eating, she went back to her den and took a nap. While she was sleeping, her children woke up and saw that their mother's mouth was purple from eating berries. The cubs decided to follow her footprints and try to find berries too. So they followed their mother's footprints until they reached a patch of berries and started eating too. After they had eaten enough berries, they both went home. When they had nearly reached their den, they heard their mother making desperate cries. It...

I have a sad little skunk story from South America today. Once there was a gentleman jaguar and a lady skunk. Mrs. Skunk had a son, who was baptized by Mr. Jaguar, so Mrs. Skunk became his comadre (godmother). And as Mr. Jaguar had baptized the little skunk, he was Mrs. Skunk's compadre (godfather). Mr. Jaguar decided to go looking for food and came to Mrs. Skunk's house. He told her that he wanted to take his godson with him so he could learn to hung. Mrs. Skunk was reluctant, but the little skunk begged her to go, so she relented and little skunk and Mr. Jaguar set off, walking toward the river. When they got to the river, Mr. Jaguar told the little skunk that he was going to sharpen his knife, and proceeded to sharpen his claws. He told little skunk to be on guard, because the jaguar was going to sleep. When little skunk saw the animals with the big...

We're doing VBS at our church this week and we have the cutest mascot, Bella the Skunk. She is sweet and friendly and full of mischief. The kids love her. So, I thought I'd find a folktale about skunks this week. I found a couple. One was too sad to put under Bella's picture, so maybe I'll share it next week. I did find a Native American origin myth from the Winnebago (Hotcâk) people. It's pretty sad too, actually. I'll have to do some searching for a happy skunk tale. Does anyone know any? In a village long ago a woman gave birth to a girl with pure white hair. She grew up to be beautiful beyond compare, and because of her white hair she was thought to be very holy. Men would often court her, but she showed no interest in them, preferring to gaze at her own reflection in still waters. She loved the smell of flowers and would rub...

I decided to share another of Aesop's fables today. I always equate Aesop with talking animals, but this time around we've got one about the gods interacting with humans. A Waggoner was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy  way. At last he came to a part of the road where the wheels sank  half-way into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper the wheels sank. So the Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt  down and prayed to Hercules the Strong. "O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress." But Hercules appeared to him, and said: "Tut, man, don't sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel." The moral, of course, is that the gods help those who help themselves. On a side note, it's funny how much different illustrations for "baby" books look today. They are so much simpler and cleaner. The colors tend to be brighter, too, I think. Thursday's Tales is a weekly...