Late at night around
the campfires, Seminole children safely tucked into mosquito nets used
to listen to the elders retelling the old stories. These priceless legends
of mischievous Rabbit, the Corn Lady, the Deer Girl, and all the creatures
of the Florida Everglades impart valuable lessons about living in harmony
with nature and about why the world is the way it is. Readers of all ages
will delight in these images of the way of life and beliefs of the Seminoles
of Florida, a nation with relatively few members but with a rich and vital
heritage. Each story is illustrated with an original painting.
Hard Cover: $25
Paper Back: $18
To order now, go to the Seminole Tribe Marketplace under SEMINOLE
BOOKS
The Corn Lady
Back
when the world was young, animals and people spoke one language. The
possum had a beautiful tail, crows had bright feathers, panthers argued
with rattlesnakes and an ugly old corn lady lived deep in the woods.
It was a mysterious, magical world that Seminole Indian children could
enter only through the haunting legends handed down by their elders.
For the first time, this precious oral tradition has been preserved
for video presentation (also available on audio cassette). Children
of all ages will enjoy the special legends collected and spoken by Seminole
Indian story teller Betty Mae Jumper.
Video: $20
Audio Cassette: $10
To order now, go to the Seminole Tribe Marketplace under SEMINOLE
BOOKS
The
Rabbit and the Lion
"I never saw a real lion until many years after I first heard this
story. My mother told us a lion was like a big dog with long hair
and a big fuzzy tail. The lion would eat any living thing and that is
why the rabbit got rid of him. The first lion I saw was at a zoo in
North Miami. I immediately remembered this story because the lion was
exactly as I imagined it -- exactly as my mother told us."
In the early days
when the world was new, many animals roamed the lands. Among those animals
was the lion. Wherever the lion went, if he saw a rabbit, all he had
to do was pick it up and swallow it.
One day, the old
rabbit said to himself, "If I don't do something about the lion, he
is going to eat all the rabbits and there won't be any more of us around."
The rabbit tried
to think of what he could do to get rid of the lion. He thought and
thought and then started jumping up and down. "I know what I can do,"
said the rabbit, who was full of lies. "If I could get to the other
side of the ocean and tie it to this side, I could get rid of the lion."
So the rabbit
got a rope and tied it to the other side of the ocean and pulled the
land closer and closer. Then he went in search of the lion. He saw him
lying under a big tree, full from his dinner. The old rabbit jumped
up and asked the lion how he was.
"Hi!" said the
rabbit. "I bet I can jump further than you. I might be little, but oh
how I can jump."
The lion laughed
but the rabbit would not let him rest. Finally the lion told the rabbit
that as soon as he jumped further, he was going to eat him.
They went to the
water and the rabbit pointed to the rope and told the lion that he had
tied the two lands together. The rabbit told the lion that he would
loosen the rope and make it further apart and they would jump until
they had a winner. So away they went jumping along.
The rabbit loosened
the rope and the two lands where far apart and he knew he could jump
no further. He told the lion to jump and the lion barely made it to
the other side. Then the rabbit ran to get the axe and chopped the rope.
Away went the
land to the other side of the ocean, and the lion with it. The rabbit
got rid of the lion this way, and that is why we don't have lions on
this side of the ocean eating rabbits.
