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THE CHILDREN OF THE MORNING LIGHT by Manitonquat

THE CHILDREN OF THE MORNING LIGHT

Wamponoag Tales as Told by Manitonquat (Medicine Story)

adapted by Manitonquat & illustrated by Mary F. Arquette

Pub Date: April 1st, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-765905-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

It was the Wampanoag (the ``People of the Dawn'') who shared their thanksgiving harvests with the Pilgrims in the 1620's. They remain a viable political, cultural, and spiritual community in southeastern Massachusetts; Manitonquat (``Medicine Story'') is an elder and storyteller of the Assonet Wampanoag. These 11 tales, each illustrated with a striking, beautifully composed full-page acrylic painting by a Mohawk painter and graphic artist, include creation myths, tribal legends, and pourquoi tales. Most feature the benevolent spirit helper Maushop, credited with creating all the races of man (from the multicolored clays of Gay Head on Martha's Vineyard) as well as the good and useful things of the earth. In relating how Maushop taught the Wampanoag to ``live in harmony always, in the natural joy and beauty of Creation,'' Manitonquat preserves both a storyteller's idiosyncratic voice and his instructional intent. An excellent resource (though a pronunciation guide would have helped), with a multitude of uses: to pair with a historical and cultural survey (e.g., Laurie Weinstein-Farson's The Wampanoag, 1989); for social studies and literature units, comparative mythology, and storytelling. (Folklore. 8+)