In A Quetzalcoatl Tale of the Ball Game, Quetzalcoatl saves his people from war by playing a game with a rubber ball against the Rain God and is rewarded for winning with jade and quetzal feathers.
Quetzalcóatl tales are ancient legends from Mexico and Central America that have been passed down through the ages, primarily by oral tradition. A Quetzalcóatl Tale of Corn tells how Quetzalcóatl followed a trail of ants to the Mountain of Sustenance and stole maize from the gods to feed his people.
Mamá, Papá, Sister, and Brother Ratón go for a picnic on a beautiful day. After a delicious lunch of medianoches and lemonade, Mamá and Papá smooch—eeewww!—and Brother and Sister must find something to do. And what could be more fun than teasing the cat behind the fence? But the fence isn’t as high as they think! Faster than they can say, “Adios, Gato!” Brother and Sister are racing back to Mamá and Papá with the cat in pursuit. The brave Ratón family knows what to do—hide behind Mamá! But what will Mamá do?
For millennia, Somalia has been crossed and recrossed by camel caravans of merchants bringing stories with them. Elizabeth Laird heard most of these oral retellings in Jigjiga, the capital of Ethiopia’s Somali region, in gardens, bars, small huts and beautiful old Harari houses. Some of them are written down here for the very first time.
Relates the traditional Brazilian legend of how the Sea Serpent’s gift of darkness to his daughter brings night to the people of the rain forest.
The collected stories in this beautifully illustrated volume bring Latin American and Spanish folklore to children all over the world. With stories that come from cultures as vast as the Guarani and the Quechua, the Highlands of Peru, the tip of South America, and Spain, this resource will captivate readers as it familiarizes them with these moving traditions. Text copyright 2004 Lectorum Publications, Inc.
Relates the traditional Brazilian legend of how the Sea Serpent’s gift of darkness to his daughter brings night to the people of the rain forest.
A retelling of the Chibcha Indian legend about how the treasure of El Dorado came to be.
This Miskito Indian legend set in seventeenth-century Nicaragua illustrates the impact of the first European traders on traditional life.
Once a cat and mouse shared a house and had a pot of butter to last them through the winter. Then the cat tried to get all the food for herself.