Half-remembered children's book of creation myths
June 27, 2013 9:59 AM Subscribe
I actually am not sure if I'm asking about one book that had a few creation myths in it, or a few books, each with one creation myth. I'm hoping for the former!
One of the creation myths told the story of the earth and sky when the earth was flat, and they were both lonely, so one day, the earth rose up to the sky and the sky sank down toward the earth, and they spent some time together. Then it was time to go back, and in their longing, the earth left some mountains to be close to the sky, and the sky made clouds to be close to the earth.
Another myth was getting light for the nighttime, the spider spun a web that the woodpecker was able to climb up and peck holes in the sky to let the stars shine through.
And I think there was one that involved a boy who slept in the shade of palm trees and climbed them to get food and drink ... but I don't remember what the story was.
This book would have been available in the late 70s or early 80s. Long shot, but fingers crossed!
One of the creation myths told the story of the earth and sky when the earth was flat, and they were both lonely, so one day, the earth rose up to the sky and the sky sank down toward the earth, and they spent some time together. Then it was time to go back, and in their longing, the earth left some mountains to be close to the sky, and the sky made clouds to be close to the earth.
Another myth was getting light for the nighttime, the spider spun a web that the woodpecker was able to climb up and peck holes in the sky to let the stars shine through.
And I think there was one that involved a boy who slept in the shade of palm trees and climbed them to get food and drink ... but I don't remember what the story was.
This book would have been available in the late 70s or early 80s. Long shot, but fingers crossed!
Could it have been one of the Childcraft volumes? There was definitely one that had several creation myths in it, though I'm having trouble remembering which it would be...
posted by natabat at 10:36 AM on June 27, 2013
posted by natabat at 10:36 AM on June 27, 2013
This may not be it - can't remember myself what stories were in this book, since it's been 30-odd years since I read it - but the first thing I thought of was Tales From Silver Lands.
posted by Athanassiel at 11:55 PM on June 27, 2013
posted by Athanassiel at 11:55 PM on June 27, 2013
Best answer: Your descriptions are very specific, so I used a little bit of google and I may have found it:
Tales With Tails: Storytelling the Wonders of the Natural World
By Kevin Strauss
Here's a googlebooks quote:
Woodpecker followed Spider up the thread and used her beak to "tap-tap-tap" peck a hole through the sky. Light began to shine through. Woodpecker pecked several more holes in the sky. These were the first stars.
I'm looking through the rest of that book, and it looks like a guide for teachers/parents to introduce this type of story to children. It has chapters explaining why such stories are valuable and how to use them, and it includes a bunch of the stories themselves. So I would guess that if someone in your family was a teacher, you might have had access to this book, but it doesn't sound like a book that would have been on the shelf in the children's section of the library, maybe.
Here's a page about the author, and some of his other books for sale. It says that he collected some of his stories into children's books, so maybe it was one of those that you read.
posted by CathyG at 11:23 AM on June 29, 2013
Tales With Tails: Storytelling the Wonders of the Natural World
By Kevin Strauss
Here's a googlebooks quote:
Woodpecker followed Spider up the thread and used her beak to "tap-tap-tap" peck a hole through the sky. Light began to shine through. Woodpecker pecked several more holes in the sky. These were the first stars.
I'm looking through the rest of that book, and it looks like a guide for teachers/parents to introduce this type of story to children. It has chapters explaining why such stories are valuable and how to use them, and it includes a bunch of the stories themselves. So I would guess that if someone in your family was a teacher, you might have had access to this book, but it doesn't sound like a book that would have been on the shelf in the children's section of the library, maybe.
Here's a page about the author, and some of his other books for sale. It says that he collected some of his stories into children's books, so maybe it was one of those that you read.
posted by CathyG at 11:23 AM on June 29, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks, CathyG! That's definitely one of them -- and it clarifies that there were more than one, because there aren't pictures for that, and I definitely remember pictures for the sky/earth one. I'll be checking out all the others, too, since even if they're not the books I was thinking of, they all look interesting and good! Thanks, all.
posted by spindrifter at 6:32 AM on July 1, 2013
posted by spindrifter at 6:32 AM on July 1, 2013
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posted by annaramma at 10:29 AM on June 27, 2013