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Lift the Sky Up: A Snohomish Indian Legend
Retells a legend from the Pacific Northwest about how the people decided to raise the sky because too many animals would climb up to escape from hunters, but when they did so, three boys and four deer were trapped up there, where they became the stars of the Big Dipper.Retells a legend from the Pacific Northwest about how the people raised the sky because too many animals would climb up to escape from hunters
16 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 5, 2023
Review first published on my blog,
Dragon Bite Books
.
Lift the Sky Up is a Snohomish creation myth explaining the origin of the Big Dipper. To my knowledge, though Richard Vaughn has written several stories based on myths and legends of the Pacific Northwest, neither he nor Robin Moore are themselves from the Snohomish. This story lost something I think in translation. The text lacks a lyricism of spoken story.
Doing some research into a nearer translation of the original tale, this retelling lacks key parts of the story too. I found what is probably a truer translation from book by Snohomish Chief William Shelton called Indian Legends, or The Story of the Totem Pole, published in 1923. In that collection he calls the tale “Do-Kwi-Buhch,” the name given to the creator. In this version of the story, the people of the Pacific Northwest speak many languages and cannot talk to one another and so make the word “Ya-hoh” as a signal to be used across language barriers to mean to lift together. In this telling, the people come together to better their world, displeased by how low Do-Kwi-Buhch has left the sky.
Vaughn makes no mention of a creator nor of language barriers between people. “Ya-hoh” is never mentioned.
This retelling feels as though it misses the point of its source material.
Lift the Sky Up is a Snohomish creation myth explaining the origin of the Big Dipper. To my knowledge, though Richard Vaughn has written several stories based on myths and legends of the Pacific Northwest, neither he nor Robin Moore are themselves from the Snohomish. This story lost something I think in translation. The text lacks a lyricism of spoken story.
Doing some research into a nearer translation of the original tale, this retelling lacks key parts of the story too. I found what is probably a truer translation from book by Snohomish Chief William Shelton called Indian Legends, or The Story of the Totem Pole, published in 1923. In that collection he calls the tale “Do-Kwi-Buhch,” the name given to the creator. In this version of the story, the people of the Pacific Northwest speak many languages and cannot talk to one another and so make the word “Ya-hoh” as a signal to be used across language barriers to mean to lift together. In this telling, the people come together to better their world, displeased by how low Do-Kwi-Buhch has left the sky.
Vaughn makes no mention of a creator nor of language barriers between people. “Ya-hoh” is never mentioned.
This retelling feels as though it misses the point of its source material.
March 16, 2022
A wonderfully retold and marvelously illustrated Snohomiosh Idian legend. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm sure the kids will too.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews