The Pond God and Other Stories

by Samuel Jay Keyser, Robert Shetterly (Illustrator)

Oscar Wilde was once asked why he wrote stories for children (for example, The Happy Giant). His answer: "I no more write for children than I write for adults. Rather, I write for those who find in simplicity a subtle strangeness." So, too, writes Samuel Jay Keyser in The Pond God and Other Stories. The stories were inspired by a Navajo shaman who once said that he had seen a god walking across the horizon. Keyser is both humorous and profound as he explores the foibles and insights of the very human "gods" who inhabit his primordial world. The stories include “How Clouds Came to Be," "How a Thief Stole the Horizon," and "How the Sun Tricked a God." Each reader of these 43 parables will bring a different perspective to the stories. Robert Shetterly, acclaimed for his illustration of William Blake's Proverbs of Heaven and Hell, captures and compounds the "subtle strangeness" of Keyser's tales in the simple, evocative line drawings for The Pond God.

96 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

These fables and porquoi tales may not appeal to many students. Each tale takes one page and is written in free verse, with a line drawing on the opposite page. Some of them were interesting, and the collection may be worth browsing. The tales do not appear to be of any particular origin, although the author credits the inspiration of "a Navajo shaman".