The Moon-Eyed People: Folk Tales from Welsh America

by Peter Stevenson

A lone man wanders from swamp to swamp searching for himself, a wolf-girl visits Wales and eats the sheep, a Welsh criminal marries an 'Indian Princess', Lakota men re-enact the Wounded Knee Massacre in Cardiff and, all the while, mountain women practise Appalachian hoodoo, native healing and Welsh witchcraft.These stories are a mixture of true tales, tall tales and folk tales, that tell of the lives of migrants who left Wales and settled in America, of the native and enslaved people who had long been living there, and those curious travellers who returned to find their roots in the old country. They were explorers, miners, dreamers, hobos, tourists, farmers, radicals, showmen, sailors, soldiers, witches, warriors, poets, preachers, prospectors, political dissidents, social reformers, and wayfaring strangers. The Cherokee called Moon-Eyed People.'

Genres: Folklore, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published July 8, 2019

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give this book 4 stars as - besides the first chapter which is a little clunky - it does a great job of bringing oral storytelling styles into a written medium: The flow between different times and places (along with the writer and reader’s own time and place) really suits the folkloric content. The author isn’t afraid to share his own opinions and it is hard to separate the facts from the fiction. All of this creates the authentic feeling of oral, live storytelling through the page. The artwork - done by the author himself - is also absolutely gorgeous.

However, two things concerned me.
Firstly, I am unsure about how ethical the production of this book was. I’m aware that many Native American cultures are closed cultures yet cannot see evidence either of Cherokee people profiting off this book or getting a say in whether or not their stories were published. Stevenson makes a brief mention of cultural appropriation and provides some very weak reasoning in one short paragraph as to why this book isn’t cultural appropriation, but it is neither coherent nor convincing.

Secondly, a personal quibble with his reading of Blodeuwedd, though I would preface by saying I still enjoyed the personal touch of his occasional opinions on the stories he was telling, I just disagree with this one.

Mabinogi “spoilers” ahead I suppose.

Blodeuwedd is created by a man with the sole purpose of being the lover of another man named Lleu. However she falls in love with someone else (Gronw Pebr) and so plots to kill Lleu, in order to be free of him so she can be with Gronw. For this she is turned into an owl by the man who made her, as punishment.

Stevenson writes a few paragraphs on Blodeuwedd’s story, opening with a pretty token-feeling sentence that goes “Although she [Blodeuwedd] was no object (she had feelings and emotions of her own) you cannot give a flower a conscience.” Thus he states she isn’t an object but immediately follows up by calling her a flower without a conscience. The example he uses of Blodeuwedd’s apparent lack of conscience is that she attempts to murder Lleu, though this is far from the point of the murder. The point is a rebellion against two men who would strip her of agency and a statement of her own emotions and selfhood. Whether the rebellion is fair or not is a valid debate to be had but the murder alone doesn’t show that she is lacking in conscience and therefore definitely deserves her punishment. He ends the page by speaking out against the artists etc. who create art of her in a sort of goddess-like image, saying Blodeuwedd herself wouldn’t like this. Maybe so, but the argument he made for that is invalid in my opinion.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Folk lore meets qualitative research

If you are looking for more information on your Appalachian history, where the beginnings are, and how they merge with an old world almost now forgotten. This book is for you

[Anna Bosman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I picked up a thin slice of light entertainment on the faerie side, but this book turned out to be poignant, sad, thoughtful, provocative. Beautiful. This is how the folk stories should be told: grounded and mapped onto personal experience. Illustrations are also fantastic.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected but interesting. Someone just telling stories.

[Ruth Hartnup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost a five just because it's so interesting, especially to me as a Welsh person in North America. Odd, beautifully illustrated, fascinating, well written, and disorienting.

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

But hard to follow at times but interesting anyway

[Megan]

Welsh American folktales!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️