With great imagination and vigour, award-winning Lakota storyteller Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve treats readers to a collection of her best stories. She first spins tales of Lakota and Dakota generations today, of what the youngest can learn from their elders, if they choose to listen: a boy is embarrassed to accept the gift of a medicine bag from his dying grandfather; a little girl learns about the Lakota seasons; a grandfather and his takoza (grandchild) hunt for a legendary wild stallion; a boy named Little Jim comes of age; and a fireside story about a rodeo becomes a moving lesson in Native American history and identity. The second group of stories, set in the turbulent and tragic years of the nineteenth century, teaches the need for understanding across cultures. Boarding school students are transfixed as cowboys and Lakotas come in out of a cold night to celebrate Christmas together. Through perseverance and persuasion, the Lakota Fool Soldiers rescue white captives from the Santees, in a vivid retelling of the famous story.The collection ends with spellbinding ancient Sioux tales about the birth of the universe and the deeds of legendary beings and an unforgettable story about Old Woman, whose quillwork maps out the end of the world.
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, National Humanities Medal Winner for the year 2000, is the author of The Trickster and the Troll (Nebraska 1997) and other children's books. Her memoir, Completing the Circle (Nebraska 1995), won the 1992 North American Indian Prose Award. Also available The Trickster and the Troll Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve 1997 0-8032-9263-5 PB GBP8.95 Completing the Circle Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve 1995 0-8032-9254-6 PB GBP8.95