A Tale Told By the Fire

This week we travel to Mesoamerica to tell the creation story as taught by the Maya. 

Text from the story comes from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

To read the story and view the other resources available, visit https://maya.nmai.si.edu/

This week's episode is a Lipan Apache tale about Coyote called The Trouble With Rose Hips

This week we read a story from the Caddo people of North Eastern Texas and Oklahoma. The Story, The Old Woman Who Kept All the Pecans, tells the story of how pecan trees became available to all. 

This week our story takes us back to South East Alaska for another Tlingit legend. We tell the story of The Land-Otter Son. 

This week we read "Snowflake" from Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy book.

This week's episode takes us to Thailand for the story The Elephant and the Bees. The story is retold from the book Thai Tales: Folktales of Thailand by Supaporn Vathanaprida, edited by Margaret Read MacDonald (Libraries Unlimited, 1994).

This week we travel to Japan for the legend of Momotaro, the boy born of a peach. 

This week we begin season 2 of A Tale Told by the Fire, and we start with "The King of America" a story about George Washington as re-told by Pete Seeger.

This week we travel to India for the story of The Monkey's Heart from the Jataka Tales.

This week takes us to Spanish New Mexico for The Day It Snowed Tortillas as re-told by Joe Hayes. 

This week we read the story of Old Befana, an Italian tale as re-told by Tomie dePaola

This week we read Astrid Lindgren's "The Tomten" and talk about the traditions and beliefs surrounding Tomten and Nisse (Nordic Mytholocial creatures)

This week's story is Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Gimmel. The story features the traditional character of Hershel of Ostropol. 

This week's story features the Norse tale of Loki and the Death of Baldur. The reading comes from "The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales From Around the World for the Winter Solstice" by Carolyn McVickar Edwards" 

This week's story takes us to the American South where we meet the legendary characters of Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox.

This week's episode takes us to the fabled Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. This story was adapted and written by me (Shaun Jex) and first appeared on www.themoonlitroad.com

This week's story comes from the aboriginal people of Australia. It's a story called Tiddalik the Frog, as adapted and written by Shaun Jex.

This week we tell Pete Seeger's version of a South African/Bantu lullaby and folktale know as Abiyoyo.

This week we visit Appalachia to hear the story of Tailypo, in which an old man bites off a little more than he was prepared to chew. The story is read from Robert D. San Souci's Short & Shivery.

Another spooky folktale for the month of October, this week we tell the tale of Dauntless Little John. The story comes from the collection Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino. 

This week's tale takes us to the American Southwest. We'll hear the cuento "La Comadre Sebastiana" as re-told by the wonderful writer Rudolfo Anaya. This reading comes from the book "Cuentos:  Tales from the Hispanic Southwest" which drew from Juan B. Rael's book "Cuentos Espanoles de Colorado y Nuevo Mexico"

This week's episode is an Ashanti tale from Ghana, Africa. The story, Anansi Owns All Tales That Are Told, was read from the book Family of Earth and Sky: Indigenous Tales of Nature from Around the World, which was edited by John Elder and Hertha D. Wong.

In our very first episode, we read, " Raven Released the Stars and Moon" and "Raven Opened the Box of Daylight" from the book "Tlingit Legends" compiled by the Sheldon Jackson Museum. The stories are traditional tales from the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska.