A Book of Tricksters Page 10

  “How Kancil Built a Crocodile Bridge”

  I first learned about Mouse Deer a few years after Adele De Leeuw’s Indonesian Legends and Folk Tales (New York: Thomas Nelson, 1961) was published. For my retelling of this story, I reread De Leeuw’s book along with A. Hillman and Walter W. Skeat’s Salam the Mouse-Deer (London: Macmillan, 1938), Harold Courlander’s Kantchil’s Lime Pit and Other Stories from Indonesia (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1950), Aaron Shepard’s online collection “The Adventures of Mouse Deer” (www.aaronshep.com/stories/R01.html) and Chok Yoon Foo’s online version, “Outwitting a Crocodile” (www.topics-mag.com/folk-tales/folk-tale-cleverness-malaysia.htm).

  “How the Billy Goats Gruff Got Across the Bridge”

  Like most retellings, this one is based on Popular Tales from the Norse, Sir George Webbe Dasent’s 1859 translation of Norske Folkeeventyr, a collection of folktales gathered by Peter Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe.

  “Why the Shining One Shines No More”

  This story is part of a centuries-old collection of Indian tales, “The Panchatantra.” In my retelling, I have consulted the following online versions: Subhamoy Das’s “The Lion and the Hare” ( hinduism.about.com/od/panchatantra/a/lionandhare.htm), “The Foolish Lion and the Clever Rabbit” (www.culturalindia.net/indian-folktales/panchatantra-tales/foolish-lion-clever-rabbit.html and http://indianmythology.com/finish/seestory.php?storyID=55) and “The Big Lion and the Little Rabbit” (www.indiaparenting.com/stories/panchatantra/panch002.shmtl).

  “How the Tortoise Defeated the willy Wagtail”

  This retelling is based on “How the Tortoise Got His Shell,” from W. Ramsay Smith’s Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals (London: George G. Harrap, 1930).

  “How Gretel Made Things Get Better”

  I have followed the Grimm Brothers’ revised version (1814) of “Hansel and Gretel,” in which they change the children’s mother into their stepmother.

  “How Fin Defeated Cucullin”

  I have based this retelling on Andrew Lang’s version in his 1892 collection, Celtic Fairy Tales.

  “How the Hodja Used His Wisdom”

  There are hundreds of stories about the Hodja, ranging from very short anecdotes to longer tales. In developing his character and the incidents in which he was involved, I consulted Charles Downing’s Tales of the Hodja (New York: Henry Z. Walck, 1965), particularly “The Hodja and the Thousand Pieces of Gold,” Henry D. Barnham’s Tales of Nasr-ed-din Khoja (London: Nisbet, 1923) and D. Ashliman’s Nasreddin Hodja: Tales of the Turkish Trickster (www.pitt.edu/~dash/hodja.html).

  “How Zhao Paid His Taxes”

  While searching for a Chinese folktale that embodied the popular theme of a powerful, greedy and sometimes deceitful merchant, magistrate or landowner getting tricked and embarrassed, I came across a volume entitled Favourite Folktales of China (Beijing: New World Press, 1983), translated by John Minford, an American teacher who collected the stories from his students. “The Gold Coat and the Fire Dragon Shirt” was the source for my considerably adapted retelling.

  “How Eugene Escaped Poverty”

  My retelling is based on Charles Perrault’s “The Master Cat or Puss in Boots,” first published in 1697.

  “Why Robin Hood Became a Butcher”

  The Robin Hood stories were first published as ballads. I have drawn on those found in English and Scottish Popular Ballads, collected in the early 19th century by Francis Child. (My edition is the “Students Cambridge Edition” published by Houghton Mifflin in 1904.) I have also been influenced by Howard Pyle’s masterful telling of the story in his The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, first published in 1883.

  “How Maui Discovered the Secret of Fire”

  I have drawn on Roland B. Dixon’s Oceanic Mythology, 1916 (www.sacred-texts.com/pac/om/om07.htm), W.D. Westerfelt’s Legends of Maui, 1910 (www.sacred-texts.com/pac/maui/maui08.htm) and Thomas G. Thrum’s Hawaiian Folktales, 1907 (www.sacred-texts.com/pac/hft/hft05.htm).

  “How Raven Freed the Sun”

  I have consulted Peter Goodchild’s Raven Tales: Traditional Stories of Native Peoples (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1991) and “The Theft of Light” in Stith Thompson’s Tales of the North American Indians (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1929).

  Jon C. Stott, a retired English professor, taught children’s literature at the University of Alberta for 35 years. He has been telling stories in elementary schools since his children were in grade one. Now he tells stories to granddaughters Sophie and Gillian.

  Copyright © 2010 Jon C. Stott

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, audio recording or otherwise—without the written permission of the publisher or a photocopying licence from Access Copyright, Toronto, Canada.

  Originally published by Heritage House Publishing in 2010 in paperback with ISBN 978-1-926613-69-7.

  This electronic edition was released in 2011.

  e-pub ISBN 978-1-926936-67-3

  Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada

  Edited by Audrey McClellan

  Proofread by Karla Decker

  Cover design by Jacqui Thomas

  Illustrations by Theo Dombrowski

  Heritage House acknowledges the financial support for its publishing program from the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF), Canada Council for the Arts and the province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

  www.heritagehouse.ca