Long, Long Ago...
The Great Ball Game: A Muskogee Story
Retold
by: Joseph Bruchac
Illustrator:
Susan L. Roth
Publisher:
Dial Books
Year:
1994
ISBN:
0803715390
Plot:
“Long
ago Birds and Animals had a great argument……” the Native American story goes.
Each group thought they were better than the other. An argument ensues. It
lasted so long the Animals and Birds thought it might end in a war. One day
Crane and Bear decide to solve the argument with a ball game. The first team to
score a goal wins the argument. The side that loses has to accept the penalty given
by the winning side. The Birds went to one side of the field and the Animals to
the other. Only Bat remained. He had wings like a Bird and teeth like an Animal.
Where was he to go? Because Bat had wings Bear decided it wasn’t fair for him
to play on the Animal team. The Birds wouldn’t take him because he was too
small to help. What is a bat to do? Bat
goes back to Bear and pleads his case. Bear agrees to allow Bat to be on the
Animal’s team out of pity but decrees that Bat must let the other animals play
first. A fiercely competitive game ensues with the Birds having the advantage
because of their wings. Just as it looks like the Animals are going to lose the
game Bat swoops in and saves the day.
Critical
Analysis:
Joseph
Bruchac’s adaptation of this Native American legend is a crisp, clear, and well
written. The simplicity of the text that doesn’t detract from the enormity of
the age old questions of why things are the way they are; where do we fit in
the grand scheme of things and what do we do if someone is different. Susan
Roth’s illustrations while fitting with the simplicity of the text do not really
reflect the cultural nature of the story. Neither do they help the reader to
gain insights into the culture and customs of the original tellers of the tale.
Reviews:
This porquoi tale is told in clean, spare
sentences with the emphasis on action and character. In a foreword, Bruchac
briefly discusses ball games in traditional Native American life, including the
role of sports in conflict management. He mentions two other written versions
of the story, as well as Louis Littlecoon Oliver's, which he cites as his
source. Unfortunately, the cut-and-torn paper illustrations are too crudely
done to convey character or provide details that would have enriched the book.
The helter-skelter compositions distract readers from what is otherwise an
entertaining tale. Carolyn Polese, Humboldt State University, Arcata,
CA, School Library Journal
With clear, minimal language, Bruchac (see The
Girl Who Married the Moon, reviewed below) wisely lets the myth carry itself.
While the three-dimensional effect of Roth's (Fire Came to the Earth
People) textured paper collages is striking and initially intriguing, the
illustrations do not much embellish the sparely told story. But in its call for
an athletic game to settle a dispute-and thereby avoid fighting-the book
handily inverts the Greco-Roman tradition of sport as training for war. Publishers
Weekly
Connections:
Have students compare how tales from other Native American cultures compare with Muskogee tales.
Have
students create a visual display to compare the Muskogee culture with another
Native American culture that created Pourquoi tales. The display should show
how the two cultures are similar and different.
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