marrying bears

THE BEAR WHO MARRIED A WOMAN

Tsimshian

Once upon a time there lived a widow of the tribe of the Gispaxlâ'ts. Many men tried to marry her daughter, but she declined them all.

The mother said, "When a man comes to marry you, feel of the palms of his hands. If they are soft, decline him. If they are rough, accept him." She meant that she wanted to have for a son-in-law a man skillful in building canoes.

Her daughter obeyed her commands and refused the wooings of all young men. One night a youth came to her bed. The palms of his hands were very rough, and therefore she accepted his suit. Early in the morning, however, he had suddenly disappeared, even before she had seen him.

When her mother arose early in the morning and went out, she found a halibut on the beach in front of the house, although it was midwinter. The following evening the young man came back, but disappeared again before the dawn of the day. In the morning the widow found a seal in front of the house. Thus they lived for some time. The young woman never saw the face of her husband; but every morning she found an animal on the beach, every day a larger one. Thus the widow came to be very rich.

She was anxious to see her son-in-law, and one day she waited until he arrived. Suddenly she saw a red bear emerge from the water. He carried a whale on each side, and put them down on the beach. As soon as he noticed that he was observed, he was transformed into a rock, which may be seen up to this day. He was a supernatural being of the sea. 1

• Source: Franz Boas, Tsimshian Mythology (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1916), p. 19.

• The Tsmimshian Indians are native to the coastal regions of British Columbia and southern Alaska.

scarlett ribbons

I never got along with my
father - when I was 3 I wished
they would break up so I could
go off with my mom.

The same mom who was so
jealous of his adoration of
the infant me that she cut
it off at the source.

He hauled off and slugged me
often. “Don’t you talk to your
mother that way!”
She hit me too. With a shoe.

But stuck in my head
like a treasure in the attic
are memories of
my father and music.

He played the piano.
He played “Fur Elise.”
When I was very little
he played “The Airplane Song.”

I was the plane. spinning
through the living room,
arms outstretched as wings.
Sometimes I just sat

At his feet, as they worked
the pedals. It was cozy
hiding under the keyboard,
listening to him play.

There was one song he sang
every year about this time. “Scarlett Ribbons,” the Burl Ives
version. He sang it anywhere.

In his dark car driving
home from work, with
me in the back seat,
singing along.

volland

all of this from one publisher, from the early part of the last century. there are varying stories about volland's history, but someone there was extraordinarily wise and very tuned in to the design pulse of the moment.

i don't think there were any other publishers who featured such undiluted japonisme on such a regular basis, and thank goodness for them.

illustrators featured:

maginel wright enright
janet laura scott
m t "penny" ross
johnny gruelle (of raggedy ann fame)
katharine sturges dodge

find the whole books for many of these (and many more) here. just do a search for 'volland' in the publisher space.

thus reads a short section of a collection of stories by laura bancroft called 'twinkle and chubbins.'

it was illustrated by maginel wright barney, someone who clearly had a knowledge of what was going on in japanese prints.

and well she should. her brother had quite a collection. his name was frank lloyd.



author of the book laura bancroft had
quite a well-known brother as well, l frank baum. well, laura bancroft had a brother but the author of the book did not, because the author of the book was l frank baum himself, using his sister's name.

(interestingly, jays and crows are related as well.)














just as i had dis- cov- ered this little gem (which all of the rest of you probably knew already), pk ran a wonderful oz entry by l frank, with illustrations by ww denslow (seen here as well). so benefit by the wonderful links he, as is his wont, delivers to us.

and let me point you to the complete 'twinkle and chubbins.'