Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting: A Traditional Cherokee Legend

by Deborah L. Duvall, Murv Jacob (Illustrator)

Ji-Stu, the Cherokee trickster rabbit, wakes early one morning and decides to visit his old friend Otter, who lives up the river. Along the way, he sees a huge wood duck sitting on the water and instantly recognizes the Chief of All the Wood Ducks, who is surrounded by hundreds of smaller ducks. Ji-Stu hurries to tell Otter, but when they return the great Chief is gone. Otter, who did not believe Ji-Stu's story in the first place, slips into the water to catch a wood duck, his favorite feast. Ji-Stu decides to catch the Chief as he reappears. Ji-Stu, famous for tricking others, manages to outwit himself. When he catches the Chief of All the Wood Ducks, the Chief tries to drown Ji-Stu and then takes him for a flight the rabbit will never forget! Ji-Stu flies high above the People's village, hanging on to the Chief for dear life, while two little boys below barely miss him with an arrow. He will see those two boys again--and this time he will need all his skills to escape! This is the fifth of Deborah L. Duvall's collaborations with Murv Jacob on the Cherokee Grandmother Stories.

Genres: Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2004

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The library at the school I work at is filled with Abenaki, Inuit, and Cherokee books. Bravo to these nations for getting their stories out. Some of the stories from these nations are told by community members and others are pure cultural appropriation. In this case we have a non-Cherokee writer and a Kentucky Cherokee artist so the collaboration is acceptable to me. As for the story it is interesting and coupled with the art it is a worthwhile read.