How Two-Feather was Saved from Loneliness

by C.J. Taylor

Two-Feather had been wandering all winter, lonely and hungry. One spring night he goes to sleep to forget the despair, only to be awakened by a voice calling his name. It is a woman, so beautiful that Two-Feather immediately falls in love with her, and begs for her to stay with him forever. The woman leads him over mountains and through forests. Two-Feather obeys her every command, even the last, most difficult, only to find she has left him, but not without ensuring that he will never be lonely or hungry again.

Genres: Picture Books

22 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1990

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Taylor is Mohawk. She is telling an Abenaki story that she acquired from a storytelling book collection. I live next to Mohawks, work with Mohawks, have Mohawk friends. I just don’t understand Taylor’s hesitance in telling Mohawk stories. She’s a great painter but what she needed to do ( this book is 29 years old) was visit her family, her aunties, her uncles and cousins in Mohawk communities and collect Mohawk stories with permission firsthand, face to face. It feels like she read a book and sat in a studio and painted this. Retelling an Abenaki story from a book is inauthentic no matter how well illustrated the book is. I’ve read 103 indigenous children’s books in the last 6 weeks and the problems that emerged were outright cultural appropriation and now with Taylor the false path to acquiring a story for the purpose of retelling. Too much reading of secondary material. 2 stars.

[Jasmine Stocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Indian traditional literature piece about how they first discovered how to make fire and grow corn. I love the different stories that come about and tell how things became what they are today. Very short and sweet. It's to the point and is interesting enough to keep students interested and it's an easy enough read for students to read and understand by themselves.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A legend of the Abenaki people (An Algonquin-speaking people group of Quebec and the Maritimes as well as New England)
C.J Taylor’s lovely paintings help to tell the story of Two-Feather who, with the assistance of an unnamed female spirit creates fire and plants the first corn, bringing the people together into a tribe of farmers rather than nomadic hunter-gatherers. It is a decent story for young children to introduce them to a native folklore, however it did not move me in any way, nor was it particularly memorable.