For St. Patrick's Day: Fin M'Coul by Tomie de Paola

Fin M'Coul: The Giant of Knockmanyhill by Tomie dePaola, 1981.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day and the fact that I'm somewhat Irish, let's take a look at the Celtic tale of Fin M'Coul and his clever wife Oonagh!  Although he is a fine giant himself, Fin has spent years running from the nasty Cucullin, a giant bully with magical strength provided to him by a brass finger. Cucullin has beaten every other giant in Ireland, and that is why he is coming for Fin. Luckily, Fin's lovely wife Oonagh has an ingenious plan to fool Cucullin, one that involves twenty one iron frying pans, fresh cheese, white stones and Fin all dressed up in baby clothes and lying in a huge cradle. Readers of all ages will love this funny and fantastic story of a bully's comeuppance and girls and women especially will appreciate the crafty Oonagh.

According to his website (http://www.tomie.com/) Tomie dePaola has written and/or illustrated almost 250 books and been published for 40 years. His books are classics, and this one is no exception. The art is colorful and playful, and dePaola's characters are very expressive and child pleasing. Readers will enjoy seeing the giants surrounded by smaller creatures such as tiny sheep, fairies, leprechauns and a bitty kitty cat. They will also get a laugh out of  bearded Fin dressed in his frilly pink bonnet, gown and baby booties.

Animal Dreaming: an Aboriginal Dreamtime Story by Paul Mori, 1998.

This is the story of the Kip-a-ara (initiation into manhood) of Mirri, who is told of the earth's origin by his friend and elder Gadurra. As they set off on walkabout, Mirri learns that the Great Ancestor War-ra-mur-run-gun-di created the animals, birds and fish and they all lived together in a watery place. Everything was fine until the birds decided they should have all of the land for themselves. A giant battle commenced, but three, Garn-dag-itj, the Ancestral Kangaroo, Bal-an-ga, the Ancestral Long-Necked Turtle and Din-e-wan, the Ancestral Emu would not fight. Instead, they looked for ways to bring peace. Each had a powerful dream and afterward, the land began to change. All the animals made their homes on earth and were at peace. From that time, when the animals dreamt, they lived their dreams. When the story ended, Mirri looked at rock paintings of the Dreamtime and knew that a time would come for him too to leave his mark.

Mori's paintings of Mirri and Gadurra are done in alkyds on canvas, while his Dreamtime images are based on traditional Dreamtime motifs and are painted in acrylics on wood. The questing boy and his surroundings are painted realistically, using deep dark colors to show a mysterious sacred space. Some of the striking Dreamtime pictures look almost like mosaics, with spirals, wavy lines and dots of earthen colors creating a night sky giving way to a dream. The backgrounds of the pictures of the emu, kangaroo and turtle are highly textured and look to be painted with natural pigments, suggesting the cave drawings that Mirri sees. Readers will enjoy the surrealistic pictures, such as the great snake coiling itself  and changing into a twisting, rock hillside.

Gidja the Moon

Gidja the Moon by Percy Trezise & Dick Roughsey, 1984, North American edition 1988.

In this legend, Gidja the Moon brings mortality to the humans of the Dreamtime and becomes a celestial body, along with his wife, the Evening Star and his daughter the Morning Star. The story describes how the (super)human Gidja courts and wins his wife, then has and loses their little daughter Lilga to death. Death has been unknown to the first people, who blame Gidja and violently chase him away when he is trying to bury Lilga's body. They go so far as to try to kill him, but he does not die. When they fling him into the air, he becomes the moon that we know, waxing and waning as the days pass. At this time, he curses the people to be mortal.

In the book's introduction, we are told that the moon symbolized death to Australian Aboriginal people, but also Nature's seasonal rebirth and the afterlife. "They believed that Gidja attends the good gate at the portal of the new horizon, the Aboriginal concept of life after death. No one passes through the good gate without Gidja's approval."

Gidja the Moon includes a map of Australia with a detail of Cape York and a glossary with pronunciation of names.

The Rainbow Serpent

 

The Rainbow Serpent by Dick Roughsey, 1975. This North American edition 1988.

 

 

This edition of The Rainbow Serpent includes an introduction and a glossary, making the story easier for American readers  to understand. From the introduction, we learn that according to Aborginal mythology, the earth was originally flat and featureless and was populated only by humans. In the story, during the Dreamtime, the Rainbow Serpent Goorialla woke up and began to search for his people, crawling over Australia from south to north and creating mountains, gorges, creeks and rivers with his body as he moved. When he found his people, he was welcomed, and he taught them how to dance and what to wear. Trouble began, however, when a storm gathered and the Bil-bil brothers came looking for shelter. This legend goes on to explain how some of the original people changed themselves into animals, birds, insects and plants and how Goorialla's eye became Halley's Comet. It emphasises that we must now look after those who changed into animals, etc. because they were once people too, during the Dreamtime.

 

 

Dick Roughsey's illustrative style is very  much like his work in The Giant Devil- Dingo, with a similiar color palette and character depiction. The Rainbow Serpent is gigantic, striped with blue, green, gold and red, with horns, a protruding tongue and a inexpressive face. 

The Giant Devil-Dingo

The Giant Devil-Dingo by Dick Roughsey, 1973.

In the Dreamtime, Eelgin the grasshopper woman has Gaiya, a giant devil dingo in her thrall, and when the butcher-bird brothers, or Chooku-chooku, run into Eelgin while they are out hunting, they know that soon they will be the hunted. They are on the run, armed only with spears. Gaiya is huge, hungry and willing to chase them for days. This legend explains the origins of regular dingos and describes them as friends and helpers of people.

Dick Roughsey (1920-1985) was an Australian Aborginal author and artist of the Lardil people of Mornington Island. (To learn more about their history and culture click here .)  In information after the story, he says that this tale comes from several tribes in the lower Cape York peninsula. He  also says that unlike other creatures in the Dreamtime, the dingo was always a dog, not a human.

Roughsey's art shows the Dreamtime animal/people as dark, thin. long and featureless, making them seem at once alien and from the earth. Everything is painted in brown, terra cotta and shades of green. The Devil-Dingo is larger than an elephant and has ruddy eyes, a lolling tongue and vicious looking teeth and claws and is a fearsome foe indeed.

Rainbow Bird

Rainbow Bird: An Aboriginal Folktale from Northern Australia by Eric Madden, Illus. by Adrienne Kennaway, 1993.

This pourquoi story tells of Rainbow Bird, who, during the Dreamtime, took fire from the selfish Crocodile Man and shared it with the people. Crocodile Man kept the all fire to himself, until watchful Bird Woman changed things and banned him from the land, telling him to make his home in the water. Then Bird Woman put some firesticks into her tail and became the beautiful Rainbow Bird.

Adrienne Kennaway has provided bright watercolor illustrations for the story. Orange is the predominant color, from the sand and rocks of Crocodile Man's original home to the flames he can shoot from his mouth to the fur of fleeing kangaroos. Humble grey Bird Woman transforms into tropical colored Rainbow Bird, flipping rainbow stripes from her tail as she flies. Crocodile Man is  large and toothy, making an impressive villain for brave Bird Woman/Rainbow Bird to defeat.

Moving on to Australian myths and folktales: Sun Mother Wakes the World

As you know, I am interested in learning about folktales and myths from all over the world, and for the purposes of this blog, especially illustrated ones for children. I am quite familiar with many English, French and German tales and have looked here at picture books about folktales from Russia, Africa and Japan. I would now like to look into the mythology and folk tales of Australia, particularly the Aboriginal stories of the Dreamtime. I am eagerly looking forward to reading up on them to assuage my ignorance.

Sun Mother Wakes the World: an Australian Creation Story adapted by Diane Wolkstein, Illus. by Bronwyn Bancroft, 2004.

From the information preceding this story, we learn that The Dreamtime is a continual process of  the creation of the world. Indigenous Australian people believe that each person's birthplace is sacred and their own Dreaming, and they go on walkabouts to look after their birthplaces and keep the earth alive.

Author Ramsay Smith attributed the original tale of the Sun Mother to a Karraru woman of the West Coast of South Australia. His collection, Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals, was published in the early 1930s. Diane Wolkstein considered this, and also visited Australia three times to research the story of Sun Mother while she was creating this book.

In this story, the Sun Mother is awakened by a quiet voice, and then she wakes the sleeping earth, bringing to life vegetation and animals. After time passes, the animals begin to quarrel, so Sun Mother allows them to choose the shape that they desire. She then births her children Moon and Morning Star, so that the creatures will be comforted by their light. Together, they birth the first woman and man. Sun Mother instructs them to always return to their birthplace to look after it, and to walk the land as she does, to keep it alive.

 Indigenous Australian artist Bronwyn Bancroft provides bold visual accompaniment suitable to this tale. She uses vivid colors that provide strong contrast on each page such as yellow and orange that pop against deep blue and purple. Her abstract Sun Mother variously suggests a fetus, golden  Madonna in a stained glass window, snake woman, tree woman and pregnant bellied, radiant sun.The bright goddess contrasts the black silhouetted animals and people around and inside her. The borders that Bancroft uses on some pages teem with fish, snakes, lizards and butterflies. The lively art matches this story of the creation of all life.