Tales from Sacred Wind: Coming of Age in Appalachia: The Cratis Williams Chronicles (review)

NEW APPALACHIAN BOOKS REVIEWS Cratis D. Williams. Tales from Sacred Wind: Coming of Age in Appalachia: The Cratis Williams Chronicles. Edited by David Cratis Williams and Patricia D. Beaver. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland, 2003. 456 pages. Paperback. $33.00. Cratis Williams (1911-1985) became known as "Mr. Appalachia" because of his expertise in the literature and folklore of the region and because of his desire to foster study of the land that was his home, both by birth and preference. His doctoral dissertation, "The Southern Mountaineer in Fact and Fiction" (1600 + pages), continues to be the most complete work of its kind and is a frequently consulted reference for serious students of Appalachian Studies. His career in education began as a one-room schoolteacher in Lawrence County, Kentucky, where he was raised. Eventually he became Acting Chancellor of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. There, I was a student of Dr. Cratis Williams—ultimately for many courses and for much learning, not just while I was a student but later after I myself had become a teacher. Always a wonderful mentor and inspiration, Dr. Williams pointed me in the direction that eventually became my own passion and life's work: Appalachia. No doubt many of us in the field can single out this man and say, "He is responsible for my doing what I do." Even though he left us physically nearly two decades ago, his legacy is alive and thriving. For those who knew Cratis Williams personally, Talesfrom Sacred Wind brings the voice of the master storyteller right into our ears. And just by "hearing" the voice, we can easily conjure up the twinkles of the eye, the facial expressions, and the hand movements that so marked Cratis as an oral storyteller. Even without memories of the sound and sight of Cratis, the reader of his memoir, published eighteen years after his death, will quickly be drawn in by the warmth of his narrative, the conversational tone, and the rich layers of detail that permeate the book. His stories remind us of our own, andwe yearn to engage in a tale-swapping session as we read our way through the maze of events Cratis recalls from about age five on Caines Creek in Lawrence County, Kentucky. One of his earliest memories is of a winter baptizing that took place "in the deep hole by the big sycamore tree in the creek that flowed by 70 [his] house." Hanner Ike, the woman being baptized, was someone he and his family knew and loved. When the children saw her repeatedly dunked in the ice-laced pond (four times - in the name of the Father, the Son, and twice for the Holy Ghost), they began to scream and cry. Little Cratis yelled, "Somebody stop him! He's a-drowndin' er!" Of course, she didn't drown, but she did cough and spit for a considerable time. At last, he recalls, she straightened up and started to shout, having entered into that great fellowship of "the saved." Cratis allows that Hanner Ike "had made her peace and assured herself of eternal bliss in that world that has no end, but she was lucky to be still alive in this world after the baptizin'." It is this kind of detail and animated narration that flows from one event to the next, from one character sketch to the next. We meet a diverse cast of characters, some of whom are so completely and clearly drawn that we feel as if we know them personally. One of these, Grampa Dave (David O. Williams), his paternal grandfather, prepared lunch for the two of them in his store. "When lunch time came, Grampa took a big knife from his pocket, opened it with a click, and slit open a can of sardines, which he set on a piece of wrapping paper from the roll at the end of the counter. He then took four or five crackers from the barrel and placed them on the paper, found two horseshoe nails...gave one of them to me, and invited me to eat with him. . . . Grampa was expert in spearing sardines from the can with a horseshoe nail, but I...