Other Words, Other Ways

In our shrinking world, where children of all ages are becoming acquainted with other cultures, either through actual travel or through television and other media, the books reviewed here perform a valuable double function: they present to us the imaginative sensibility of another culture and at the same time preserve and enlighten our traditional heritage, whether specifically as English-speaking Americans or generally as human beings of the 20th Century. A young person who read all seven of these books would be richly rewarded, enlarging both his store of "straight" information and the range of his or her imagination.

The most delightful book here is Edward Field's Eskimo Songs and Stories, a charming and moving collection of poems based on songs and stories printed by the Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen. Handsomely printed, the poems are accompanied by colorful, dramatic prints by Eskimo artists Kiakshuk and Pudlo. Field's translations are simple and direct, rather like his own poetry, and will give different pleasures to children of different ages (and adults too). The "warmth and earthy humor" of the Eskimos shine through the book; children will love poems like "The Raven and the Gull Have a Spat":

RAVEN:		You dirty-white slob of a gull, what are you plumping yourself down around here for? You're no match for me so better not start anything, big boy.
GULL:		Who's trying to tell me what I can't do? When the streams run free of ice in spring who goes spear-fishing with his beak? ME! That's something you can't do, short bill, and never will.
RAVEN:		Oh yeah? But when it's freezing out you have to stay home, crying from hunger, You're pecking bones while I'm eating berries, So what did you say I couldn't do?

There are poems about hunting, sickness, hunger, family affairs, traveling, animals, and work, along with the story poems involving legends and magic. This book will be loved by readers of any age; because of this, it reminds me of its poem "Magic Words," which ends like this:

That was the time when words were like magic.The human mind had mysterious powers.A word spoken by chancemight have strange consequences.It would suddenly come aliveand what people wanted to happen could happen.All you had to do was say it.Nobody could explain this,that's the way it was.

In the Trail of the Wind, edited by John Bierhorst, is also a strong book, but for a more limited audience, mainly high school students and up. The poetry and incantations from various Indian tribes (Navajo, Sioux, Crow, Iroquois, etc.) as well as from the Incas, Aztecs, and Eskimos, are fascinating and informative, but because they are done by different translators they lack the unified style that distinguishes Field's book. In the Trail of the Wind is illustrated with period engravings that generally will appeal more to older readers than to children.

The book is divided into thematic sections on Home, War, Death, Dreams, etc., and many of the poems are short, with a haiku-like effect:

What shall I...