"FLIGHT"
STORIES
(excerpts
from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure
to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material
is not in the public domain)
1)
There are two stories about birds, other than King
of the Birds, that might fit your needs. Both are Iroquois
stories and found in Bruchac's works. One is called The
Battle Between Winged and Land Creatures. (The land animals
sort of forgot that winged creatures included insects, and they
lose to a strategic bee sting.) The other is about poor Buzzard
who helped the birds get their beautiful colors by flying to Skyland
where his reward was to try on all the feathered costumes. None
satisfied him, so he was stuck with the ill fitting one he tried
on last. It is in Joseph Bruchac's Iroquois
Tales, Heroes and Heroines, Monsters and Magic, Crossing
Press, 1985, p.61, How Buzzard Got His Feathers.
Added comment: There is a story called
The Battle of the Birds in Joseph
Jacob's collection, Celtic Fairy Tales.
It's in the first volume. Reprinted many times; my copy is an
omnibus edition
ISBN 1 85170 362 4
2) There's a good Cherokee story, The Animal's
Ball Game, that involves how flying squirrel got its ability
and how bat got its wings. You can find an original source in
Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee, or
a version retold by a Cherokee teller in Lloyd Aneach's book by
that title.
3) Adela, Adela, the storytella, tells the story about the monkey
who tricks buzzard into letting him ride on his back. She added
the song "Straighten up and fly right"
to it. It was a great story. Diane Wolkstein has a version called
Cool Ride in the Sky. Then, there
is the lead story in the Virginia Hamilton's book The
People Could Fly.
4) There is the story that comes from every culture in some form
- The Flying Turtle. That's the story
where the very talkative turtle talks two birds into taking him
for a ride in the sky. They devise a stick which they hold in
their claws and turtle snaps his mouth around the stick. Eventually
turtle can't stand it and says something, falling from the sky.
He cracks his smooth shell and when it heals it looks like it
does today.
5) If you get to the library there is a plethora of stories under
s=flight. One is Hawk, I'm Your Brother
by Byrd Baylor. And you may have this info, but there is rather
interesting one called Fantastic Flying
with Science: Projects you can Fly, Spin, Launch and Ride
by Edwin Sobey.
6) So a contest is held and Eagle is winning, but when he reaches
as high as he can the Wren appears. She has been clinging on underneath
the Eagle's wing. Wren manages to fly just a bit higher, so they
all declare her to be king.
And wasn't it so, that the Eagle was so infuriated with the trickster
that he snapped at the Wren's beautiful long tail - and cut it
off as short as it is today? Which shows how the Wren got his
tail.
7) There are some picture book version out called King
of the Birds. This one has owl instead of eagle:
Author Climo, Shirley.
Title King of the birds by Shirley
Climo ; illustrated by Ruth Heller.
1st ed.
Publisher New York : Crowell, c1988.
Paging 32 p. : col. ill. ; 21 x 26 cm.
Summary When chaos reigns among the birds, Owl declares a contest
to determine who will be their king.
8) And this picture book: Author Ward, Helen, 1962-
Title The king of the birds / written
and illustrated by Helen Ward.
Publisher Brookfield, Conn. : Millbrook Press, 1997.
Paging 1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 25 X 29 cm.
Summary When chaos reigns among the birds, the oldest and wisest
birds declare a contest to determine who will be their king.
9) My favorite is the Russian folktale, The
Fool of the World and The Flying Ship. There is a Caldecott
winning children's book illustrated around Arthur Ransom's version
of it, and there is an online thumbnail http://www.thetroth.org/resources/jenny/fairytale.html
This site has a variety of thumbnail fairytales with their applications
to traveling. Not sure about direct links to science and math,
other than the flight ideas you mention. There are 7 magic helpers
(some versions 6) so that might lead to some "sevens"
activities with multiplication, squaring and cubing, whole numbers--that's
not right! (What do you call it when a number cannot be divided
by anything but 1 and itself? Fill in the blank: __________) or
other things with the magical number 7.
Comment: I know this one - it's a
prime number. Looked it up on Atomica and it checks out as a "positive
integer which is not divisible without a remainder by any positive
integer other than itself and one."
10) The
Nature of Bat
in African Myths and Tales, ed.Susan
Feldmann, 1963, pubs. by Dell, and later by Laurel. No ISBN number
apparent. In the war between animals and birds, the Bat plays
both sides.
11) One of the Lazy Jack stories has a flying ship - Hardy
Hardhead.
12) How about the Iroquois story, How Buzzard
Got his Feathers? Or the African American story: The
People Could Fly.
13) The story of how the wren became the king of the birds. I
know it as a Manx story.
Here is a book reference:
Manx Fairy Tales, by Sophia Morrison.
2nd edition, 1929.
Reprinted 1971 by the Manx Museum and National trust.
Reprinted again 1991(?) by The Manx Experience, 10 Tromode Close,
Douglas, Isle of Man in association with the Manx Museum and National
Trust.
ISBN 1873120 01 X
The bones: Birds gather and squabble
about who was cleverest. All agree the cleverest should be king.
Thrush sings best. Swallow is swiftest. Goldfinch has brightest
plumage. Cuckoo is considered a fool for not hatching her own
eggs. Magpie and jackdaw fight about which is the better thief.
Jinny Wren boast of a clutch of twelve chicks, despite being so
small. So the birds agree that Jinny Wren is cleverest. But Eagle
is angry, and insists that since the thing that all birds have
in common is their wings, the one who can fly the highest should
be king. So a contest is held and Eagle is winning, but when he
reaches as high as he can the Wren appears. She has been clinging
on underneath the Eagle's wing. Wren manages to fly just a bit
higher, so they all declare her to be king.
14) By popular demand, I am sending you the bones of a story,
the source of which is a mystery to me: The king's chief baker
is brilliant and innovative, and also very sensitive. He decides
to make a birthday cake for the king with a special ingredient
that will make the king happy--because if the king is happy, so
are his subjects. The king accepts the cake but doesn't eat it
because he is very happy as he is. Puts it away for a "rainy
day", but dies peacefully without ever tasting the cake.
And that's the end of the story--for the king. Rumors about the
cake persist, travellers and explorers hunt for it but never find
it. And that's the end of the story--for the explorers. Years
later a baker in France hears about the cake and goes off to find
it in a hot-air balloon. He wants to give it to his fiancee as
a wedding present. After many adventures he finds it and carries
it away in his balloon. Birds come and peck at the balloon. Before
he crashes, he wants to taste the cake, opens the box, but a wind
comes, the cake drops from his hand and falls towards the sea.
The birds fly away, the balloon lands safely, and the baker returns
to his fiancee without ever having tasted the Cake of Happiness.
And that's the end of the story--for the French baker and his
love. But not for the cake. Because cakes of happiness don't fall
into the sea; they crumble into miniscule crumbs that are carried
by the wind all over the world. The dispersal is uneven, but at
some point in everyone's life, a crumb from the Cake of Happiness
lands on his/her tongue. And once someone has tasted a crumb of
the Cake of Happiness, s/he will always want more. That's why
you see people with their mouths partly open, waiting for another
crumb to fall: when they look at the moon; when they see a sleeping
infant; when the Christmas tree lights go on--and when they listen
to stories, just as you are doing right now.
15) The Cake of Happiness has a hot
air balloon at the end where the "finder" takes the
treasured cake up in a hot air balloon. Birds land on it to get
some of the desirable cake - can you guess what happens?
16) How about Cool Ride in the Sky.
Here's a copyTHE COOL RIDE IN THE SKY TOLD
BY DIANE WOLKSTEIN
ART BY PAUL GALDONE AL.KNOPF 1973
ADAPTATION OF STORY STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY
RIGHT. A dialect version of the tale told by John Blackamore
to Richard Dorson appears in Western Folklore, 1955 . The song
Straighten Up and Fly Right recorded
by Nat King Cole in 1944
17) How Turtle Flew South for the Winter
in Keepers of the Earth by Caduto
and Bruchac also has ideas about teaching about bird migration
patterns and more. There are many versions of that story: The
Tortoise Who Talked Too Much In Jataka
Tales From the Buddha by Nancy DeRoin. The
Frog Who Went A-Traveling in A Harvest
of Russian Children's Literature by Miriam Morton.
18) Icharus and Daedelus (wax wings,
flies to close to the sun, melts, whoops) ...Dragon Kite?... picture
book I saw this past summer, based on a Japanese story about a
thief who tries to steal a golden dragon statue by riding on a
dragon kite. (in the original, the gold is heavy, the kits falls,
he gets captured and imprisoned. in the picturebook, the kite
turns into a real dragon and rescues him, flies him away to the
dragon kingdom.) Actual story of the Wright Brothers...isn't there
a story from the Civil War about the ladies of the town turning
their silk underwear into a hot air balloon for Yankee spies to
fly in?
19) A story about what bird flies the highest about which I can't
really remember many details, other than a small bird hides among
Eagles? feathers, waits till Eagle reaches the heights and then
flies higher. Does anyone know this tale and have a version or
source? How about stories of journeys to Sky World? How about
music?... What songs involve flying... Fly Me to the Moon...
20) You have probably come across this in your research, but I
believe the first balloon lift off had animals aboard. I even
think there was a book written about it.
21) Any of the "flying carpet" stories show man's fascination
and desire to fly. On that line, one my favorites is Hardyhard
Head - A Jack story where he is given a boat that flies.
22) One English version is pourquoi - How
the wren got his short tail. European wren, that is - troglydites
troglydites (sp?). Used to be long, but the eagle snapped it off
just as it sped past to claim the prize (being king, I think).
23) I do a story taken from an old joke about the couple who take
an airplane ride in an open cockpit plane. I work it out that
they wife will not go because it costs $5 per person and for the
two of them to go it would be $10 and "Ten Dollars is Ten
Dollars!" After numerous attempts from the husband to get
her to go on the airplane ride and her continuing response of
"Ten Dollars is Ten Dollars!" The pilot offers them
a ride for free if they don't talk during the ride. Everything
goes fine on the ride until the pilot starts aerobatics! He goes
through all kinds of tricks (This is a fun way to tell) Goes through
a BIG LOOP, and finally lands and goes to the man and says "You
just got a free ride! I thought sure you would talk during the
aerobatics but you didn't say a word and you have a free ride!"
The husband responds " You know, I almost did talk once!
. . . You during that BIG LOOP at the end of the ride . . . When
Margaret . . . Fell out . . . (Wait for laughter to die down)
But then, Ten Dollars IS Ten Dollars!"
24) Charles Lindbergh
by Barbara J. Feldman
http://www.surfnetkids.com/lindbergh.htm
On May 20, 1927, twenty-five year old American aviator Charles
Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field (near New York City) in
the Spirit of St. Louis, a plane he helped design. Thirty-three
and a half hours later he landed in Paris a hero. Although other
pilots had crossed the Atlantic before him, Lindbergh was the
first to do it nonstop. His achievement brought him
international fame, and $25,000 in prize money. The American Experience--Lindbergh
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lindbergh/
This extensive fan site was created by Pat Ranfranz, a web developer
and pilot. It is well-organized, nicely illustrated, and appropriately
sprinkled with hyperlinks to related onsite
and offsite resources. Noteworthy clicks are the Charles and Anne
Lindbergh bios, the timeline, the lesson plans in PDF format,
and a May 21, 1927 radio broadcast reporting Lindbergh's arrival
in Paris (on the Audio Clips page.)
Chasing the Sun
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/innovators/clindbergh.html
Based on the PBS television series of the same name, Chasing the
Sun showcases the innovators of commercial aviation. The Lindbergh
page summarizes his historic transatlantic flight, subsequent
rise to fame, and role in the creation of TWA and PamAm. Highlight
is the silent newsreel of Lindbergh's triumphant 1927 U.S. welcome,
replete with ticker tape parade. Other noteworthy sections are
the aviation timeline, and the history of planes from the Wright
Flyer to the jumbo Airbus.
NY Times: Charles A. Lindbergh
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/27/specials/lindbergh.html
This collection of articles from the archives of The New York
Times is a terrific resource for report writing or research. Best
bets are the photo gallery and the Fresh Air audio interview with
Lindbergh biographer A. Scott Berg. "This was really the
first moment in which a single human being left the earth. . .
. Lindbergh was out there alone . . . for about fifteen hours
he was flying into black night . . . in that one moment he was
suddenly elevated to godlike status." The NY Times website
requires free registration. World Book: Two Legends of Aviation
http://www2.worldbook.com/features/features.asp?feature=aviators&page=html/index.htm
World Book honors the accomplishments of two aviation pioneers
(Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart) with a special online report that
includes their biographies, a look at history of flight, and links
to related Web sites. Unique features include entries from the
1927, 1928 and 1937 World Books that were written when Lindbergh
and Earhart were front-page news, and a link to live, audio transmission
from Chicago O'Hare air traffic control.
25)
I am working on biographical stories. One that has been on my
mind for the past few days is the story of John Gillespie Magee
Jr., the son of American missionaries to China. Magee wanted to
fly so much that he gave up a shcolarship to Yale to join the
RCAF at the opening of WWII. He went to flight school and was
sent on an tour of duty in England. He wrote to his parents about
the joys of flying and enclosed a poem. A few months later, his
plane crashed and he was killed, not in combat, but in a collision
with another plane in peaceful skies over England. His poem,
High Flight, has become an anthem for pilots, especially
in the United States Air Force. You can find the poem and Magee's
story on this website:
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/prewwii/jgm.htm
26) There's an episode about a balloon flight in the adventures
of Baron von Munchausen - an epic series of tall tales, and very
funny. If you've seen Terry Gilliam's film of it you'll remember
the balloon sewn together out of rags.
27) I found a Zulu version of King of the
Birds (traditional Zulu story) You can read that version
here:
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/africa7.html
28) What You Need To Know About Women's History
From Jone Johnson Lewis, your Editor and Guide
EDITOR'S NOTE
Even before last Saturday's sad news about the loss of the Space
Shuttle Columbia and its crew, I had decided to include in this
newsletter a link to the resources on my site on Women in Aviation
and Space, and some books on women pioneers. Both seem especially
appropriate now. I've added some closing thoughts below on the
disaster and loss. <p>As Black History Month begins, you'll
find on this site many resources on African American women, and
each week this month the newsletter will feature a few of these
resources. <p>The headline article this week is an 1853
argument for women's rights, written by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
who was also known for his work for racial equality. I find it
a powerful argument, and Higginson is a great example of the many
men who have allied themselves with women's dreams and work for
their own rights. I hope you'll take time to read it. <p>Teachers:
you might consider that assigning readings like this one can address
some needs of students who feel that women's history is only about
and for women. As the mother of sons, I know how important it
is for boys AND girls to know of examples like Higginson.
http://womenshistory.about.com
MORE TOPICS
Aviation: Air and Space GuideSite
http://glclk.about.com/?zi=9/CM5
29) The Pittsburgh Children's Museum was involved in a project
involving the AAAS Science Competition. The theme was a celebration
of flight. Our topic was taking flight through imagination and
storytelling. We used stories as a starting ground for examining
different cultures contributions to the science of flight. I organized
a small storytelling troupe which performed two of the stories
on a radio broadcast in Pittsburgh, and also live on stage at
the museum. The website is at
http://www.pittsburghkids.org/science
There are many stories, games, activities, audio, and fun things
relating to storytelling and flight. The kids had such a great
time they have asked if next school year they can continue a storytelling
troupe! These are tough kids to reach, but we reached them!
30) The Flying Ship. There is also
a Jack tale called Jack and the Flying Ship.
This might be the same story.
http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/yellow29.htm
31) There is a report in one of the Irish annals of people seeing
a flying sailing ship about the 6-8th century AD. Someone on the
ship threw out an anchor that narrowly missed a monk. There is
also the story of Suibne Geìlt, Mad
Sweeney, king of Dál nAraide in the North of Ireland,
who was driven mad by the sound of the Battle of Magh Rath in
AD 637. As a result of that and a saint's curse, he took to the
air and lived in trees like a bird. The theme is used by Irish
artists in all fields, especially poets. It's a well-known story,
usually called Buile Shuibhne [The Frenzy
of Suibne/Sweeney], and a search on the Internet should
turn up something. In the account of the AD 722 Battle of Allen
in the Annals of Clonmacnoise, a probable mistranslation says,
"There were nine that flyed in the ayre, as if they were
winged fowle, and soe saved their lives." The Irish original
has been lost, and only the 17th-century English translation survives,
but other sources suggest that a word relating to madness was
mistaken for a similar word meaning "feathers". They
fled maddened, not flew feathered.
32) If you want to talk about a film based on flying, I would
encourage you to see The Boy Who Could Fly.
It is a wonderful story about a boy who seems obsessed about flying
because his parents were in a plane crash, and "If I could
fly, I could have saved them." He is encouraged in his dreams
about flying by the girl next door and her younger brother. They,
in turn, learn some valuable lessons about keeping your dreams
high and understanding the cost of making them come true. All
in all, it is a fantastic pre-teen "coming of age" film
with a breathtaking scene near the end.
33) One of our storytelling friends has been asked to do a storytelling
presentation on flight. The unit they are studying is about aviation.
Now here is the kicker, the age range is Pre-K (age 4) - 2nd grade
(age 7). We both agree that Pre-K and K are far too young for
this unit. What say all of you?Can anyone come up with stories
on aviation for this age range? We did consider stories on flight
(i.e. birds) but she is not sure if the school will go for it.
Are they way out of whack or are we?
Response: I think they may be out
of whack, but what about the story of the snake that gets to fly
with the help of some birds, at least the story is age appropriate.
Response: Surely not ready for heavily
historical pieces, but the little ones are fascinated by airplanes
-- I haven't met one yet who didn't perk up and search the sky
at the sound of an airplane. The airplane show on PBS is very
popular also. I think perhaps travel stories, My
Aunt Came Back . . I'm just gathering wool here, but there
should be possibilities. . .
Response: There's a picture book
called The Glorious Flight - Across the
channel with Louis Bleriot that my kids used to love when
they were little. I think it might translate well to a told story.
I read an account of a balloon adventure in Antarctica which grade
school kids really enjoyed (go ahead! TRY to find stories about
Antarctica) Probably a google search would turn it up. The story
of Icarus - illustrating how people
always looked at birds and wanted to fly. There's a really good
book by Lawrence Yep called Dragonwings,
about a man who wants to fly.....some parts of it could be adapted
for storytelling. I should think that a little exploration into
Antoine de Saint Exupery's writing
might also yield some good stuff. He led an interesting life,
and was always in love with flying....stories about HIM more than
his writing, especially when he was little. For those too little
to remember, the story of what it felt like to see the first men
land on the moon would probably be riveting..... Charles
Lindbergh might be another.....cross continental air travel
is now so much a part of life that kids might find it hard to
believe that there was a time when it was on the cutting edge
of dangerous adventures.... Richard Halliburton
has a good book about flying around the world on a wing and a
prayer - very engaging, and some of his tales might be adapted.
The main thing is that airplanes are taken for granted by little
kids today. But not so very long ago, within living memory, there
were NONE. And the development of aviation is in some ways one
of the most innovative and remarkable parts of the 20th century.
Amazing how quick it was - after thousands and thousands of years
of never flying at all, to the beginnings of space travel. We
take it so for granted that we forget that it was really a big
adventure story, with lots of pioneers, risk-takers, and heroes.
Response: What I'd do is to go and
see what my local library has. Amazon.com
has 310 children's books about aviation. I'd take a look at those
and choose a dozen or so that look interesting and see if I could
get them from interlibrary loan if my library didn't have 'em.
I think you could have a lot of fun with it - but it's a high
research project. You probably gotta figure out if it's worth
the effort. Is it a program you could use again? (My guess is
that it would be - especially in schools). Do you have the time
to find the material and shape the stories? (Some of the children's
books might be readily adaptable - or not). And are you interested
enough to do all that work? I still remember my very young son
reciting gravely, "The waves reached up to catch the tiny
plane...." from The Glorious Flight
(which he pretty much knew by heart).
14) From the interest shown by little ones, I'd say the topic
is appropriate. A 1st grader I know piled up with airplane and
rocket books way beyond his ability to read at the recent book
fair at school. (the core knowledge curriculum includes many units
at ages which seem too young-go figure). In Little Rock we have
an awesome Aerospace education center with replicas of airplanes
and a flight simulator. I bet they have study materials and a
bibliography. I'd imagine they are on-line.... When I've been
faced with this dilemma I tell Lois Ehlert's Moon
Rope (and then tell how like Fox I knew a boy in kindergarten
who was so interested in space that he drew rockets and stuff
all the time. He couldn't grow up to be an astronaut because his
eyes were bad, but he did grow up to work for NASA. I also tell
about watching the launches on TV when I was little and how it
was the day that Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.) In that
same vein I also tell about the elderly woman who was five years
old when she first saw a plane. The whole town quit working to
stand around looking at the sky when it flew over. She thought
it looked like a big bug and didn't get what all the commotion
was about. What about the Fool of the World
and the Flying Ship? Michael Dorris' Abuela
features an imaginary trip in the air and is a good story
about a child and her grandmother.--Remembering that most child
fly in their dreams until they are about 10. Remember? I actually
spent a summer or two working on flying. I got an umbrella for
Christmas (after seeing Mary Poppins) I didn't weigh much-a stiff
wind would lift me off my feet. I could sail for a split second,
but not very high. I also tried running around the clothesline
pole (what's a clothes line my children would ask). Once I reached
max velocity I would grap the top of the pole and lify my feet
off the ground, spinning around for a bit longer....
(This
web page updated 11/23/03)
