Chase, R. (1976). Grandfather tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
This second posting for Week 4 is a Traditional/Multicultural book because it is set in the Appalachians and contains folk and tall tales as well as songs.It is comprised of narratives that have their origins in the U.S. as well as Europe. In all cases, the stories are accessible to young children as well as adolescents. The book is built around an Old Christmas gathering where a researcher is recording tales told by adults to a group of young people. This is important because we are made aware that this retelling - like all narratives from the oral tradition - will be different from all previous and all subsequent retellings.
Also, Chase has beautifully preserved the Appalachian dialect. For instance "get rid of" becomes "shet", "boiling" becomes "b'lin'" and "stropped" for "strapped." When read in dialect young listeners get the added enjoyment of as well as important exposure to hearing the colloquial speech patterns of individuals from other parts of the U.S.This second posting for Week 4 is a Traditional/Multicultural book because it is set in the Appalachians and contains folk and tall tales as well as songs.It is comprised of narratives that have their origins in the U.S. as well as Europe. In all cases, the stories are accessible to young children as well as adolescents. The book is built around an Old Christmas gathering where a researcher is recording tales told by adults to a group of young people. This is important because we are made aware that this retelling - like all narratives from the oral tradition - will be different from all previous and all subsequent retellings.
Mutsmag
This story is important because it shows how resourceful the female protagonist Mutsmag was overcoming the objections of her sisters Poll and Betts when they go to seek their fortunes. Not only does she save them from a wicked witch but ultimately kills the witch and her henchman the evil giant. Mutsmag also retrieves the King's prize horse which the latter has stolen. Faced with unfairness and adversity, Mutsmags prevails over both and is handsomely rewarded. Interestingly reference to the King indicates this story probably originated in the Appalachians before he American Revolution.
In this story, another female protagonist is required to go with a "beastly" white bear because her father had stolen some roses from him. The white bear is also a handsome young man under a spell: During the day he is a bear and during the night a man. She marries him and they have three children. When she becomes homesick, he says that she can take their three children and go home for a visit with the understanding that she must not tell anyone his name is Whitebear Whittington. But her father pesters her and she finally gives in which causes her husband to be banished from her. The young woman goes to look for him and after much difficulty finds him and rescues him. In this story, the faithful and indefatigable love of a wife saves her family. According to Chase's notes this story is an amalgam of several American folk tales. Though Chase doesn't say so, I think it probably has its ultimate source in the European classic "Beauty and the Beast."
The Old Sow and Three Shoats 
Like Meat Loves Salt
The fourth and last story is "Like Meat Loves Salt." This is a retelling of King Lear, where the honest third daughter saves her father. At first, when asked how much she loves him she responds, "Like Meat Loves Salt." Offended he banishes her to a tower from which the Duke of England rescues her. But she still saves him. It is especially interesting because its English origin has been refracted to show the American themes - the truths of a work - of love for honesty and for rewarding merit.
Regarding this week's Notes, these tales will also help young people in Appalachia take pride in their unique cultural heritage that goes back colonial time and draws a plethora of European antecedents which it then turns into a kind of literature that is uniquely Kentuckian. Young people from here will realize that these "hillbilly's"created something wonderful. Those from elsewhere will come to respect the vibrant oral tradition this represents. For all these reasons as well as their supreme accessibility Chase's Grandfather Tales is an excellent choice for class read aloud's.
Big Questions: How would you retell any one of the stories as if it where happening today?
Activity: Write a dramatization of one of the stories and perform it for classmates.
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