Books with title Wopila: A Giveaway

This collection of traditional Lakota stories is dedicated to children of all nations and races. The stories are a giveaway, a way of returning the gift of the stories preserved by Lakota elders and grandparents to pass on the traditions and perspectives of their people. These stories, usually told on winter evenings, are intended to teach proper behavior or a moral lesson, but without the narrow moralizing of many familiar fables. Good and evil are neither obvious nor polarized, and the multidimensional characters must face difficult choices, similar to ones that children and adults encounter in the present day. Storyteller Dovie Thomason has carefully selected seven timeless Lakota stories to teach and entertain youngsters, and their parents, too.

Winner of a 1993 Parents' Choice Gold Award. These seven stories from the Lakota tradition have been told for generations on winter evenings. They teach children of all ages proper behavior, without the narrow moralizing of many familiar "fables." Side one is a compilation of stories that illustrate the good ways of the elders, such as having respect for the spirit world in "The Spirit Wife," or learning that even the meekest of creatures deserves to live in "The Rabbit People." Side two is filled with stories of Iktomi, the lovable, foolish one who embodies the best and worst that we can be as he demonstrates how not to act. He is trapped by his pride in "Iktomi & Buzzard" and learns the drawbacks of selfishness in "Iktomi & Ducks & Rocks." Animatedly told and timeless in theme, these often humorous tales are layered with insights on how to live with respect for all peoples, a value at the heart of Thomason's Lakota and Kiowa Apache heritage.