Books For Beginners
Nita Berry
SPEAKING TO AN ELEPHANT AND OTHER TALES FROM THE KADARS by Manish Chandi Tara Books, 2018, 56 pp., 350
November 2018, volume 42, No 11

This unique little book complements the title Walking is a Way of Knowing by the same authors and illustrator. This is a collection of unusual folklore from the world of the Kadars. It tells the story of how Kadavul the creator created the Kadars or hill people and blessed them with gifts of edible leaves, honey, tubers, herbs and incense, all hidden in the forest. Kadavul was particularly concerned about the many wild creatures they had to live with, especially the large elephants. And then the Kadar storyteller launches into a heart-warming tale of how the elephants and Kadars became friends.

‘We speak to the elephants and tell them that we too are of the forest and that they need to go their way just as we do.’ Other favourite Kadar stories in the book are:

– the story of the tortoise and the kumin mushroom

– the story of the restless grasshopper and the mousedeer

– the feast of Kadavul and the lesson he taught the Kadars.

What is immediately striking about this book are the two-tone illustrations on smaller pages that intersperse the normal pages. Their dense textured illustrations of forest scenes in different colour combinations make this book unique.

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