Book Review: The Otter, the Spotted Frog & the Great Flood: A Creek Indian Story

The book starts out with Listener the Otter and Honors Himself the Buffalo talking by a fire late at night. Listener hears the spotted frogs singing and calls the loudest over to tell them what they are singing about. Honors Himself does not like the frog and does not want to hear what he has to say so he throws the spotted frog into the fire. Listener pulls him out and the spotted frog looks as though he was never burned, but this action just irritates Honors Himself so he throws the frog back into the fire again. This happens several times until Honors Himself gives up and walks away.

The spotted frog tells Listener that there will be a great flood and that if he wishes to survive he will build a raft and tether it to the tallest tree. Listener does what the spotted frog tells him to in spite of Honors Himself's taunting. Otter Woman wants to believe Listener but in the end she does not board the raft with him. When the flood does come all of the animal people climb a tall hill while the buffalo assures them that they will be safe. The water covers the hill and all the animals drown except for Listener the Otter who is on the raft.

Once the water recedes Listener is all alone and he doesn't know how he will survive. Spotted frog returns and tells him to do as his name suggests and listen. In the end Listener the Otter is turned into the first man and Otter Woman is turned into the first woman.

Great Flood stories exist in virtually every culture on the planet and the Creek Indians are no exception. I have always enjoyed reading myths and legends from other cultures and comparing them with the stories I was brought up with.  This one was unique for me in that it not only told a great flood story but also the story of the first humans.

As much as I enjoyed the story, the illustrations were by far the highlight of this book. They are both beautiful and engaging. I read the digital version of this book and for how good the pictures look even on my phone I can only imaging how much better they would look in the hard copy. Kudos to Illustrator Ramon Shiloh for his excellent artwork

I got to read a digital version of this book for free through NetGalley and Wisdom Tales publishing.

To view this book on Amazon go to The Otter, the Spotted Frog & the Great Flood: A Creek Indian Story