This third collection of Poems by Ruth Zachary expresses a variety of experiences of Spirit, drawing from her own exposure to multicultural traditions. Ms. Zachary shares her ideas through poetry, because the metaphoric nature and process of poetry is closely related to the experience of Spirit. Her writing explores aspects of life purpose, life lessons, growth, ethics, dealing with diffi culty, matters of death or life as well as many other spiritual issues, such as the experience of synchronicity and symbols in life experience. Her poems are offered as examples s of spiritual issues, but are not advocated as a way of life for others. She offers more questions than conclusions. Her attitude toward spiritual questions is to have an open mind and to keep the door open regarding that which is unknown. Her poems were organized within an outline in the Contents. She assumes each person�s Spiritual path is an entirely individual and personal process. Even still, she shares her questions and challenges, with openness and honesty. Ms. Zachary has been a social worker, an artist and a writer. She was a News Reporter in a suburb of Grand Rapids, MI for seven years until she moved to Colorado. She continues to exhibit her artwork and write, and is active with local art and writing groups that encourage both interests.

A long time ago there was a boy named Wynd Nhut. He lived in a village high up in the great mountains in the lost kingdom of Nan Chao. The great mountain peaks of Nan Chao were called Muang Dang � which means the realm of the gods. In his village there once stood a giant statue of Nhawke Sing. The locals called him Nhawke Sing because the statue had the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. It was a mystery as to how the statue came to be there or who made Nhawke Sing. Not even the oldest and wisest amongst the village elders knew the answer to this mystery - but everyone in the village had heard of the legend of Nhawke Sing.

The whispers of the wind spoke of Nhawke Sing coming to life at night and flying away to the mystical, eternal land of Muang Taevidar - the land of angels- to feed on golden bamboo shoots. And this legend was whispered into the ears of many dreamers in that part of the world.

It became a tradition, especially for the young people of the village to test out the legend of Nhawke Sing. Everyone in the village whether rich, poor, young or old had come once or twice hoping for rich rewards in catching Nhawke Sing in flight. But try as they might, they would all fall asleep, only to wake to the rooster's call the next morning. In the end they all decided that the legend was just another false whisper of the lying wind and they gave up trying.

One day, Wynd Nhut decided that he was going to find out for himself if the legend of Nhawke Sing was true.

A long time ago there was a boy named Wynd Nhut. He lived in a village high up in the great mountains in the lost kingdom of Nan Chao. The great mountain peaks of Nan Chao were called Muang Dang � which means the realm of the gods. In his village there once stood a giant statue of Nhawke Sing. The locals called him Nhawke Sing because the statue had the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. It was a mystery as to how the statue came to be there or who made Nhawke Sing. Not even the oldest and wisest amongst the village elders knew the answer to this mystery - but everyone in the village had heard of the legend of Nhawke Sing.

The whispers of the wind spoke of Nhawke Sing coming to life at night and flying away to the mystical, eternal land of Muang Taevidar - the land of angels- to feed on golden bamboo shoots. And this legend was whispered into the ears of many dreamers in that part of the world.

It became a tradition, especially for the young people of the village to test out the legend of Nhawke Sing. Everyone in the village whether rich, poor, young or old had come once or twice hoping for rich rewards in catching Nhawke Sing in flight. But try as they might, they would all fall asleep, only to wake to the rooster's call the next morning. In the end they all decided that the legend was just another false whisper of the lying wind and they gave up trying.

One day, Wynd Nhut decided that he was going to find out for himself if the legend of Nhawke Sing was true.

The book contains African folktales, quizzes and proverbs as traditionally told (by the Ndau people), typically by a grandmother, to children in the evenings. These folktales are passed through this oral tradition from generation to generation and form a critical cultural upbringing that shapes the morals, value systems and way of life of the African societies. The stories told to children from an early age each has a moral teaching or is built around some ancient African �words of wisdom�. Whilst Chisiya was studying in England (1979 to 1985), and also starting a family he wrote the folktales initially for his children, but the stories got popular with friends, culminating in the Sheffield Education department (through Chris Searle � their multi-cultural adviser) asking Chisiya to tell some of his grandmothers� folktales to schools in 1985. Chisiya was hosted by Ellesmere and Pye Bank First schools in Sheffield, where the children would make illustrations about the stories. Now these original children�s drawings have been used in this book. Afrikan Lullaby was first published in 1986 by Karia Press; and this is now its second publication.

The book contains African folktales, quizzes and proverbs as traditionally told (by the Ndau people), typically by a grandmother, to children in the evenings. These folktales are passed through this oral tradition from generation to generation and form a critical cultural upbringing that shapes the morals, value systems and way of life of the African societies. The stories told to children from an early age each has a moral teaching or is built around some ancient African �words of wisdom�. Whilst Chisiya was studying in England (1979 to 1985), and also starting a family he wrote the folktales initially for his children, but the stories got popular with friends, culminating in the Sheffield Education department (through Chris Searle � their multi-cultural adviser) asking Chisiya to tell some of his grandmothers� folktales to schools in 1985. Chisiya was hosted by Ellesmere and Pye Bank First schools in Sheffield, where the children would make illustrations about the stories. Now these original children�s drawings have been used in this book. Afrikan Lullaby was first published in 1986 by Karia Press; and this is now its second publication.

The book contains African folktales, quizzes and proverbs as traditionally told (by the Ndau people), typically by a grandmother, to children in the evenings. These folktales are passed through this oral tradition from generation to generation and form a critical cultural upbringing that shapes the morals, value systems and way of life of the African societies. The stories told to children from an early age each has a moral teaching or is built around some ancient African �words of wisdom�. Whilst Chisiya was studying in England (1979 to 1985), and also starting a family he wrote the folktales initially for his children, but the stories got popular with friends, culminating in the Sheffield Education department (through Chris Searle � their multi-cultural adviser) asking Chisiya to tell some of his grandmothers� folktales to schools in 1985. Chisiya was hosted by Ellesmere and Pye Bank First schools in Sheffield, where the children would make illustrations about the stories. Now these original children�s drawings have been used in this book. Afrikan Lullaby was first published in 1986 by Karia Press; and this is now its second publication.

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Guyana Legends�Folk Tales of the Indigenous Amerindians By Odeen Ishmael G uyana Legends�Folk Tales of the Indigenous Amerindians is a collection of fifty folk tales of the first people to inhabit Guyana and the contiguous regions of the north coast of the South American continent. Very little is known of Amerindian history in Guyana before the arrival of European settlers in the early seventeenth century and, actually, no written form of their languages existed until about seventy years ago. Indeed, much of the history of the Amerindians people is based on oral traditions which are not quite clear because the periods when important events occurred are difficult to place. Still, native oral traditions are very rich in folk stories of the ancestral heroes and heroines of these indigenous people. Some of these folk stories have varying versions among the nine different language groups�or tribes� that comprise the Amerindian population of Guyana. Such a difference is illustrated in this book which presents two different tales of how fire was acquired and various versions of the legend of two immortal folk heroes, the bothers Makonaima and Pia. This present collection of Amerindian legends was compiled over a lengthy period of many years during which I listened to and collected versions of these tales from elderly Amerindians in various regions of Guyana, and more recently from Amerindian residents of the Delta Amacuro region of Venezuela, on the frontier with Guyana. Significantly, most of these legends were also summarised since the late nineteenth century by a succession of writers, including Everard F. im Thurn, W.H. Brett, Walter Roth and Leonard Lambert. But it is significant to note that those versions�by no means original�which were related by those writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have undergone some changes with the passing years, and new characters have been added to them. Since Amerindians of the North West District of Guyana are ethnologically and culturally related to those in the eastern regions of Venezuela, particularly the Delta Amacuro region, it is noteworthy that the myths and legends of those Venezuelan Amerindians bear close similarities to those of their Guyanese counterparts. Interestingly, the Guajiro people�Amerindians of Arawak background living in north-west Venezuela near to Lake Maracaibo�also have some folk-tales that closely resemble those of their �relatives� living in the North-West District of Guyana and the Delta Amacuro region of Venezuela. For further information, the writings of Venezuelan researchers, Cesar�o de Armellada, Maria Manuela de Cora and Michel Perrin are recommended. It is essential to note too that an important character in Amerindian legend is �Tiger�. While there are a number of tigers in the stories�and generally they are all villains�these animals, however, are not part of the fauna in Guyana or the entire American continent. What is generally referred to as a �tiger� is the large spotted jaguar. And the �black tiger�, mentioned in one of the stories in this book, is the large South American puma. Twenty of the folk tales included in this collection appear in my earlier book, Amerindian Legends of Guyana, published in 1995. However, they have now been revised and, in some cases, retitled. Among the thirty other stories are those of two clever tricksters in Amerindian folklore, the lazy but sly Konehu and the wily rabbit, Koneso. Readers will find these legends of the original inhabitants of Guyana informative in the anthropological sense, in addition to being interesting and entertaining at the same time.

Guyana Legends�Folk Tales of the Indigenous Amerindians By Odeen Ishmael G uyana Legends�Folk Tales of the Indigenous Amerindians is a collection of fifty folk tales of the first people to inhabit Guyana and the contiguous regions of the north coast of the South American continent. Very little is known of Amerindian history in Guyana before the arrival of European settlers in the early seventeenth century and, actually, no written form of their languages existed until about seventy years ago. Indeed, much of the history of the Amerindians people is based on oral traditions which are not quite clear because the periods when important events occurred are difficult to place. Still, native oral traditions are very rich in folk stories of the ancestral heroes and heroines of these indigenous people. Some of these folk stories have varying versions among the nine different language groups�or tribes� that comprise the Amerindian population of Guyana. Such a difference is illustrated in this book which presents two different tales of how fire was acquired and various versions of the legend of two immortal folk heroes, the bothers Makonaima and Pia. This present collection of Amerindian legends was compiled over a lengthy period of many years during which I listened to and collected versions of these tales from elderly Amerindians in various regions of Guyana, and more recently from Amerindian residents of the Delta Amacuro region of Venezuela, on the frontier with Guyana. Significantly, most of these legends were also summarised since the late nineteenth century by a succession of writers, including Everard F. im Thurn, W.H. Brett, Walter Roth and Leonard Lambert. But it is significant to note that those versions�by no means original�which were related by those writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have undergone some changes with the passing years, and new characters have been added to them. Since Amerindians of the North West District of Guyana are ethnologically and culturally related to those in the eastern regions of Venezuela, particularly the Delta Amacuro region, it is noteworthy that the myths and legends of those Venezuelan Amerindians bear close similarities to those of their Guyanese counterparts. Interestingly, the Guajiro people�Amerindians of Arawak background living in north-west Venezuela near to Lake Maracaibo�also have some folk-tales that closely resemble those of their �relatives� living in the North-West District of Guyana and the Delta Amacuro region of Venezuela. For further information, the writings of Venezuelan researchers, Cesar�o de Armellada, Maria Manuela de Cora and Michel Perrin are recommended. It is essential to note too that an important character in Amerindian legend is �Tiger�. While there are a number of tigers in the stories�and generally they are all villains�these animals, however, are not part of the fauna in Guyana or the entire American continent. What is generally referred to as a �tiger� is the large spotted jaguar. And the �black tiger�, mentioned in one of the stories in this book, is the large South American puma. Twenty of the folk tales included in this collection appear in my earlier book, Amerindian Legends of Guyana, published in 1995. However, they have now been revised and, in some cases, retitled. Among the thirty other stories are those of two clever tricksters in Amerindian folklore, the lazy but sly Konehu and the wily rabbit, Koneso. Readers will find these legends of the original inhabitants of Guyana informative in the anthropological sense, in addition to being interesting and entertaining at the same time.

LORE of the GHOST SHIP by Cristina Montalva set on the Chilean Archipelago of Chiloe draws on local folk-lore and tradition to create a magical realistic fable with color, action and human depth. The story follows Pancho, a teenage boy, as he tries to come to terms with and understand his mother`s sudden disappearance. One of the ways he does this is to ask his uncle, Mateo, who is well versed in the mythology of the island, about the Ghost Ship, a legendary vessel which haunts the waters around the Archipelago. Mateo narration of the tale is central to the plot, and it is on the basis of this story-telling that Pancho`s final resolution occurs.

LORE of the GHOST SHIP by Cristina Montalva set on the Chilean Archipelago of Chiloe draws on local folk-lore and tradition to create a magical realistic fable with color, action and human depth. The story follows Pancho, a teenage boy, as he tries to come to terms with and understand his mother`s sudden disappearance. One of the ways he does this is to ask his uncle, Mateo, who is well versed in the mythology of the island, about the Ghost Ship, a legendary vessel which haunts the waters around the Archipelago. Mateo narration of the tale is central to the plot, and it is on the basis of this story-telling that Pancho`s final resolution occurs.