HANA, THE NO-COW WIFE by Pat Bagley and illustrated by Will Terry. 1993. Deseret Book, $12.95.*
A legend in the islands states that a boy planning to marry offers cows to the girl's family as tokens of respect, a reverse-dowry of sorts. The number of cows depends on how much respect the suitor has for his intended spouse.Many people have heard the story of Johnny Lingo. It has been included in Sunday School lessons or as a moralistic tale to focus on self-esteem. Johnny Lingo offered an inordinate number of cows - eight to be exact - for Mahana, a young lady who some said was plain. "Encouraged by her newfound standing as an eight-cow wife, Mahana began to feel and act and look like a real catch . . ."
All young girls wished to be treasured as Mahana had been. One such was Hana, whose vanity exceeded even her beauty. She scoffed at all the young men who sought her attention. Kona, a poor boy on the other side of the island, admired and agreed that he would give his one dung-colored cow for her.
But Hana really scoffed at Kona's advances.
One night she had a dream in which she saw herself as she actually was; arrogant and worldly, lacking a humility that Kona could love. She learned her lesson and went to Kona to show her admiration for him.
The faithful cow was not given to her parents (Kona and Hana probably needed it for themselves); but the legend continues, Johnny Lingo and now Hana, the no-cow wife.
Pat Bagley, newspaper cartoonist and author of "I Spy a Nephite," "A Nephite in the Works" and "Where Have All the Nephites Gone?" has captured the moral of all tales with his tongue-in-cheek freshness. Island boys with "hot outriggers equipped with state-of-the-art sound systems"? Well, why not? We all know that if you want to grab an audience, you make the events relevant. Glamour magazines and designer lava-lava are relevant to today's youth.
Terry's charming illustrations, completed with acrylics on textured board, are energetic, depict an island quality and certainly enhance the story that will delight any age of reader or teller.
* Utah author
PUNGA THE GODDESS OF UGLY by Deborah Nourse Lattimore. 1993. Harcourt Brace. $14.95.
Kiri and Maraweia had to learn to be beautiful island dancers. Two traits of these dancers were fierce power and the ability to stick out their tongues when they dance the haka. If they don't do this, Punga, the goddess of ugly, will catch them, and they will find themselves attached to the lodge house.
Maraweia was careless, however, and giggled her way into the clutches of Punga. To release her, Kiri bargained with the goddess, "Let us dance the haka together and if any one of us is ugly, that one should be your roof beam . . ."
The girls danced, proudly lifted their chins, faced the goddess and stuck out their tongues as far as they could. When Punga copied them, sticking out her tongue and wiggling it around, the girls tell her "that is ugly!" The goddess disappears.
This is a creative tale of the Maori haka dancers where their tongue sticking out it considered beautiful and brave. Lattimore's research on the Maori people was intensive before she wrote the story and the art is based on her work in Egyptian pre-Columbian and classical art. The unusual shapes and bold colors give it a fantasylike quality, and the striking use of emblems, costumes, foliage and wood carvings adds textured and depth to the illustrations.
"Hana, the No-Cow Wife" and "Punga the Goddess of Ugly" are both island stories cleverly told that will entertain as well as teach lessons in honesty and cultural understanding.