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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Granny Squannit a-waitin'

When planning a trip to... anywhere, I always start by browsing through books and webpages to find something, a story, a legend or at least a faint belief to start with. It doesn't necessarily has to be something famous or huge, but it's important to find something special that captures my imagination. And searching is the fun part. If I find a legend too easily, at first click, I might leave it alone and search further.
This is how I started reading about Connecticut, and sweeping through the Constitution and nutmegs and Hartford and Mark Twain and Yale and more nutmegs I finally arrived to the Native Americans (I spent a lot of time with the nutmeg part though, which I find extremely facinating, but I'll leave it for later).
This whole Native American world is brand new to me, and I jumped right in, link after link, and suddenly there it was, the page with all the stories, and I had what I was looking for. The lady's name is Granny Squannit.

Here is the link: http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/heritage/makiawisug.aspx

I always loved every kind of Little Folk, and the minute I read this story I knew that I'll make Granny Squannit my imaginary host for the Hartford trip. It might seem that I've rushed into this decision, but I need a point to start, and I will be able to clear the view around me, starting with Native Americans and broadening the collection till I will be able to tell stories about Connecticut for hours and hours (and then I'll only have to figure out how to nail the audience to their chairs...) (and I still have a long way to go to the nutmegs. Gee, I like the word. Nutmeg. Nutmeg. Nutmeg.)
Besides, I especially love the idea of Granny being married to Moshup, a giant, and their fights making all the storms in the land. I can clearly imagine the tiny little shrew with her eyes like blackberries and moving like a bird, with deafening thunder pointing out her every argument... what a couple! I'm going to dig into that.
It's getting late. Three notes for my first day seem totally enough. Yawn.

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