The Rainbow Bridge and Other Tales

Presented by: Hobey Ford's Golden Rod Puppets

Country of Origin: North Carolina, U.S.A.

Description:

This shadow puppetry production brings to life three folktales through Ford's unique presentational style combining stunning puppetry, storytelling and topical educational themes. The stories include "The Rainbow Bridge," "El Coqui" and "The Three Billy Goat's Gruff," with a finale of his Peepers Puppet, which turns the bare hand into a myriad of creatures and his famous beautifully carved foam animal creatures which he calls the Foamies. His productions touch on themes across the curriculum with an emphasis on his art form.

The Rainbow Bridge is a Native American folktale of the Chumash, a tribe who inhabited the southern coastal regions of California. The tale recalls the origins of the Chumash on Santa Cruz Island. The people received the gift of fire, and with it the means to develop and flourish until they became overcrowded and were forced to migrate to the mainland on a rainbow bridge. The tale also tells of the ones who didn't make it across, but fell into the sea becoming dolphins.

El Coqui is a Puerto Rican folktale about how the little tree frog got his song. The animals of the lush rain forest had become lazy on their island paradise until a race was set which forced the animals to get in shape. Little Coqui worked extra hard, being so little, and his efforts led him to win the race. He was rewarded with his famous song: "coqui, coqui, coqui."

The Three Billy Goats revisits this classic nordic tale with humor and issues of the day. When the long winter has finally come to an end, The Billy Goats Gruff have exhausted the resources fo their meadow adn must migrate to the upper meadows. To do this they must cross a bridge where a troll stands guard to prevent thier passage. They use the ploy of the original tale by sending the smallest first and begging the troll to let them in as progressively larger goats will soon be along to provide an even bigger meal. From there all goes haywire as little billy goat turns the story on its ear with a surprise ending, for something has gone totally wrong in the environs of the upper pasture and while Big Billy Goat and the Troll are busy fighting it out, little Billy Goat sound the alarm that all is not well and that they should redirect their energeis to preserve their world.

For more information visit their webpage.