Grasshopper Girl

Young Psipsi is sick in bed. What will make her feel better? An Unktomi trickster story from her father lulls her to sleep. "Unktomi stories have been shared in Dakota families and communities for a very long time. This tradition continued into the childhood of my mother's generation. Depending upon location and community, variations of this Unktomi story have been told. This Unktomi story is a local version my mother and her siblings heard from their father, primarily when they were ill, perhaps to lend comfort in addition to impart lessons to a captive audience." — Teresa Peterson