I got this ex-library softcover from Better World Books. It features international folk tales about the winter solstice and the loss and return of the light. The stories come from India, China, Tanzania, Scandinavia, the Americas, Europe - a nice variety for a fairly short book. My favorites include:

"Why Hummingbird Has a Red Throat", based on a tale from the Olamentko-Miwok people of the north California coast, and tells how the hummingbird fetched back fire after Marsh Wren shot out the sun.

"How Maui Snared the Sun" from Polynesian legend caught my eye thanks to - yes - "Moana", from which I first learned about Maui the trickster. This tale touches on one of the many feats he bragged about in the movie, and it's a fun story - though the Maui in this tale seems much more ready to cooperate with others than his animated depiction.

"Loki and the Death of Light" is one of the better-known Norse myths, having to do with jealous trickster and troublemaker Loki scheming to ensure the death of the beautiful, beloved, and (presumably) invulnerable Balder, thanks to a sharpened dart made from mistletoe.

"Pull-together Morning" is from the Sukuma people of Tanzania, and features some impressive cooperation by diverse wildlife in order to retrieve the sun.

"Grandfather Mantis and His Thinking Strings" from the !Kung San of the Kalahari is... a rather weird one, in which the people have to find a way to get the Sun Man to change position so that the sunlight will pour forth from his armpits as it's supposed to. Um... OK then! Hadn't heard an armpit-based myth before, that I can recall!

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book, bagged against the elements, in the little gazebo in McKee Square; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2020 Decemberish Holiday challenge. ***