Tales of Conflicting Roots

Conflicting Roots (Maine Authors Publishing, 2025) is built upon three levels of storytelling. The first are the stunning revelations when Matty Wheet discovers that her ancestors were native Wampanoag peoples who fought and died during King Philip’s War against white European colonizers in 1675-76. Second are the events of the war itself as seen through Matty’s eyes as well as those of her partner Timmy Romney. Third is the base layer of six myths and stories told by Native participants of the war, trying to

maintain their culture and lifestyle against the onslaught of the colonial army. These folktales are adapted for my novel from native sources except for the wordiest one which I must admit I wrote.

One of these folktales is a borrowed Cherokee myth explaining how Native people

came to rely so heavily on the bow and arrow and whites on the printed word even

though it went against the wishes of the Great Spirit who created both people. In the

tale I found reflection of the distinction between views of both cultures toward the power

of the written word. Jill Lepore in her well-researched work The Name of War, King

Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity (Vintage Books, 1998) writes of a

seventeenth century concept called “literall advantage”, by which the English in New

England meant the power written words had over oral communication. In understanding

reasons that colonists triumphed in the war she questions:

“If war is, at least in part, a contest of meaning, can it ever be a fair fight when

only one side has access to those perfect instruments of empire, pens, paper, and

printing presses?”

The native characters in my narrative traditionally communicate among

themselves verbally, but the English required written treaties with Wampanoag groups.

Colonials used them as temporary devices to extend their control of the lands they

wanted. Natives knew that they were not worth the parchments on which the lies were

written but accepted them.

There are many collections of Native American folktales and myths available.

Several of them are included in the list of references at the end of Conflicting Roots. If

you, like me, are entertained by stories of shape shifters and animal persons, you might

enjoy a slim volume I discovered recently, Giants of the Dawnland, Ancient Wabanaki

Tales collected by Alice Mead and Arnold Neptune (Loose Cannon Press, 2015). You

can get a copy at The Briar Patch in Bangor.