Grades K-4: Life, Legend, & Lore
Lesson One
Artist Levi Fisher Ames and the “Hodag” of Northern Wisconsin
Levi Fisher Ames of Monroe, Wisconsin, was a wonderful storyteller. He carved his stories in wood. Between 1890 and 1923 he made more than six hundred carved animals, insects, and characters from life, legend, and folklore. His love of telling stories about the characters he made matched his passion for carving. He traveled around the state, setting up his tent at circuses and county fairs, amazing audiences with his carved figures. One such figure was the "Hodag."
Display the full-page image of Ames' carving, the Hodag. After everyone has had an opportunity to look at the image, discuss the following questions together.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think that the Hodag was a real animal or a pretend animal? Why do you think this?
2. Imagine that you could shrink down in size and fit in its box. How would you feel about meeting the Hodag face to face? What about the Hodag's appearance makes you feel this way?
3. What do you think the Hodag in this picture is made out of? (Wood) Levi Fisher Ames learned to carve figures from wood when he was a solider in the Civil War. Have you ever made something out of wood? What was it?
Tell Me a Tale
Read the following account of the "Hodag" before discussing the following questions as a class:
Arnold, Caroline. The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers. Honesdale, Michigan: Boyds Mills Press, Inc., 2006.
Discussion Questions & Art Activity:
1. What parts of the story do you think might be true?
2. What might this story teach us about life in Northern Wisconsin?
3. Read the account of the "Hodag" again, but this time have your students fill in their own descriptions. Create your own "mixed-up" animals like the "Hodag" and draw pictures of them. Or perform a skit (in person or with puppets) of your own folklore creatures.
"It had the head of a _______________,
feet of a _____________,
back of a _____________,
and tail of a _____________.
It was _____________ feet tall and
it's eyes glowed like _____________?
It was called the _____________!"
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