String Figures and How to Make Them

Fullest, clearest instruction on string figures from around the world: Eskimo, Navajo, Lapp, European, more. Cat's cradle, moving spear, lightning, stars. At some time in your youth, no doubt, you took a loop of string and made a "cat's-cradle," a "Jacob's ladder," or some other type of figure by looping and crossing the string between the fingers. But perhaps you were not aware that this is actually an ancient form of amusement, that it is practiced in all parts of the globe, and is especially popular among primitive tribes. And you probably didn't realize what a great variety of figures can be formed by a single loop of string. This book describes, in a simple and easy-to-follow manner, how to make no less than 107 different string figures, just as they are made in their land of origin. It is the only book on the subject in English that gives a thorough and readily understandable treatment, so that a beginner can follow the steps and make the figures without the help of a teacher. The figures offer an excellent means for developing manual dexterity and coordination between brain and hand, and present challenge to personal inventiveness, too, since they are capable of infinite variations. These games are fun for people of all ages: intelligent children can do them easily, and adults find great enjoyment in them. Two people can play the string games together, one using his left and the other his right; and many of the games even require four hands. The description of each figure and the process of making it is accompanied by several simply drawn sketches that show each distinct step as it would be viewed by the person making the figure. The illustrator has taken great care to show in each sketch all the loops, all the intertwinings as they should appear at each stage in the process, so that there is no reason for anyone to have undue difficulty in making any of the figures. Besides those who simply want to use the book as a source of amusement, the book will be of great interest to anthropologists and collectors of string figures, since it greatly increases the knowledge of string games and their distribution around the world.

Table of Contents:
Introduction I. Distribution of String Figures Native Names Methods First Recorded Ethnological Value of String Games Relations of Finished Patterns Made by Different Races Relations of Native Methods How String Figures are Made Different Openings Nomenclature Adopted Typical Movements Described Explanation of the Descriptions and the Drawings II. "Opening Movements, Known as First Position and Opening A" Figures Beginning with Opening A An Apache Door Fighting Head-Hunters A Sunset Osage Diamonds Osage Two Diamonds Dressing a Skin A Fish-Speak A Sea-Snake A Kingfish Bagobo Diamonds Bagobo Two Diamonds III. Figures Beginning with Opening A (Continued) Many Stars An Owl A Second Owl A Third Owl Seven Bars Two-Horned Star Two Coyotes Big Star North Star Carrying Wood Owl's Net Two Elks A Rabbit The Sun IV. Figures Beginning with Opening A (Continued) A Well Fence Around a Well A Crab A Trigger Fish Rattlesnake and a Boy Two Skunks Two Foxes Two Squirrels Leashing of Lochiel's Dogs Two Hogans A Cariboo A Circle Two Stars Casting the Fish-Spear An Arrow A Porcupine V. Figures Beginning with Opening A (Continued) A Caroline Islands Catch Circles and Triangles Ten Men A Variation of Ten Men Caroline Islands Triangles Carrying Money House of the Blos-Bird Three Stars No Name Coral A Man Two Chiefs A Man and a Bed A Palm Tree A Canoe with Two Masts A House Figures Beginning with a Modification of Opening A--W--M VI. Figures which Do Not Begin with Opening A A Bow Lightning A Butterfly A Worm Twin Stars A Lizard Little Fishes Storm Clouds One Hogan An Apache Teepee Tallow Dips One Chief Caroline Islands Diamonds A Turtle Ten Times VII. Figures which Do Not Begin with Opening A (Continued) Pigmy Diamonds A Mouth Two Little Boys Running Away A Little Fish that Hides in the Mud A Little Boy Carrying Wood A Second Worm A Brush House A Six-Pointed Star The Breastbone and Ribs A Bird's-Nest Two Boys Fighting for an Arrow Flint and Steel The Real Cat's-Cradle VIII. Tricks and Catches A Torres Straits Lizard Hanging The Mouse A Dravidian Trick A Finger Catch A Fly on the Nose A Thumb Catch Will You have a Yam? Threading a Closed Loop A Saw Mill IX. A Few Eskimo and Indian Games from Alaska Figures Known only from the Finished Patterns Nauru Figures Eskimo Figures Hawaiian Figures A Zuni Figure Australian Figures X. Geographical Distribution of String Figures g Figures A Few Invented Figures The Scarab The Lozenge The Square Variation of Coral Two Dolphins Variation of the Crab Second Variation of Ten Men Bibliography Index