And dePaola's somber tones burst forth into satisfyingly brilliant sunsets. The retelling is pleasantly cadenced, even though it tells us more about the artist's need for serf-expression within any society than about Plains Indians. Isely-which doesn't really give much clue to its Native American source. In a full-page note, dePaola traces this story to Texas Wildflowers, Stories and Legends, a collection of newspaper articles by Ruth D. Patiently, he gazes at the sunset each evening till at last he is rewarded: brushes with sunset colors spring up for his use, returning next day-and each spring thereafter-as flowers. When it's his turn to go out into the hills "to think about being a man," a vision tells him to become a painter, using colors "as pure as.the evening sky." But though he works hard, Little Gopher is dissatisfied with his dull, dark paintings. Little Gopher can't keep up with the other Indian boys he prefers making and decorating small figures.
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