Jadyne found a box of books that dates back to the time I was David Kennedy. As a child I was enamored of the legend surrounding Davy Crockett. I watched Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen on TV. I collected Davy Crockett cards. I wore an imitation coonskin cap.
I found a Little Golden Book about his life. It’s a bit of legend mixed in with what we learned as “history,” white American “history.”
”Long ago, America was a land of woods and forests. And deep in the greenwoods, high on a mountaintop, a boy was born. His Ma and his Pa called him Davy…Davy Crockett. And it happened in the state of Tennessee. Little Davy was raised in the woods. He learned to know every tree. He learned to know the critters, too. From the little possum to the big bear, Davy knew them all. As Davy grew up he learned how to shoot. He was a real rip-snorter with a rifle.
Once a bear came at Davy from one side. A panther came at him from the other side. Davy fired his rifle at a rock between them. The bullet hit the rock, splitting into two pieces. One piece hit the bear, the other hit the panther. That way, Davy got him two critters with one shot.”
“But when the Indians started a war, Davy stopped his hunting and dancing. With his friend, George Russel, he joined General Andy Jackson’s army.”
“Davy was a brave fighter, and a good fighter. And yet, he did not like war. As soon as he could, Davy helped make peace with the Indians. After that, he and the Indians were friends.”
“This is a fine country,” said Davy. “It’s worth fighting for. Guess we’ll head for the fort called the Alamo, where the Texans are fighting for liberty.
Whatever Davy said, he did. He helped fight a great battle at the Alamo.
And last. “Ever since folks have told stories about Davy. They tell about Davy riding a streak of lightning. And they tell of Davy catching a comet by the tail, before it could crash into the earth. Davy threw the comet back into the sky, where it couldn’t do any harm. Another story folks tell is of the time of the Big Freeze. It was so cold the sun and earth were frozen, and couldn’t move. Davy saw that he would have to do something. He climbed up Daybreak Hill. He thawed out the sun and the earth with hot bear oil. Then he gave the earth’s cogwheel a kick, and got things moving. As the sun rose, Davy walked down the hill, with a piece of sunrise in his pocket.
Born on a mountain top in Tennessee
Greenest state in the Land of the Free,
Raised in the woods so’s he knew every tree,
Kilt him a b’ar when he was only three.
Davy—Davy Crockett,
King of the Wild Frontier!