Notes

156 pages : chiefly illustrations Contents: The heading dog who split in half -- The princess & the come-ashore whaler -- Ranzo, boys, Ranzo! -- The legend of Tunnel Beach -- A tale of old Waihi -- The phantom canoe -- The day the pub burned down Summary: New Zealand has a rich - if often overlooked - tradition of folk legends and tall tales. The Heading Dog Who Split in Half collects together some of the best of these, artfully adapted as graphic tales and complete with background notes. Together these stories conjure up the 'old, weird New Zealand': a place of phantom waka, romantic escapades in the early whaling days, magical sheepdogs and gargantuan crayfish. The book includes Pakeha, Maori and general New Zealand tales from around the country, including the poignant legend of Dunedin's Tunnel Beach, tales of Lake Tarawera's ghostly canoe, musterers' yarns from the Canterbury high country, and more. The Heading Dog Who Split in Half uncovers a New Zealand not found in the history books, but which exists as a country of the imagination, half-familiar, half-dream. (Publisher)