Albert Lamborn Green (1845-1947), a Quaker, was appointed as the Indian agent for the Otoe tribe by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1869. He wrote and illustrated an account of his experiences that is one of the earliest sources documenting the Otoe way of life. The account includes a small dictionary of useful words in the Oto language. Though his term as agent ended in 1872, when he moved to the young town of Beatrice, Nebraska, Green maintained friendships with the Otoes throughout his life.
Green also wrote and illustrated numerous poems and stories for his children and grandchildren. Though humorous and whimsical, they usually contained a lesson or ended with a moral. “Peter Pike’s Reformation,” seen here, is Green’s retelling of the “Grasshopper and the Ant” fable. Peter learns a lesson about laziness and diligence when he dreams he has been transformed into an ant — or is it a dream?
