“Legends are the memory of a people.” With these as our opening words, we invite you to share the experience of one of the most prolific pens of the Province of Bocas del Toro.

The idea for this book was conceived when Rev. Dr. Ephraim S. Alphonse wrote three stories for the Bocas Creole English research team. Professor Adelaide E. Alphonse de Jones felt that stories of this nature might fill the need for reading material for beginning students in the English Department at the University of Panama, since most of the texts on the market were either too expensive or too unrelated to the everyday experience of our students. Rev. Dr. Alphonse willingly wrote these several stories, which relate episodes of life in Bocas when he was a child. Included also are two stories written in ‘adapted’ Bocas Creole English, a fable, as well as a biographical sketch of the author.

All stories and essays were edited by Professor Adelaide Alphonse de Jones. Upon her passing in 2015, these documents were discovered by Dr. Ephraim Alphonse’s great granddaughter Shari St. Jones. The family decided to compile these stories to honor him and to celebrate his pioneering work with the Ngabe Bugle’ (Cusapin) in 1917.

Proceeds from this effort will go towards providing transportation for the Cusapin/Bocas Del Toro District.