John Ratcliffe (governor) entire body with mussel shells and tossed the pieces into the flame as he watched. They skinned his face last and finally burned him at stake. This story was documented in an eyewitness account that is included in "The Jamestown Adventure: Accounts of the Virginia Colony, 1605–1614 (Real Voices, Real History)", edited by Ed Southern. In Disney's "Pocahontas" (1995), Ratcliffe was portrayed as a greedy and ruthlessly ambitious man, and the film's main antagonist. His character believes that the Powhatan tribe is very barbaric in nature and have hidden gold near the outskirts of Virginia, and he wants to battle
Spider Grandmother charms. In Lakota tradition, the (male) trickster spirit Iktomi appears in the form of a spider. In the Northwest, the Coos people of Oregon have their version of a Spider Grandmother traditional tale. The Choctaw people of Tennessee and Mississippi tell the story of Grandmother Spider stealing fire, then after animals refused it, bringing fire to humans. Susan Hazen-Hammond (1997, 1999) compiled numerous tales collected from various tribes. Murray Mednick wrote seven one-act plays called "The Coyote Cycle" with the same four characters: Coyote, Coyote trickster, Spider Grandmother and Mute Girl. These same characters come from traditional Native American stories