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It's not possible for all of the events in both The Book of Sorrows and Lamentations to have occurred, since there are many instances of the two books contradicting each other. Yet each book basically follows the same plot. How to explain this? Which version should be considered the "correct" one?
The Book of Sorrows is the longer and more detailed of the two versions, plus it was written and published first (1985), so it stands to reason that Sorrows is the way events originally occurred, while Lamentations (2013) is the hand-me-down legend, a result of Gossip Evolution.
Of course, this begs the question of "Well, if Lamentations is what Sorrows eventually evolved into, then how does that explain the events in Peace at the Last? Which leads to the next entry...
Fictional animals creating fan-fiction? In the world of Chauntecleer, it's not out of the realm of possibility.
Regrettably, the style of writing in Peace doesn't really match up with the skillful prose of The Book of the Dun Cow or The Book of Sorrows. It seems to have been hastily written and displays a severe lack of editing — typos are rampant on nearly every page. There is also a disturbing amount of gratuitous foul language, far worse than anything found in the prior books. In other words, it reads like a work of fan-fiction, especially in comparison to the first two books of the series. (Lamentations suffers from this as well, though perhaps to a lesser degree.)
It's a shame that author Walter Wangerin Jr. cannot be reached for comment regarding this, having passed away in 2021.
Kangi Sapa, the storyteller Raven, never actually interacted with Pertelote & co. He is a modern-day bird, many generations removed from that of Chauntecleer and his animals. So enamored was he of the historical Dun Cow legend and its sequel Sorrows that he was inspired to invent a third tale to complete the trilogy. One where he was able to insert himself as sort of a feathered Marty Stu into the legend, thus making himself a part of it.
It is interesting to note that whenever the character of Kangi Sapa was telling one of his own farfetched tales in Peace, he suddenly would become the book's first-person narrator. No quotation marks around his speech. This did not happen with any other character but him.
Kangi probably had a lot to do with the rewriting of Sorrows into Lamentations as well.
