Old Indian Legends (1901)

Stories from the Dakotas

THE legends contained in this volume are relics of the USA’s once virgin soil. These and many others are the tales the American Indians loved so much to hear beside the night fire. For these people the personified elements and other spirits played in a vast world right around the center fire of the wigwam. Iktomi, the snare weaver, Iya, the Eater, and Old Double-Face are not wholly fanciful creatures.

In this volume you will find fourteen stories from the Dakotas. Stories of Iktomi and the Ducks, the badger and the bear, Iktomi and the coyote, the toad and the boy, the shooting of the red eagle and more.

Under an Open Sky and Nestling Close to the Earth.....

Under an open sky, nestling close to the earth, the old Dakota story-tellers have told these legends time and again. While it is easy to recognise such legends without difficulty, the renderings may vary in little incidents. Here, Zitkala-Sa has tried to transplant the native spirit of these tales -- root and all -- into the English language, since America in the last few centuries has acquired a second tongue.

The old legends of North America now belong quite as much to the blue-eyed little patriot as to the land’s black-haired aborigine. And when they are grown tall may they, in their wisdom, not lack interest in a further study of American Indian folklore. A study which so strongly suggests the USA’s near kinship with the rest of humanity and points a steady finger toward the great brotherhood of mankind, and by which one is so forcibly impressed with the possible earnestness of life as seen through the teepee door! If it be true that much lies "in the eye of the beholder," then in the American aborigine, as in any other race, sincerity of belief, though it were based upon mere optical illusion, demands a little respect. After all, at heart, they are much like other peoples.

So settle down in a comfy chair and journey back to a time when these stories were told around campfires, to the delight of young and old alike.

33% of the net sale from this book will be donated to the American Indian Education Fund.