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 centre 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, 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.

Books in this series

Folklore &
Legends of
the North
American
Indians



American
Indian
Fairy
Tales



Indian Why
Stories

(Sparks from
War Eagle’s
Lodge Fire)




Maidu
Texts






Achomawi
& Atsugewi
Myths &
Tales