This article describes a traditional Eskimo game in which complex patterns are created by slipping a circle of string over the fingers, often in accompaniment to songs and chants based on Eskimo myths. Several of the string patterns and songs, with Eskimo and English lyrics, are included. (SJL)

Considers Greek myth of Oedipus and proposes an Oedipus cycle, in contrast to Freud's Oedipus complex, which represents not the unconscious passions of a small boy, but rather the awareness of the life cycle in the larger context of the succession of the generations and their mutual interdependence. (Author/NB)

The origin of the Big Dipper is described in this Canadian Indian legend. (RTS)

This delightful American Indian legend describes a meeting between a mountain lion, numerous domesticated cats, and a small boy. (RTS)

The American Indian oral tradition is presented in this article on the Omaha tribe's Rabbit Dance. (RTS)

This article presents the Abenaki version of their "discovery of the earth" and the origin of their one god, Katahdin. (RTS)

This is a tale of Two Fall Together, the name of a stretch of foamy water in the Mohawk River where a young man and Angry Spirit struggled and the Mohawks eventually lived in peace. (Author/RTS)

This book contains the traditional tales and beliefs of the Chippewa, Dogrib, Slavey, and Loucheux peoples. These histories and traditions were spoken to a priest named Emile Petitot (1838-1916) who wrote the words down in the Dene language. This edition was translated from the French and compared with versions in the original tongues by the…

The Tlingit and Haida are Native Americans who inhabit southeast Alaska and share many traditions and stories. Written by a non-native scholar, this book contains nine Tlingit and Haida tales concerned with shamans and kushtakas. Land otters were fearful hybrid beings of the spirit world. Able to live on land and in water, they had the special…

Six traditional Yup'ik stories are presented in Yup'ik along with English word-for-word translations. Five of the selections are traditional Yup'ik myths or legends called "qulirat"--stories that have been transmitted from generation to generation and often have supernatural elements. The sixth is a personal account of life in a…

This paper analyzes religious, psychological, artistic, and environmental elements in one Naskapi myth, and provides a means of understanding the world of the Montagnais and Naskapi hunting tribes of the Labrador Peninsula. In "Ayas'i's Son," the (unnamed) hero is falsely accused of rape by his father's youngest wife. The son is exiled…

What Hans Christian Andersen and the Grimm brothers achieved by collecting stories from the common people that had been handed down orally from generation to generation is also achieved in this collection of folktales consisting of 45 fables and 65 tales and short stories. This publication, addressed to educators, anthropologists, and specialists…

Understanding of the traditional Navajo world view and philosophy is ultimately centered on their origin story of emergence into the present world. All stories stem from this basic one. This collection of 12 Navajo stories includes origin stories, coyote stories, and a fairly recent one that describes a recognizable place. In the Anglo sense,…

This volume contains approximately 35 brief stories told by members of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. Many of the stories deal with legendary Indian heros, warriors, or cultural myths. Some, however, seem to portray actual events in the lives of the narrators themselves or their immediate ancestors. Many stories deal with Indian magic or…

The stories published in this book are the result of a collaborative effort of the elders of the village of Tununak (Alaska), the Lower Kuskokwim School District, and school staff and students. The stories were told in Yup'ik by elders at various school and community gatherings. The book is divided into seven sections: (1) hunters and animal…