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This collection of folktales, originally published in 1961, presents stories from a wide range of North American indigenous peoples. The stories are grouped into three categories: "The Way the World Is," "What Man Must Know and Learn," and "The Excitement of Living."
List of contents
- Preface
- Remarks on Reading the Tales
- The Tales
- Part 1: The Way the World Is
- 1. The Emergence (Hopi)
- 2. The Earthdiver (Western Mono)
- 3. Ouiot and Frog (San Luiseño)
- 4. Theft of Fire (Southern Paiute)
- 5. Theft of Light (Tahltan)
- 6. How the Four Winds Were Created (Ojibwa)
- 7. Coyote Arranges the Seasons of the Year (Shasta)
- 8. The Origin of the Pleiades (Onondaga)
- 9. The Girl Who Married a Dog (Cheyenne)
- 10. The Deer and the Rainbow (Wyandot)
- 11. The Frogs in the Moon (Lillooet)
- 12. Afterbirth and Lodge Boy (Wichita)
- 13. Loon-Woman (Shasta)
- 14. Coyote Kills the Sucking Monster (Flathead)
- 15. Walking Skeleton (Western Mono)
- Part 2: What Man Must Know and Learn
- 16. Bloodclot (Southern Ute)
- 17. The Story of Sweet Medicine (Cheyenne)
- 18. Yellowtop-to-Head Woman (Cheyenne)
- 19. The Origin of Corn (Wabanaki)
- 20. Forgetting the Song (Zuñi)
- 21. The Conquering Gambler (Tahltan)
- 22. Star Husband (Sekani)
- 23. Northern Lights (Wabanaki)
- 24. The Land of the Dead (Coos)
- 25. Water Jar Boy (Tewa)
- 26. The Sun-Snare (Tête de Boule)
- 27. The Lecherous Father and His Daughter (Southern Ute)
- 28. The Toothed Vagina (Yurok)
- Part 3: The Excitement of Living
- 29. Rolling Skull (Cheyenne)
- 30. Rolling Rock (Flathead)
- 31. The Man Who Married a Branch (Lillooet)
- 32. The Origin of the Narwhal (Eskimo)
- 33. Grizzly Bear and Doe (lassik)
- 34. Turtle’s War-Party (Plains Ojibwa)
- 35. Porcupine and Caribou (Carrier)
- 36. Coyote Borrows Feathers (Uintah Ute)
- 37. Why Buzzard is Bald (Iowa)
- 38. The Hoodwinked Dancers (Comanche)
- 39. The Bungling Host (Southern Ute)
- 40. The Eye-Juggler (Cheyenne)
- 41. Adventures of Naniboju (Mississaga)
- 42. Adventures of Whiskey Jack (Plains Cree)
- 43. Coyote’s Amorous Adventures (Shasta)
- 44. Turtle’s Sacred War-Bundle (Iowa)
- 45. Sleeping with a Log (Iowa)
- Notes to the Tales
About the author
Tristram P. Coffin (1922-2012) was Professor of English and Folklore at the University of Pennsylvania.
