A rich, colorful, chaotic anthology. The 160 tales collected here
come from a staggeringly varied group of tribes, from Pequod to
Pima, Hopi to Kwakiutl, Snohomish to Iroquois, Yuma to Blackfoot.
Some are taken from accounts by travelers and anthropologists; some
are told by contemporary Indians (in English or various native
tongues); some are highly traditional, some are new or personal
elaborations on old material. Erdoes (an expert on the Plains
Indians) and Ortiz (a noted Tewa anthropologist) have gathered
their harvest into ten large barns: sensible though necessarily
somewhat arbitrary categories - tales of human creation, of world
creation, of heroes and monsters, war and the warrior code, love
and lust, tricksters, etc. The range is enormous, in every
direction. An ancient Modoc story explains why grizzlies walk on
all fours (they went upright until the Chief of the Sky Spirits
cursed them for abducting his daughter), while a White River Sioux
woman reports the perfectly historical episode of the death of
Chief Roman Nose, in the Battle of Beecher's Island (1867), after
he accidentally broke his vow never to use any metal object in
eating. There are noble, almost tragic culture heroes like Hiawatha
(Onondaga) and Sweet Medicine (Northern Cheyenne), and the endless
sexual exploits of Coyote, the pan-tribal schemer and troublemaker
who is also, in a Caddo tale, the power who makes death eternal.
Two kinds of readers will have objections to this agglomeration:
scholars will find it a hodge-podge (with casual attributions such
as "Retold from various sources" and "Told in New York City"),
while beginners are likely to be overwhelmed by baffling names
(Tsitctinako, Tu-chai-pai, Huruing Wuhti, Motzeyouf) in obscure
contexts. Still, these tales have a special kind of verve, a brisk,
bawdy, down-to-the-ground flavor, casually blending the sacred and
the profane, that anyone can appreciate. A fine, fat grab-bag of
"primitive" wisdom and entertainment - though not on a literary or
scholarly level with John Bierhorst's compilations. (Kirkus
Reviews)
Gathering 160 tales from 80 tribal groups to offer a rich and lively panarama of the Native American mythic heritage. 100 drawings.
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