Voices of the Winds: Native American Legends

Indian legends describe the beauty of the natural world, the creation, the origin of fire, historical events, and spiritual truths

Traditional stories from 60 native cultures of North America are prefaced by brief headnotes. Sources include government documents, periodicals, histories, and field research (some conducted by Clark). Familiar (Iroquois, Abenaki, Cherokee, Cheyenne) and rarely anthologized (Wasco, Pomo, Yakut, Sanpoil) stories contain archetypical symbols of universal human experience but are arranged regionally instead of thematically, as in Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz's American Indian Myths and Legends ( LJ 11/15/84). Native American cultures value an end to isolation and the individuals's return to family and tribe, but there are some striking analogs to Western myths; one Pima story neatly parallels the Noah's ark tale. Curiosities include "She-Who-Changeth" for the more common "Changing Woman," gender-exclusive language (" . . . man first appeared . . . "), and a claim that Navajos live today in prosperity.
- Rhoda Carroll, Vermont Coll., Montpelier
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