Category: Folktale

Zuni Creation Cycle

Zuni Creation Cycle^[1]

By Various Authors

Annotations by Ian McLaughlin

Lawrence W. Ladd. *The Creation*. Watercolor on paper, 1880, Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

The Beginning of Newness

Before the beginning of the New-making, the All-father Father alone had being. Through ages there was nothing else except black darkness.

In the beginning of the New-making, the All-father Father thought outward in space, and mists were created and up-lifted. Thus through his knowledge he made himself the Sun who was thus created and is the great Father. The dark spaces brightened with light. The cloud mists thickened and became water.

From his flesh, the Sun-father created the Seed-stuff of worlds, and he himself rested upon the waters.And these two, the Four-fold-containing Earth-mother and the All-covering Sky-father, the surpassing beings, with power of changing their forms even as smoke changes in the wind, were the father and mother of the soul beings.

Then as man and woman spoke these two together. “Behold!” said Earth-mother, as a great terraced bowl appeared at hand, and within it water, “This shall be the home of my tiny children. On the rim of each world-country in which they wander, terraced mountains shall stand, making in one region many mountains by which one country shall be known from another.”

Then she spat on the water and struck it and stirred it with her fingers. Foam gathered about the terraced rim, mounting higher and higher. Then with her warm breath she blew across the terraces. White flecks of foam broke away and floated over the water. But the cold breath of Sky-father shattered the foam and it fell downward in fine mist and spray.

Then Earth-mother spoke: “Even so shall white clouds float up from the great waters at the borders of the world, and clustering about the mountain terraces of the horizon, shall be broken and hardened by thy cold. Then will they shed downward, in rain-spray, the water of life, even into the hollow places of my lap. For in my lap shall nestle our children, man-kind and creature-kind, for warmth in thy coldness.”

So even now the trees on high mountains near the clouds and Sky-father, crouch low toward Earth mother for warmth and protection. Warm is Earth-mother, cold our Sky-father.

Then Sky-father said, “Even so. Yet I, too, will be helpful to our children.” Then he spread his hand out with the palm downward and into all the wrinkles of his hand he set the semblance of shining yellow corn-grains; in the dark of the early world-dawn they gleamed like sparks of fire.

“See,” he said, pointing to the seven grains between his thumb and four fingers, “our children shall be guided by these when the Sun-father is not near and thy terraces are as darkness itself. Then shall our children be guided by lights.” So Sky-father created the stars. Then he said, “And even as these grains gleam up from the water, so shall seed grain like them spring up from the earth when touched by water, to nourish our children.” And thus they created the seed-corn. And in many other ways they devised for their children, the soul-beings.

William Henry Holmes. *The Enchanted Mesa*. Watercolor and opaque watercolor on paper, 1927, Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

But the first children, in a cave of the earth, were unfinished. The cave was of sooty blackness, black as a chimney at night time, and foul. Loud became their murmurings and lamentations, until many sought to escape, growing wiser and more man-like.

But the earth was not then as we now see it. Then Sun-father sent down two sons (sons also of the Foam-cap), the Beloved Twain, Twin Brothers of Light, yet Elder and Younger, the Right and the Left, like to question and answer in deciding and doing. To them the Sun-father imparted his own wisdom. He gave them the great cloud-bow, and for arrows the thunderbolts of the four quarters. For buckler, they had the fog-making shield, spun and woven of the floating clouds and spray. The shield supports its bearer, as clouds are supported by the wind, yet hides its bearer also. And he gave to them the fathership and control of men and of all creatures. Then the Beloved Twain, with their great cloud-bow lifted the Sky-father into the vault of the skies, that the earth might become warm and fitter for men and creatures. Then along the sun-seeking trail, they sped to the mountains westward. With magic knives they spread open the depths of the mountain and uncovered the cave in which dwelt the unfinished men and creatures. So they dwelt with men, learning to know them, and seeking to lead them out.

Now there were growing things in the depths, like grasses and vines. So the Beloved Twain breathed on the stems, growing tall toward the light as grass is wont to do, making them stronger, and twisting them upward until they formed a great ladder by which men and creatures ascended to a second cave.

Up the ladder into the second cave-world, men and the beings crowded, following closely the Two Little but Mighty Ones. Yet many fell back and were lost in the darkness. They peopled the under-world from which they escaped in after time, amid terrible earth shakings.

In this second cave it was as dark as the night of a stormy season, but larger of space and higher. Here again men and the beings increased, and their complainings grew loud. So the Twain again increased the growth of the ladder, and again led men upward, not all at once, but in six bands, to become the fathers of the six kinds of men, the yellow, the tawny gray, the red, the white, the black, and the mingled. And this time also many were lost or left behind.

Now the third great cave was larger and lighter, like a valley in starlight. And again they increased in number. And again the Two led them out into a fourth cave. Here it was light like dawning, and men began to perceive and to learn variously, according to their natures, wherefore the Twain taught them first to seek the Sun-father.

Then as the last cave became filled and men learned to understand, the Two led them forth again into the great upper world, which is the World of Knowing Seeing.

The Men of the Early Times

Eight years was but four days and four nights when the world was new. While such days and nights continued, men were led out, in the night-shine of the World of Seeing. For even when they saw the great star, they thought it the Sun-father himself, it so burned their eye-balls.

Men and creatures were more alike then than now. Our fathers were black, like the caves they came from; their skins were cold and scaly like those of mud creatures; their eyes were goggled like an owl’s; their ears were like those of cave bats; their feet were webbed like those of walkers in wet and soft places; they had tails, long or short, as they were old or young. Men crouched when they walked, or crawled along the ground like lizards. They feared to walk straight, but crouched as before time they had in their cave worlds, that they might not stumble or fall in the uncertain light.

Anasazi sandal, yucca, 10th century AD. Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada.

When the morning star arose, they blinked excessively when they beheld its brightness and cried out that now surely the Father was coming. But it was only the elder of the Bright Ones, heralding with his shield of flame the approach of the Sun-father. And when, low down in the east, the Sun-father himself appeared, though shrouded in the mist of the world-waters, they were blinded and heated by his light and glory. They fell down wallowing and covered their eyes with their hands and arms, yet ever as they looked toward the light, they struggled toward the Sun as moths and other night creatures seek the light of a camp fire. Thus they became used to the light. But when they rose and walked straight, no longer bending, and looked upon each other, they sought to clothe themselves with girdles and garments of bark and rushes. And when by walking only upon their hinder feet they were bruised by stone and sand, they plaited sandals of yucca fibre.

The Search for the Middle and the Hardening of the World

As it was with the first men and creatures, so it was with the world. It was young and unripe. Earthquakes shook the world and rent it. Demons and monsters of the under-world fled forth. Creatures became fierce, beasts of prey, and others turned timid, becoming their quarry. Wretchedness and hunger abounded and black magic. Fear was everywhere among them, so the people, in dread of their precious possessions, became wanderers, living on the seeds of grass, eaters of dead and slain things. Yet, guided by the Beloved Twain, they sought in the light and under the pathway of the Sun, the Middle of the world, over which alone they could find the earth at rest (1). (Ed. note 1: The earth was flat and round, like a plate.)

When the tremblings grew still for a time, the people paused at the First of Sitting Places. Yet they were still poor and defenceless and unskilled, and the world still moist and unstable. Demons and monsters fled from the earth in times of shaking, and threatened wanderers.

Then the Two took counsel of each other. The Elder said the earth must be made more stable for men and the valleys where their children rested. If they sent down their fire bolts of thunder, aimed to all the four regions, the earth would heave up and down, fire would, belch over the world and burn it, floods of hot water would sweep over it, smoke would blacken the daylight, but the earth would at last be safer for men.

So the Beloved Twain let fly the thunderbolts.

Frederic Edwin Church. *Storm over Hudson Valley*. Brush and oil on canvas, 1867, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY.

The mountains shook and trembled, the plains cracked and crackled under the floods and fires, and the hollow places, the only refuge of men and creatures, grew black and awful. At last thick rain fell, putting out the fires. Then water flooded the world, cutting deep trails through the mountains, and burying or uncovering the bodies of things and beings. Where they huddled together and were blasted thus, their blood gushed forth and flowed deeply, here in rivers, there in floods, for gigantic were they. But the blood was charred and blistered and blackened by the fires into the black rocks of the lower mesas (2). (Ed. note 2: Lava) There were vast plains of dust, ashes, and cinders, reddened like the mud of the hearth place. Yet many places behind and between the mountain terraces were unharmed by the fires, and even then green grew the trees and grasses and even flowers bloomed. Then the earth became more stable, and drier, and its lone places less fearsome since monsters of prey were changed to rock.

But ever and again the earth trembled and the people were troubled.

“Let us again seek the Middle,” they said. So they travelled far eastward to their second stopping place, the Place of Bare Mountains.

Again the world rumbled, and they travelled into a country to a place called Where-tree-boles-stand-in-the-midst-of-waters. There they remained long, saying, “This is the Middle.” They built homes there. At times they met people who had gone before, and thus they learned war. And many strange things happened there, as told in speeches of the ancient talk.

Then when the earth groaned again, the Twain bade them go forth, and they murmured. Many refused and perished miserably in their own homes, as do rats in falling trees, or flies in forbidden food.

But the greater number went forward until they came to Steam-mist-in-the-midst-of-waters. And they saw the smoke of men’s hearth fires and many houses scattered over the hills before them. When they came nearer, they challenged the people rudely, demanding who they were and why there, for in their last standing-place they had had touch of war.

“We are the People of the Seed,” said the men of the hearth-fires, “born elder brothers of ye, and led of the gods.”

“No,” said our fathers, “we are led of the gods and we are the Seed People…”

Ira D. Gerald Cassidy. *Old Man of Zuni, High Priest (Cacique)*. Oil on canvas,
1924, Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Long lived the people in the town on the sunrise slope of the mountains of Kahluelawan, until the earth began to groan warningly again. Loath were they to leave the place of the Kaka and the lake of their dead. But the rumbling grew louder and the Twain Beloved called, and all together they journeyed eastward, seeking once more the Place of the Middle. But they grumbled amongst themselves, so when they came to a place of great promise, they said, “Let us stay here. Perhaps it may be the Place of the Middle.”

So they built houses there, larger and stronger than ever before, and more perfect, for they were strong in numbers and wiser, though yet unperfected as men. They called the place “The Place of Sacred Stealing.”

Long they dwelt there, happily, but growing wiser and stronger, so that, with their tails and dressed in the skins of animals, they saw they were rude and ugly.

In chase or in war, they were at a disadvantage, for they met older nations of men with whom they fought. No longer they feared the gods and monsters, but only their own kind. So therefore the gods called a council.

“Changed shall ye be, oh our children,” cried the Twain. “Ye shall walk straight in the pathways, clothed in garments, and without tails, that ye may sit more straight in council, and without webs to your feet, or talons on your hands.”

So the people were arranged in procession like dancers. And the Twain with their weapons and fires of lightning shored off the forelocks hanging down over their faces, severed the talons, and slitted the webbed fingers and toes. Sore was the wounding and loud cried the foolish, when lastly the people were arranged in procession for the razing of their tails.

But those who stood at the end of the line, shrinking farther and farther, fled in their terror, climbing trees and high places, with loud chatter. Wandering far, sleeping ever in tree tops, in the far-away Summerland, they are sometimes seen of far-walkers, long of tail and long handed, like wizened men-children.

But the people grew in strength, and became more perfect, and more than ever went to war. They grew vain. They had reached the Place of the Middle. They said, “Let us not wearily wander forth again even though the earth tremble and the Twain bid us forth.”

And even as they spoke, the mountain trembled and shook, though far-sounding.

But as the people changed, changed also were the Twain, small and misshapen, hard-favored and unyielding of will, strong of spirit, evil and bad. They taught the people to war, and led them far to the eastward.

At last the people neared, in the midst of the plains to the eastward, great towns built in the heights. Great were the fields and possessions of this people, for they knew how to command and carry the waters, bringing new soil. And this, too, without hail or rain. So our ancients, hungry with long wandering for new food, were the more greedy and often gave battle.

It was here that the Ancient Woman of the Elder People, who carried her heart in her rattle and was deathless of wounds in the body, led the enemy, crying out shrilly. So it fell out ill for our fathers. For, moreover, thunder raged and confused their warriors, rain descended and blinded them, stretching their bow strings of sinew and quenching the flight of their arrows as the flight of bees is quenched by the sprinkling plume of the honey-hunter. But they devised bow strings of yucca and the Two Little Ones sought counsel of the Sun-father who revealed the life-secret of the Ancient Woman and the magic powers over the under-fires of the dwellers of the mountains, so that our enemy in the mountain town was overmastered. And because our people found in that great town some hidden deep in the cellars, and pulled them out as rats are pulled from a hollow cedar, and found them blackened by the fumes of their war magic, yet wiser than the common people, they spared them and received them into their next of kin of the Black Corn….

But the tremblings and warnings still sounded, and the people searched for the stable Middle.

Now they called a great council of men and the beasts, birds, and insects of all kinds. After a long council it was said,

“Where is Water-skate? He has six legs, all very long. Perhaps he can feel with them to the uttermost of the six regions, and point out the very Middle.”

Illustration for “Water-Skate Finding the Center” from *Living the Sky: The Cosmos of the*
*American Indian* by R. A. Williamson, p. 66.

So Water-skate was summoned. But lo! It was the Sun-father in his likeness which appeared. And he lifted himself to the zenith and extended his fingerfeet to all the six regions, so that they touched the north, the great waters; the west, and the south, and the east, the great waters; and to the northeast the waters above, and to the southwest the waters below. But to the north his finger foot grew cold, so he drew it in. Then gradually he settled down upon the earth and said, “Where my heart rests, mark a spot, and build a town of the Mid-most, for there shall be the Mid-most Place of the Earth-mother.”

And his heart rested over the middle of the plain and valley of Zuni. And when he drew in his finger-legs, lo! there were the trail-roads leading out and in like stays of a spider’s nest, into and from the mid-most place he had covered.

Here because of their good fortune in finding the stable Middle, the priest father called the town the Abiding-place-of-happy-fortune.

various authors. “The Beginning of Newness,” “The men of the early times,” “The Search for the Middle and the Hardening of the World.” In MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST, Ed. Katharine Berry Judson. Chicago: A.C. MCCLURG & CO., 1912.

[1] These three stories constitute a history of the Earth and the Zuni people from the beginning of creation to the foundation of their pueblo.

Contexts

Creation myths, or cosmogonies, are one of the few universals. Although the how, why, where, and when of creation varies from culture to culture, they all account for the existence of the world around them. Some cultures attribute the creation of the world to one or more divine beings; others say it emanates from a source. In the case of the Zuni Creation Cycle, the story places their pueblo in the geographical Middle of the World, where the gods wish them to be.

Resources for Further Study

Zunian Lullaby is another example of Zuni oral tradition.
For more information about contemporary Zuni culture, visit the Pueblo of Zuni website.

1800s 1890s Book chapter Folktale Short Story

Tales of Anthony Van Corlaer

Tales of Anthony Van Corlaer^[1]

By Washington Irving, Charles M. Skinner

Annotations by Ian Mclaughlin

from The Knickerbocker’s History of New York^[2]

Language cannot express the awful ire of William the Testy^[3] on hearing of the catastrophe at Fort Goed Hoop^[4]. For three good hours his rage was too great for words, or rather the words were too great for him (being a very small man), and he was nearly choked by the misshapen, nine-cornered^[5] Dutch oaths and epithets which crowded at one into his gullet. At length his words found vent, and for three days he kept up a constant discharge, anathematising the Yankees, man, woman, and child, for a set of dieven, schobbejacken, deugenieten, twist-zoekeren, blaes-kakken, loosen-schalken, kakken-bedden,^[6] and a thousand other names, of which, unfortunately for posterity, history does not make mention. Finally, he swore that he would have nothing more to do with such a squatting, bundling, guessing, questioning, swapping, pumpkin-eating, molasses-daubing, shingle-splitting, cider-watering, horse-jockeying, notion-peddling crew—that they might stay at Fort Goed Hoop and rot, before he would dirty his hands by attempting to drive them away; in proof of which he ordered the new-raised troops to be marched forthwith into winter quarters, although it was not as yet quite midsummer. Great despondency now fell upon the city of New Amsterdam.^[7] It was feared that the conquerors of Fort Goed Hoop, flushed with victory and apple-brandy, might march on to the capital, take it by storm, and annex the whole province to Connecticut. The name of Yankee became as terrible among the Nieuw Nederlanders^[8] as was that of Gaul among the ancient Romans, insomuch that the good wives of the Manhattoes used it as a bugbear^[9] wherewith to frighten their unruly children.

Everybody clamored round the governor, imploring him to put the city in a complete posture of defence, and he listened to their clamors. Nobody could accuse William the Testy of being idle in time of danger, or at any other time. He was never idle, but then he was often busy to very little purpose. When a youngling he had been impressed with the words of Solomon, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard, observe her ways and be wise,”^[10] in conformity to which he had ever been of a restless, ant-like turn; hurrying hither and thither, nobody knew why or wherefore, busying himself about small matters with an air of great importance and anxiety, and toiling at a grain of mustard-seed in the full conviction that he was moving a mountain. In the present instance he called in all his inventive powers to his aid, and was continually pondering over plans, making diagrams, and worrying about with a troop of workmen and projectors at his heels. At length, after a world of consultation and contrivance, his plans of defence ended in rearing a great flag-staff in the center of the fort, and perching a windmill on each bastion.

These warlike preparations in some measure allayed the public alarm, especially after an additional means of securing the safety of the city had been suggested by the governor’s lady. It has already been hinted in this most authentic history that in the domestic establishment of William the Testy “the grey mare was the better horse;” in other words, that his wife “ruled the roast,” and, in governing the governor, governed the province, which might thus be said to be under petticoat government.

Bugle – from 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

Now it came to pass that this time there lived in the Manhattoes a jolly, robustious trumpeter, named Anthony Van Corlear, famous for his long wind; and who, as the story goes, could twang so potently upon his instrument that the effect upon all within hearing was like that ascribed to the Scotch bagpipe when it sings right lustily i’ the nose.

This sounder of brass was moreover a lusty^[11] bachelor, with a pleasant, burly visage, a long nose, and huge whiskers. He had his little bowery, or retreat in the country, where he led a roystering life, giving dances to the wives and daughters of the burghers of the Manhattoes, insomuch that he became a prodigious favorite with all the women, young and old. He is said to have been the first to collect that famous toll levied on the fair sex at Kissing Bridge,^[12] on the highway to Hell-gate.^[13]

To this sturdy bachelor the eyes of all the women were turned in this time of darkness and peril, as the very man to second and carry out the plans of defence of the governor. A kind of petticoat council was forthwith held at the government house, at which the governor’s lady presided: and this lady, as has been hinted, being all potent with the governor, the result of these councils was the elevation of Anthony the Trumpeter to the post of commandant of windmills and champion of New Amsterdam.

The city being thus fortified and garrisoned, it would have done one’s heart good to see the governor snapping his fingers and fidgeting with delight, as the trumpeter strutted up and down the ramparts twanging defiance to the whole Yankee race, as does a modern editor to all the principalities and powers on the other side of the Atlantic. In the hands of Anthony Van Corlear this windy instrument appeared to him as potent as the horn of the paladin Astolpho,^[14] or even the more classic horn of Alecto;^[15] nay, he had almost the temerity to compare it with the rams’ horns celebrated in Holy Writ, at the very sound of which the walls of Jericho fell down.^[16]

Be all this as it may, the apprehensions of hostilities from the east gradually died away. The Yankees made no further invasion; nay, they declared they had only taken possession of Fort Goed Hoop as being erected within their territories. So far from manifesting hostility, they continued to throng to New Amsterdam with the most innocent countenances imaginable, filling the market with their notions, being as ready to trade with the Netherlands as ever, and not a whit more prone^[17] to get to the windward of them in a bargain.

The old wives of the Manhattoes who took tea with the governor’s lady attributed all this affected moderation to the awe inspired by the military preparations of the governor, and the windy prowess of Anthony the Trumpeter.

“Anthony’s Nose” from Myths and Legends of Our Own Land^[18]

The Hudson Highlands are suggestively named Bear Mountain, Sugar Loaf, Cro’ Nest, Storm King, called by the Dutch Boterberg, or Butter Hill, from its likeness to a pat of butter; Beacon Hill, where the fires blazed to tell the country that the Revolutionary war was over; Dunderberg, Mount Taurus, so called because a wild bull that had terrorized the Highlands was chased out of his haunts on this height, and was killed by falling from a cliff on an eminence to the northward, known, in consequence, as Breakneck Hill. These, with Anthony’s Nose, are the principal points of interest in the lovely and impressive panorama that unfolds before the view as the boats fly onward.^[19]

Concerning the last-named elevation, the aquiline^[20] promontory that abuts on the Hudson opposite Dunderberg, it takes title from no resemblance to the human feature, but is so named because Anthony Van Corlaer, the trumpeter, who afterwards left a reason for calling the upper boundary of Manhattan Island Spuyten Duyvil Creek, killed the first sturgeon^[21] ever eaten at the foot of this mountain. It happened in this wise: By assiduous devotion to keg and flagon Anthony had begotten a nose that was the wonder and admiration of all who knew it, for its size was prodigious; in color it rivalled the carbuncle, and it shone like polished copper.^[22]As Anthony was lounging over the quarter of Peter Stuyvesant’s galley one summer morning this nose caught a ray from the sun and reflected it hissing into the water, where it killed a sturgeon that was rising beside the vessel. The fish was pulled aboard, eaten, and declared good, though the singed place savored of brimstone, and in commemoration of the event Stuyvesant dubbed the mountain that rose above his vessel Anthony’s Nose.

“Why Spuyten Duyvil is so Named” from Myths and Legends of Our Own Land^[18]

The tide-water creek that forms the upper boundary of Manhattan Island is known to dwellers in tenements round about as “Spittin’ Divvle.” The proper name of it is Spuyten Duyvil, and this, in turn, is the compression of a celebrated boast by Anthony Van Corlaer. This redoubtable gentleman, famous for fat, long wind, and long whiskers, was trumpeter for the garrison at New Amsterdam, which his countrymen had just bought for twenty-four dollars, and he sounded the brass so sturdily that in the fight between the Dutch and Indians at the Dey Street peach orchard^[23] his blasts struck more terror into the red men’s hearts than did the matchlocks of his comrades. William the Testy vowed that Anthony and his trumpet were garrison enough for all Manhattan Island, for he argued that no regiment of Yankees would approach near enough to be struck with lasting deafness, as must have happened if they came when Anthony was awake.

Peter Stuyvesant-Peter the Headstrong^[24]—showed his appreciation of Anthony’s worth by making him his esquire,^[25] and when he got news of an English expedition on its way to seize his unoffending colony, he at once ordered Anthony to rouse the villages along the Hudson with a trumpet call to war. The esquire took a hurried leave of six or eight ladies, each of whom delighted to believe that his affections were lavished on her alone, and bravely started northward, his trumpet hanging on one side, a stone bottle, much heavier, depending from the other. It was a stormy evening when he arrived at the upper end of the island, and there was no ferryman in sight, so, after fuming up and down the shore, he swallowed a mighty draught of Dutch courage,^[26]—for he was as accomplished a performer on the horn^[27] as on the trumpet,—and swore with ornate and voluminous oaths that he would swim the stream “in spite of the devil” [En spuyt den Duyvil].

He plunged in, and had gone half-way across when the Evil One, not to be spited, appeared as a huge moss-bunker,^[28] vomiting boiling water and lashing a fiery tail. This dreadful fish seized Anthony by the leg; but the trumpeter was game, for, raising his instrument to his lips, he exhaled his last breath through it in a defiant blast that rang through the woods for miles and made the devil himself let go for a moment. Then he was dragged below, his nose shining through the water more and more faintly, until, at last, all sight of him was lost. The failure of his mission resulted in the downfall of the Dutch in America, for, soon after, the English won a bloodless victory, and St. George’s cross^[29] flaunted from the ramparts where Anthony had so often saluted the setting sun. But it was years, even then, before he was hushed, for in stormy weather it was claimed that the shrill of his trumpet could be heard near the creek that he had named, sounding above the deeper roar of the blast.

Irving, Washington. Knickerbocker’s History of New York. The Knickerbocker’s History of New York by washington Irving. Chicago: w.b. Conkey Company., 1809. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13042/13042-h/13042-h.htm.

Skinner, Charles M. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF Our Own Lands. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF Our Own LAnds by Charles M. Skinner. Philadelphia: j.b. lippencott company., 1896. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6615/6615-h/6615-h.htm.

[1] Also spelled Van Corlear

[2] The Knickerbocker’s History of New York, also published under the title A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker, is a satirical history by Washington Irving. Started as a “burlesque”, or parody, of epic poetry and the historiographical style, the work became more serious as the author proceeded.

[3] A Federalist satire of Thomas Jefferson

[4] The incident of Fort Goed Hoop (Good Hope), a humorous tale involving onion farming, is related earlier in The Knickerbocker’s History.

[5] Possibly a reference to a regular nonagon, a nine-cornered shape which is impossible to draw with only a compass and straight-edge. If so, it would mean indecipherable and overly complex.

[6] These words are all Dutch (or pseudo-Dutch in the case of “loosen” to mean loose) and they mean ‘thieves’, ‘scum’, ‘rascals’, ‘twist-seeking’ (up to chicanery), ‘bladders’, ‘loose rogues’, and either ‘people who poop in their beds’ or ‘people who have poop for beds’, respectively.

[7] modern-day New York City. (OED)

[8] Dutch name for people who lived in the “New Netherlands”, portions of present day New England.

[9] an object of fear or dread. a boogieman. (OED)

[10] Proverbs 6:6 KJV.

[11] merry; joyous.

[12] The bridge here mentioned by Mr. Knickerbocker still exists; but it is said that the toll is seldom collected nowadays excepting on sleighing parties, by the descendants of the patriarchs, who still preserve the traditions of the city. (Irving)

There are at least two structures known as “Kissing Bridge” in New York City.
(Justo, Patrick D. “Libidinous New York.” New York, vol. 39, no. 6, Feb 20, 2006, pp. 16.)

[13] Hell Gate is a bridge in New York City that spans the east river between Randal’s Island and Brooklyn, near Riker’s Island.

[14] A fictional paladin of Charlemagne in the Carolingian Cycle. His horn was so loud it sent enemies fleeing in terror (Orlando Furioso Canto 15 LIV).

[15] One of the Erinyes, whose blast on a shepherd’s horn affects nature in the Iliad (Book VII Chapter 22).

[16] Joshua 6:1–27

[17] Not at all more likely (OED)

[18] Myths and Legends of Our Own Land is an anthology of American myths and folklore, including excerpts from the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, as well as records, histories, newspapers, magazines, and oral narrative.

[19] These mountains are all part of Hudson Highlands State Park.

[20] Aquiline: resembling an eagle; when applied to the nose, hooked or Roman

[21] A large fish, weighing up to 300 pounds. Mentioned in Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha.

[22] Rhinophyma, Greek for ‘nose growth’ is a symptom of advanced rosacea. Known as ‘alcoholic’s nose’ it was once believed to be caused by drinking.

[23] The ‘Peach War‘ is mentioned in The Knickerbocker’s History, though Anthony Van Corlaer is not mentioned in that version of the tale.

[24] Peter Stuyvesant (1592-1672) was the last director-general of all Dutch possessions in the Caribbean and North America. In August 1664, he was forced to surrender the colony of New Netherlands to the English.

[25] a landowner or nobleman. (OED)

[26] Bravery induced by drinking. (OED)

[27] drinking horn

[28] A borrowing from Dutch marsbanker, The Atlantic menhaden, a silvery fish that typically grows to 15 inches long (OED), now believed to be a bull shark.

[29] A red cross on a white background, the cross consisting of an upright and a horizontal bar crossing each other in the center; a flag bearing this cross; frequently as a symbol of England or Englishness. (OED)

Contexts

While it is unclear if Anthony Van Corlaer was a real person, Spuyten Duyvil is a real place. It is a neighborhood of the Bronks, south of Riverdale and north of Harlem. Van Corlaer is widely believed to be the source of this name by New Yorkers, though, aside from the stories above, there is very little evidence of his existence.

Resources for Further Study

“The Last Blast of Anthony the Trumpeter or The Origin of the name of “Spuyten Tyfel Creek”” contains another version of the third story.

Pedagogy

These stories tie in with so many literary modes and tools, as well as historical events that they are a goldmine for teachers. The mythological allusions in Knickerbockers History, pairing Spyuten Duyvil and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979) by the Charlie Daniels Band, and the historical aspects of Dutch colonies or shark attacks in the United States would each make solid lesson plans on their own.

Contemporary Connections

In 2002, Ed Boland Jr. mentioned Anthony Van Corlaer as the source of the name Spuyten Duyvil in his New York Times question and answer column F.Y.I.

1910s Folktale Native American Short Story Wild animals

Buffalo Tales of the Great Plains

Collected by Katherine Berry Judson

Annotations by Ian McLAughlin/JB

George Catlin. *Stalking Buffalo, Arkansas*. Oil on canvas, c. 1846-48, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

ORIGIN OF THE BUFFALO (Teton) [1]

In the days of the grandfathers, buffaloes lived under the earth. In the olden times, they say, a man who was journeying came to a hill where there were many holes in the ground. He entered one of them. When he had gone inside he found buffalo chips and buffalo tracks on all sides. He found also buffalo hairs where the buffaloes had rubbed against the walls. These were the real buffaloes and they lived under the ground. Afterwards some of them came to the surface of the earth and lived there. Then the herds on the earth increased.

These buffaloes had many lodges and there they raised their children. They did many strange things. Therefore when a man escapes being wounded by an enemy, people say he has seen the buffaloes in his dreams, and they have helped him.

Men who dream of the buffaloes act like them and dance the buffalo-bull dance. Then the man who acts the buffalo has a real buffalo inside of him, people say, a little hard ball near the shoulder blade; and therefore he is very hard to kill. No matter how often he is wounded, he does not die.

People know that the buffaloes live in earth lodges; so they never dance the buffalo dance vainly.

THE BUFFALO AND THE GRIZZLY BEAR (Omaha)

Grizzly Bear was going somewhere, following the course of a stream, and at last he went straight towards the headland. When he got in sight, Buffalo Bull was standing beneath it. Grizzly Bear retraced his steps, going again to the stream, following its course until he got beyond the headland.Then he drew near and peeped. He saw that Buffalo Bull was very lean, and standing with his head bowed, as if sluggish.

So Grizzly Bear crawled up close to him, made a rush, seized him by the hair of his head, and pulled down his head. He turned Buffalo Bull round and round, shaking him now and then, saying, “Speak! Speak! I have been coming to this place a long time, and they say you have threatened to fight me. Speak!” Then he hit Buffalo Bull on the nose with his open pa

“Why!” said Buffalo Bull, “I have never threatened to fight you, who have been coming to this country so long.”

“Not so! You have threatened to fight me.” Letting go the buffalo’s head, Grizzly Bear went around and seized him by the tail, turning him round and round. Then he left, but as he did so, he gave him a hard blow with his open paw.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! you have caused me great pain,” said Buffalo Bull. Bobtailed Grizzly Bear departed.

Buffalo Bull thought thus: “Attack him! You too have been just that sort of a person.”

Grizzly Bear knew what he was thinking, so he said, “Why! what are you saying?”

“I said nothing,” said Buffalo Bull.

Then Grizzly Bear came back. He seized Buffalo Bull by the tail, pulling him round and round. Then he seized him by the horns, pulling his head round and round. Then he seized him again by the tail and hit him again with the open paw. Again Grizzly Bear departed. And again Buffalo Bull thought as he had done before. Then Grizzly Bear came back and treated Buffalo Bull as he had before.

Buffalo Bull stepped backward, throwing his tail into the air.

“Why! Do not flee,” said Grizzly Bear.

John and Karen Hollingsworth. *American Bison*. Photograph, 1997, Digital Public Library of America.

Buffalo threw himself down, and rolled over and over. Then he continued backing, pawing the ground.

“Why! I say, do not flee,” said Grizzly Bear. When Buffalo Bull backed, making ready to attack him, Grizzly Bear thought he was scared.

Then Buffalo Bull ran towards Grizzly, puffing a great deal. When he neared him, he rushed on him. He sent Grizzly Bear flying through the air.

As Grizzly Bear came down towards the earth, Buffalo Bull caught him on his horns and threw him into the air again. When Grizzly Bear fell and lay on the ground, Buffalo Bull made at him with his horns to gore him, but just missed him. Grizzly Bear crawled away slowly, with Buffalo Bull following him step by step, thrusting at him now and then, though without striking him. When Grizzly Bear came to a cliff, he plunged over headlong, and landed in a thicket at the foot. Buffalo Bull had run so fast he could not stop at the edge where Grizzly Bear went over, but followed the cliff for some distance. Then he came back and stood with his tail partly raised. Grizzly Bear returned to the bank and peeped.

“Oh, Buffalo Bull,” said Grizzly Bear. “Let us be friends. We are very much alike in disposition.”

MY FIRST BUFFALO HUNT (Omaha)^[2]

Julian Martinez. *Buffalo Hunter*. Watercolor, ink, and pencil on paperboard, c. 1920-1925,
Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

I went three times on the buffalo hunt. When I was there the first time, I was small; therefore, I did not shoot the buffaloes. But I used to take care of the pack horses for those who surrounded the herd. When they surrounded the herd at the very first, I spoke of shooting at the buffaloes. But my father said, “Perhaps the horse might throw you suddenly, and then the buffalo might gore you.” And I was in a bad humor.

My father went with me to the hill. We sat and looked on them when they attacked the buffaloes. And notwithstanding my father talked to me, I continued there without talking to him. At length one man was coming directly toward the tents in pursuit of a buffalo bull. And the buffalo bull was savage. He attacked the man now and then.

“Come! Go thither,” said my father. I tied a lariat on a large red mare that was very tall. And taking a very light gun which my father had, I went over there. When I arrived the buffalo bull was standing motionless. The man said he was very glad that I had come. The buffalo bull was savage. The man shot suddenly at him with a bow and wounded him on the back. And then he attacked us. The horse on which I was seated leaped very far four times, and had gone off, throwing me suddenly. When the buffalo bull had come very close, he wheeled around and departed. So I failed to shoot at him before he went. I reached home just as my mother was scolding my father about me. When the horse reached home with the bridle sticking to it, she knew that I had been thrown. My father said nothing at all, but sat laughing. Addressing me, he said, “Did you kill the buffalo bull?” And I did not speak.

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “Origin of the buffalo,” in MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF the great plains, 53-54. A. C. McClurg & co., 1913.**

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “the buffalo and the grizzly bear,” IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 68-70.**

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “My first buffalo hunt,” IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 71-72.**

[2] “The author, Frank La Flèche, an Omaha Indian, was about twelve years old when this occurred” (ed. footnote).

Contexts

Mistakenly called buffalo, the American Bison once roamed across North America in large numbers. Though we may never know how many bison were alive at their peak, experts believe they once numbered between 30 and 75 million. By 1800, the herds east of the Mississippi were killed off. By 1838, many herds in the northern and southern portions of the Great Plains were destroyed. There were only 300 wild bison by the turn of the 20th century. In 1894, Congress passed a law making it illegal to hunt bison in Yellowstone National Park. Twenty-one bison were purchased in 1902 to rebuild the Yellowstone herd. In 2019, the Yellowstone herd numbered nearly 5,000, and there were nearly 40,000 bison across North America.

The American bison is culturally important to the Native American tribes of the Great Plains region, including the Teton and Omaha tribes, from whom these stories were collected. The overhunting of the buffalo since the arrival of Europeans has had systemic effects on the land and the Native peoples.

Resources for Further Study

The full text of Judson’s collection is available on Project Gutenberg.
“The Sacred Hoop: A Contemporary Perspective on Native American Literature” from The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paula Gunn Allen is a great essay on how to read Native Literature as a non-Native.
The National Park Service has information on the Yellowstone herd and bison conservation, as does Bison Range Restoration, which is in the process of transitioning oversight of the National Bison Range from U.S. Fish and Wildlife to resource managers from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CKST).

Ryan Hagerty. *Bison on the National Bison Range.* Photograph, 2003, Digital Public Library of America.

Contemporary Connections

There are several works of fiction regarding the Native American connection to the American Bison:

Buffalo Dreams by Kim Doner links the traditional connection to buffalo to the present day.
Buffalo Song by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki) is a buffalo history: how they came to be, why they were almost killed off, and how Great Plains Natives still see them as sacred.
The Buffalo Jump by Peter Roop describes a traditional method for hunting buffalo.

[1] Judson includes the tribal origins of each tale with the title.

1920s Folktale

Epaminondas

Epaminondas^[1]

By Sarah Withers

Annotations by Ian McLAughlin

Detail from Title Page of Epaminondas and His Auntie

Epaminondas had a good kind granny^[2], who worked at “the big house.”^[3] Epaminondas liked to go to see her, for she always gave him something to take home with him.

One day when Epaminondas went to see granny, she was baking a cake, and she gave Epaminondas a piece to eat.^[4] As he was leaving, granny said, “Epaminondas, you may take a slice home to your mammy.”

Epaminondas took it in his little hands and squeezing it just a s tight as he could, ran all the way home. When his mammy saw him, she said, “What’s that, Epaminondas?”

“Cake, mammy. Granny sent it to you.”

“Cake!” cried his mammy. “Epaminondas don’t you know that’s no way to carry cake? When your granny gives you cake, put it in your hat; then put your hat on your head and come home. You hear me, Epaminondas?”^[5]

“Yes, mammy.”

The next time Epaminondas went to see his granny, she was churning, and she gave him a pat of fresh butter to carry his mammy.

Epaminondas said to himself, “What was it mammy said? Oh, yes! I know. She said, ‘Put it in your hat and put the hat on your head and come home.’ I’ll do just what she told me.”

Epaminondas put the pat of butter in his hat, put his had on his head, and went home. It was a hot day, and soon the butter began to melt. Drip, drip, drip, it went into his ears. Drip, drip, drip, it went into his eyes. Drip, drip, drip, it went down his back. When Epaminondas reached home, he had no butter in his hat. It was all on him.

Epaminondas Brings the Butter Home – from Archemdis’s Blog

Looking at him hard, his mammy said, “Epaminondas, what in the world is that dripping from your hat?”

“Butter, mammy. Granny sent it to you.”

“Butter!” cried his mammy. “Oh, Epaminondas! Don’t you know how to carry butter? You must wrap it in a cabbage leaf, and take it to the spring. Then you must cool it in the water, and cool it in the water, and cool it in the water. When you have done this, take the butter in your hands and come home. You hear me, Epaminondas?”

“Yes, mammy.”

The next time Epaminondas went to see his granny, she wasn’t baking cake and she wasn’t churning. She was sitting in a chair knitting.

She said, “Epaminondas, look in the wood shed, and you’ll see something you like.”

Epaminondas looked in the woodshed, and there he found four little puppies.^[6] He played with them all the afternoon, and when he started home, his granny gave him one.

Epaminondas Gets a Puppy – from Archemdis’s Blog

Epaminondas remembered what his mammy had told him. He wrapped the puppy in a big cabbage leaf, and took it to the spring. He cooled it in the water, and cooled it in the water, and cooled it in the water. Then he took it in his hands, and went home.

When his mammy saw him, she said, “Epaminondas, what is that in your hands?”

“A puppy dog, mammy.”

“A puppy dog!” cried his mammy. “Oh, Epaminondas! What makes you act so foolish? That’s no way to carry a puppy. The way to carry a puppy is to tie a string around his neck and put him on the ground. Then you take the other end of the string in your hand and come along home. You hear me, Epaminondas?”

“Yes, mammy.”

Epaminondas was going to be right the next time; he got a piece of string and put it in his pocket to have it ready.

The next day company came to see Epaminondas’s mammy, and she had no bread^[7] for dinner. She called Epaminondas and said, “Run to ‘the big house’ and ask your granny to send me a loaf of bread for dinner.”

“Yes, mammy,” said Epaminondas. And off he ran.

Granny gave him a loaf just from the oven—a nice, brown, crusty loaf. This time Epaminondas was certainly going to do what mammy had told him.

He proudly got out his string and tied it to the loaf. Then he put the loaf on the ground, and talking the other end of the string in his hand, he went along home.

When he reached home, his mammy gave one look at thing tied to the end of the string.

“What have your brought, Epaminondas?” she cried.

“Bread, mammy. Granny sent it to you.”

“Oh, Epaminondas! Epaminondas! How could you be so foolish?” cried his mammy. “Now I have no bread for dinner. I’ll have to go and get some myself.”

She went into the house and got her bonnet. When she came out, she said, “Epaminondas, do you see those three mince pies I’ve put on the doorstep to cool. Well, now, you hear me, Epaminondas. You be careful how you step on those pies!”

“Yes, mammy.”

His mammy went off down the road; Epaminondas went to the door and looked out. “Mammy told me to be careful how I step on those mince pies,” he said, “so I must be careful how I do it. I’ll step right in the middle of every one.”^[8]

And he did!

When his mammy came home, there were no pies for dinner.

Now she was angry all over, and something happened. I don’t know, and you don’t know, but we can guess.

Poor Epaminondas!

Withers, Sarah. The Child’s World: First-[third] Reader. Richmond, Va.: Johnson publishing house, 1920. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044081502759?urlappend=%3Bseq=69.

[1] Sometimes modernized to ‘Pandimondas’, the eponymous character of this story is named after a Greek statesman and tactician. It was common in the Jim Crow era to mockingly give Black characters the names of famous white people.

[2] In some versions, “auntie”

[3] The Master’s house. Omitted in some versions.

[4] In modern versions a penny or dollar

[5] Some versions include “You ain’t got the sense you were born with!”

[6] In some versions, “kittens”, saying he only got to cool them once.

[7] In some versions, “ham”.

[8] Some versions prescribe reading this last phrase slowly and deliberately, imitating his steps.

Contexts

The first written version of “Epaminondas” was published in 1911 by Buccaneer Books, but it already had a long tradition as an oral story of the American South. Nonsense stories like this one can be found in many cultures. ‘Lazy Jack’ in British folklore, Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘Big Claus’, and the Brothers Grimm’s ‘Clever Alice’ are all examples of characters that come from such tales. The issue with Epaminondas is in the historical context. This version of the story was published in 1920, during the Jim Crow era in the American South. As in many such stories, the lesson, humor, and plot come from the incredible foolishness of the main character. In the Jim Crow South, “Epaminondas” and other nonsense tales featuring Black characters, called “noodlehead” stories, were used to infantilize and denigrate former slaves and their descendants. This aspect of the story, along with the caricaturish illustrations, helped to keep racism ingrained in Southern culture, as well as the broader American culture.

Resources for Further Study

The articles below are an example of the ongoing conversation on the place of stories like “Epaminondas” in our culture.

The Black Experience in Children’s Fiction: Controversies Surrounding Award Winning Books by Joel Taxel
Children’s Literature and the Sociology of School Knowledge: Can This Marriage Be Saved? by Johan Lyall Aitken
Children’s Literature: Ideology and Response by Joel Taxel

Pedagogy

Using this story in a classroom setting is problematic because of the historical context of the story. However, if you are working with older students or in a one-on-one/small group setting, it can lead to a good discussion about representation, fairness, and bias.

Contemporary Connections

Epossumondas by Coleen Salley
“Some Suggestions For The Story-teller” from Stories to Tell Children by Sara Cone Bryant talks about the pedagogical usefulness of “Epaminondas” and similar stories.
“Understanding the Book Epaminondas and His Auntie” by David Pilgrim from the Ferris State University Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia website speaks to the social implications of Epaminondas and presents an alternate version of the story.

1910s Birds Folktale Native American

The Boy Who Became A God

Collected by Katharine Berry Judson

Annotations by Ian McLaughlin

Plate CXXI. SECOND SAND PAINTING – from Ceremonial OF Hasjelti Dailjis and
Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians by James Stevenson (2006)^[1]

Navajo^[1](New Mexico)

The Tolchini,^[3] a clan of the Navajos,^[4] lived at Wind Mountains.^[5]One of them used to take long visits into the country. His brothers thought he was crazy. The first time on his return, he brought with him a pine bough; the second time, corn. Each time he returned he brought something new and had a strange story to tell. His brothers said: “He is crazy. He does not know what he is talking about.”

Now the Tolchini left Wind Mountains and went to a rocky foothill east of the San Mateo Mountain. They had nothing to eat but seed grass. The eldest brother said, “Let us go hunting,” but they told the youngest brother not to leave camp. But five days and five nights passed, and there was no word. So he followed them.

After a day’s travel he camped near a canon, in a cavelike place. There was much snow but no water so he made a fire and heated a rock, and made a hole in the ground. The hot rock heated the snow and gave him water to drink. Just then he heard a tumult over his head, like people passing. He went out to see what made the noise and saw many crows crossing back and forth over the canon. This was the home of the crow, but there were other feathered people there, and the chaparral cock^[6]. He saw many fires made by the crows on each side of the caeon(sic). Two crows flew down near him and the youth listened to hear what was the matter.

The two crows cried out, “Somebody says. Somebody says.”

The youth did not know what to make of this.

A crow on the opposite side called out, “What is the matter? Tell us! Tell us! What is wrong?”

The first two cried out, “Two of us got killed. We met two of our men who told us.”

Then they told the crows how two men who were out hunting killed twelve deer, and a party of the Crow People went to the deer after they were shot. They said, “Two of us who went after the blood of the deer were shot.”

The crows on the other side of the caeon (sic) called, “Which men got killed?”

“The chaparral cock, who sat on the horn of the deer, and the crow who sat on its backbone.”

The others called out, “We are not surprised they were killed. That is what we tell you all the time. If you go after dead deer you must expect to be killed.”

“We will not think of them longer,” so the two crows replied. “They are dead and gone. We are talking of things of long ago.”^[7]

But the youth sat quietly below and listened to everything that was said.

After a while the crows on the other side of the canon made a great noise and began to dance. They had many songs at that time. The youth listened all the time. After the dance a great fire was made and he could see black objects moving, but he could not distinguish any people. He recognized the voice of Hasjelti.^[8] He remembered everything in his heart. He even remembered the words of the songs that continued all night. He remembered every word of every song. He said to himself, “I will listen until daylight.”

The Crow People did not remain on the side of the canon where the fires were first built. They crossed and recrossed the canon in their dance. They danced back and forth until daylight. Then all the crows and the other birds flew away to the west. All that was left was the fires and the smoke.

Then the youth started for his brothers’ camp. They saw him coming. They said, “He will have lots of stories to tell. He will say he saw something no one ever saw.”

But the brother-in-law who was with them said, “Let him alone. When he comes into camp he will tell us all. I believe these things do happen for he could not make up these things all the time.”

Now the camp was surrounded by pinon brush and a large fire was burning in the centre. There was much meat roasting over the fire. When the youth reached the camp, he raked over the coals and said. “I feel cold.”

Brother-in-law replied, “It is cold. When people camp together, they tell stories to one another in the morning. We have told ours, now you tell yours.”

The youth said, “Where I stopped last night was the worst camp I ever had.” The brothers paid no attention but the brother-in-law listened.

The youth said, “I never heard such a noise.” Then he told his story. Brother-in-law asked what kind of people made the noise.

The youth said, “I do not know. They were strange people to me, but they danced all night back and forth across the canon and I heard them say my brothers killed twelve deer and afterwards killed two of their people who went for the blood of the deer. I heard them say, ‘That is what must be expected. If you go to such places, you must expect to be killed.'”

The elder brother began thinking. He said, “How many deer did you say were killed?”

“Twelve.”

Elder brother said, “I never believed you before, but this story I do believe. How do you find out all these things? What is the matter with you that you know them?”

The boy said, “I do not know. They come into my mind and to my eyes.”

Then they started homeward, carrying the meat. The youth helped them.

As they were descending a mesa, they sat down on the edge to rest. Far down the mesa were four mountain sheep. The brothers told the youth to kill one.

The youth hid in the sage brush and when the sheep came directly toward him, he aimed his arrow at them. But his arm stiffened and became dead. The sheep passed by.

He headed them off again by hiding in the stalks of a large yucca. The sheep passed within five steps of him, but again his arm stiffened as he drew the bow.

Plate CXV. CEREMONIAL MASKS. – from Ceremonial OF Hasjelti Dailjis and
Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians by James Stevenson (2006)^[9]

He followed the sheep and got ahead of them and hid behind a birch tree in bloom. He had his bow ready, but as they neared him they became gods. The first was Hasjelti, the second was Hostjoghon,^[10] the third Naaskiddi,^[11] and the fourth Hadatchishi.^[12] Then the youth fell senseless to the ground.

Figure of a Man – from Ceremonial OF Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians by James Stevenson (2006)

The four gods stood one on each side of him,^[13] each with a rattle.^[14] They traced with their rattles in the sand the figure of a man, drawing lines at his head and feet. Then the youth recovered and the gods again became sheep. They said, “Why did you try to shoot us? You see you are one of us.” For the youth had become a sheep.

The gods said, “There is to be a dance, far off to the north beyond the Ute Mountain. We want you to go with us. We will dress you like ourselves and teach you to dance. Then we will wander over the world.”

Now the brothers watched from the top of the mesa but they could not see what the trouble was. They saw the youth lying on the ground, but when they reached the place, all the sheep were gone. They began crying, saying, “For a long time we would not believe him, and now he has gone off with the sheep.”

They tried to head off the sheep, but failed. They said, “If we had believed him, he would not have gone off with the sheep. But perhaps some day we will see him again.”

At the dance, the five sheep found seven others. This made their number twelve. They journeyed all around the world. All people let them see their dances and learn their songs. Then the eleven talked together and said,

“There is no use keeping this youth with us longer. He has learned everything. He may as well go back to his people and teach them to do as we do.”

So the youth was taught to have twelve in the dance, six gods and six goddesses, with Hasjelti to lead them. He was told to have his people make masks to represent the gods.

So the youth returned to his brothers, carrying with him all songs, all medicines, and clothing.

JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST BY VARIOUS. PLACE OF PUBLICATION NOT IDENTIFIED: A.C. MCCLURG & CO., 1912. HTTPS://WWW.GUTENBERG.ORG/FILES/2503/2503-H/2503-H.HTM#LINK2H_4_0057.

[1] This image depicts all Diné deities that appear in this story. A more complete description is above the picture in the original.

[2] The proper name for this tribe is Diné. The name Navajo comes from a Spanish adaptation of the Tewa Pueblo word navahu’u, meaning “fields adjoining an arroyo.” (OED)

[3] Likely an attempted spelling of Tódich’ii’nii (Bitter Water clan)

[4] Every Navajo belongs to four clans, the first is from the mother, the second from the father, the third is from the maternal grandfather and the fourth is from the paternal grandfather. These clans are used to define complex familial and social relationships.

[5] Likely a reference to the Four Sacred Mountains that define the traditional Diné homeland.

[6] Roadrunner (OED)

[7] Diné customs regarding death are complex.

[8] Likely an attempted spelling of Haashchʼééłtiʼí, the Talking God.

[10] Mask 5 represents Haashchʼééłtiʼí (Hasjelti). Mask 6 represents Haashchʼééʼooghaan (Hostjoghon).

[11] Likely an attempted spelling of Haashchʼééʼooghaan, the Calling God.

[12] I could find little information on this/these deity(s). In 2006, James Stevenson wrote, “The Naaskiddi are hunchbacks; they have clouds upon their backs, in which seeds of all vegetation are held.” They are depicted in sand paintings as carrying staffs of lightning.

[13] It is unclear which deity is referenced here. I could only find this spelling in other versions of this story.

[14] Some tellings state where each deity stood for this ritual.

[15] Ceremonial rattles are integral in Diné rituals.

Contexts

Stories such as this one were nearly lost due to the widespread use of residential schools to educate young Native Americans. These schools banned the use of their first language, stories from their culture, and traditional clothing- and hairstyles. These schools, like The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, were based on the philosophy of “Kill the Indian, save the man“.

Because of these schools, a whole generation lost much of their cultural identity, through the language, art, and stories of their people.

Resources for Further Study

“The Sacred Hoop: A Contemporary Perspective on Native American Literature” from The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paula Gunn Allen is a great essay on how to read Native Literature as a non-Native.
“Ceremonial of Hasjelti Daljis and Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians” by James Stevenson provides interesting insights and observations into Navajo ceremonies and deities.
“Mortuary Customs of the Navajo Indians” by R. W. Shuffeldt gives an account of the complexity of death in Diné culture.
“Diné-Anaasází Relations, Clans, and Ethnogenesis” from A Diné History of Navajoland by Klara Kelley and Harris Francis gives a more in-depth view of the Diné clan system.
“Collaboration and Indian Education: Exploring Intergovernmental Partnerships between Tribes and Public Schools” by Thaddieus W. Conner looks at the impact of residential schools.

Pedagogy

This story lends itself to comparative reading of similar stories from other cultures. For instance, the bringing of knowledge and civilization bears resemblance to the myth of Prometheus and the idea of a mortal becomeing a god is similar to the story of Heracles/Hercules.

Contemporary Connections

This story has interesting similarities to the story of Joseph from Genesis 37 & 39-47.
The clan system is still important to contemporary Diné.
The Four Sacred Mountains continue to saturate Navajo culture.

1920s Birds Education Folktale Native American Short Story

The Raven and The Fish Hawk

By Chief William Shelton/Wha-Cah-Dub (Snohomish)[1]

Annotations by Jessica cory

Original yellowish cover depicting a Native man in traditional dress (including war bonnet) holding a flag (maybe a U.S. flag?). Beneath him are the words "The Story of the Totem Pole or Indian Legends by William Shelton." — Original cover for the 1923 publication.

On the banks of a beautiful river lived a Raven and a Fish-Hawk and as they were neighbors they were very friendly and congenial. Now, as winter drew near and the fish in the river became scarce and food of all kinds was very
difficult to find, they began to experience some rather hard times. The fish-hawk was noted for his skill in fishing and he was also known for his honesty and truthfulness throughout the country, while on the other hand, the raven was unskilled and poor and a great deceiver. This the Fish-Hawk did not know and he always believed that his neighbor, the Raven, was a very good man.

The winter became even more severe and the Raven found very little food indeed, in fact, he was very nearly starving to death. The Fish-Hawk, however, did not fare quite so badly for although the fish in the river were scarce he managed to get enough to keep him comfortably in food. He would climb a tree one limb of which overhung the river and then would let himself fall down on the ice, breaking through it and so enabling him to get at the fish. It required great skill to do this stunt, but then we know that the Fish-Hawk was very skillful.

Chief Shelton, his wife, and daughter all wearing traditional regalia in a black and white photograph. Chief Shelton is wearing a large war bonnet and his daughter and wife are displaying handicrafts. — Chief Shelton (middle) with his wife Siastenu Sehome Shelton (Northern Klallam and Samish) on the left and his daughter, Hiahl-tsa, later known as Harriette Shelton Dover, on his right. Image housed as Hibulb Cultural Center.

The Fish-Hawk was under the impression all this time that his neighbor was getting along quite well, until one day he heard that the Raven was starving to death. Fish-Hawk walked around the bend to his neighbor’s house that day to see for himself how the Raven was getting along and he found that it was really true that the Raven was starving to death, so he invited the Raven over to his house the next day for a feast. The Raven was greatly pleased with the invitation and the next morning he made ready for his visit and started off bright and early. As he approached the house of his neighbor he noticed particularly how beautiful everything seemed and how well taken care of the grounds were. The Raven came to the house and was very cordially received by the Fish-Hawk. Here the Raven began to look around for something to eat, for he had not eaten anything for several days and was feeling rather weak. To his dismay, he could see no food and he began to wonder why he had been called over to the house of the Fish-Hawk if the Fish-Hawk had no food for him; yet he noticed that the Fish-Hawk built his fire and made ready for the feast. Then he bade the Raven sit down close to the fire so that he might warm himself. The Fish-Hawk then excused himself and went out doors; the Raven watched him and saw that he went down to the stream, that he climbed a tall tree, one limb of which was overhanging the river, and when he reached this limb and got away out on the end of it he sang a weird song that the Raven could not understand. Then suddenly he saw the Fish-Hawk fall as if he were dead, right down on the ice, right through the ice, and the Raven was certain that he had been killed at once. The Raven ran to the edge of the river, but could find no trace of the Fish-Hawk until after a few seconds he saw him come up from under the ice with a number of trout. Of course the Raven was greatly surprised at this new way of fishing and decided he would like to try it himself. So after the Fish-Hawk had given him a feast and the Raven had all he could possibly eat, he started back home again and invited the Fish-Hawk over to his house for a feast the next day.

The next day Mr. Fish-Hawk went over to the Raven’s house and as he entered the place he was aware of the fact that there was no food anywhere in sight, yet he felt quite sure that the Raven would not have asked him to visit him if he had no food at all. He watched the Raven carefully and saw that he built the fire and then walked out of the house. The Fish-Hawk wondered what he was going to do; he saw the raven climb a high tree growing close to the river. When he reached the top of the tree, the Fish-Hawk heard him singing and his song sounded very much like the one the Fish-Hawk himself had used the day before, so the Fish-Hawk was certain that the Raven could do just as he did. When the Raven finished his song he permitted himself to fall down swiftly and he hit the ice with a great thud, but did not break through the ice as the Fish-Hawk had done and so when he landed on the ice all the bones in his body were broken and he died instantly.

Black and white photograph (artist unknown) of a river bordered by pine trees and mountains. — Original artwork (artist unknown) from *The Story of the Totem Pole.* This image appeared on page 60, directly above “The Raven and the Fish Hawk.”

The Fish-Hawk, who was watching from the window in the house could not see down to the river and did not know that the Raven had been killed; he thought that the Raven was as skilled in doing this stunt as he himself was and therefore he waited to see the Raven come up towards the house with a catch of fish. After he waited for him several minutes he suspected some evil, so he walked down to the creek and there he discovered the broken body of the Raven. It made the Fish-Hawk feel very badly that his neighbor was killed just because he was foolish enough to try to do this trick and so he tried his best to bring him to life again. He picked up the pieces and placed them together and then he sang and danced around them until the raven finally came back to life. The Raven looked up and said: “Why, I must have been asleep for quite a time,” but the Fish-Hawk told him that he had not been asleep, but dead, adding: “I did not think that you were foolish enough to try to perform such a dangerous stunt as you must have known that you were unable to do it. In the future, you want to be sure you know how to do a thing before you try it.” Then he carried the Raven up to his house and came down to the stream again. He climbed the tree from which the Raven had fallen and after singing his great song, he let himself fall to the ice, breaking through it and after a second or two he came up with several fine fish. These he took up to the Raven’s house and left them there so that the Raven might have food while he was recovering from his fall.

Mr. Fish-Hawk went home that day very much disgusted with his neighbor, the Raven. He had discovered that the Raven was not a great man at all, but merely a fraud, and he was greatly disappointed in him.

Now the lesson part of this story is that one should not attempt to do the impossible; if you know you are not qualified to do certain things, do not try to do them just because you see someone else doing them, and so cause others to laugh at you and call you a fool. Test your strength, your power, your knowledge, and then act accordingly!

Shelton, William. “The Raven and the fish hawk.” The Story of the Totem Pole or Indian legends. (Everett, Wash., Kane & Harcus co., printers, 1923), 60-63. [3]

[1] The Snohomish Tribe are a people whose ancestral territory is in the Puget Sound area of Washington. Currently, the Tribe is not recognized by the state or federal governments. Many Snohomish have joined the federally recognized Tulalip Tribe, which is comprised of “direct descendants of and the successors in interest to the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skykomish, and other allied bands signatory to the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott.” Because Chief Shelton was not enrolled in the Tulalip Tribe, I have identified him as Snohomish. According to this source, the spelling of “Snohomish” in Lushootseed, the language spoken by the Snohomish, is ‘Sdoh-doh-hohbsh.’ However, I’ve kept it as “Snohomish” in this case, as the traditional spelling is not commonly used.

[3] No publication location was provided. Additionally, an alternate title (or perhaps a subtitle) appears on the inside title page: The Story of the Totem Pole: Early Indian Legends As Handed Down from Generation to Generation Are Herewith Recorded by William Shelton of Tulalip. While Chief Shelton was not enrolled in the Tulalip Tribe, he did live in the Tulalip, WA area.

Contexts

Chief Shelton was also a master carver, creating many story poles (sometimes called spirit poles). Often these poles are carved from cedar and depict tribal stories used to teach lessons to youth. For additional information on Chief Shelton’s carvings, see the “Contemporary Connections” section below.

Not much scholarship has been written on Chief Shelton, particularly on the stories that comprise this book. One source that discusses his depictions of Native children is the article “Reading into the Voice: The Representation of Native Voices in Three Early Twentieth-Century Children’s Story Collections” by Melinda Li Sheung Ying. Ying’s article can be found in Knowing Their Place? Identity and Space in Children’s Literature, edited by Terri Doughty and Dawn Thompson, published by Cambridge Scholars in 2011.

Margaret Riddle provides additional biographical information about Chief Shelton’s life.

Resources for Further Study

For information on the Snohomish Tribe, please look at their tribal website.
The Tulalip Tribes’ website is especially helpful for understanding the differences and similarities in the Tulalip and Snohamish Tribes.
The Washington Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs provides the full text of the Treaty of Point Elliott, 1855, which resulted in the ceding of Native lands in Washington State. It’s important to remember the power dynamics and structures at play between the U.S government and Tribal Nations at the times many of these treaties were ratified.
Alexa Koenig and Joshua Stein explain the differences between state-recognized and federally-recognized tribes. Essentially, for federal recognition, a tribe has to prove that’s it has existed in an uninterrupted fashion for hundreds of years. However, federal and state policies since contact have made this difficult to prove for many tribes.
Gabriel Furshong explains why some tribes remain unrecognized by state or federal entities.

Pedagogy

Many lesson plans that focus on totem poles are, frankly, terrible and encourage cultural appropriation. Make sure that if you’re teaching about totem/spirit/story poles that you include education about what they are, what they represent, and how they are important to specific tribes.

The Puyallup School District has lots of activities and lesson plans for teaching about the tribes inhabiting what is now Washington State.

Contemporary Connections

In 2010, Shelton’s massive 71-foot story pole, “Lifting the Sky,” (pictured below) was removed from the Capitol grounds in Olympia due to fear of rot and potential injury. It appears to still be in storage, though the Burke Museum in Seattle has shown interest and there is also talk to returning it to the Tribe.

Another of his story poles, a 36-foot work of art displayed at Krape Park, Illinois was also removed in 2008 and is now housed at the Burke Museum in Seattle, WA, waiting its next move. The Burke Museum features a discussion of his work as a carver and the inspiration for his work. In 2018, a biographical documentary was made of Shelton’s daughter, Harriette “Hiahl-tsa” Shelton Dover (pictured earlier).

1890s 1910s Folktale Native American Wild animals

The Antelope Boy

Collected by Charles Lummis

Annotations by Ian McLAughlin

Once upon a time there were two towns of the Tée-wahn, called Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee (white village) and Nah-choo-rée-too-ee (yellow village). A man of Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee and his wife were attacked by Apaches while out on the plains one day and took refuge in a cave, where they were besieged. And there a boy was born to them. The father was killed in an attempt to return to his village for help; and starvation finally forced the mother to crawl forth by night seeking roots to eat. Chased by the Apaches, she escaped to her own village, and it was several days before she could return to the cave—only to find it empty.

The baby had begun to cry soon after her departure. Just then a Coyote^[1] was passing, and heard. Taking pity on the child, he picked it up and carried it across the plain until he came to a herd of antelopes. Among them was a Mother-Antelope that had lost her fawn; and going to her the Coyote said:

“Here is an ah-bóo (poor thing) that is left by its people. Will you take care of it?”

The Coyote Carries the Baby to the Antelope Mother

The Mother-Antelope, remembering her own baby, with tears said “Yes” and at once adopted the tiny stranger, while the Coyote thanked her and went home.

So the boy became as one of the antelopes, and grew up among them until he was about twelve years old. Then it happened that a hunter came out from Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee for antelopes, and found this herd. Stalking them carefully, he shot one with an arrow. The rest started off, running like the wind; but ahead of them all, as long as they were in sight, he saw a boy! The hunter was much surprised, and, shouldering his game, walked back to the village, deep in thought. Here he told the Cacique^[2] what he had seen. Next day the crier was sent out to call upon all the people to prepare for a great hunt, in four days,^[3] to capture the Indian boy who lived with the antelopes.

While preparations were going on in the village, the antelopes in some way heard of the intended hunt and its purpose. The Mother-Antelope was very sad when she heard it, and at first would say nothing. But at last she called her adopted son to her and said: “Son you have heard that the people of Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee are coming to hunt. But they will not kill us; all they wish is to take you. They will surround us, intending to let all the antelopes escape from the circle. You must follow me where I break through the line, and your real mother will be coming on the northeast side in a white manta (robe). I will pass close to her, and you must stagger and fall where she can catch you.”

On the fourth day all the people went out upon the plains. They found and surrounded the herd of antelopes, which ran about in a circle when the hunters closed upon them. The circle grew smaller and the antelopes began to break through; but the hunters paid no attention to them, keeping their eyes upon the boy. At last he and his antelope mother were the only ones left, and when she broke through the line on the northeast he followed her and fell at the feet of his own human mother, who sprang forward and clasped him in her arms.

Amid great rejoicing he was taken to Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee, and there he told the principales^[4] how he had been left in the cave, how the Coyote had pitied him, and how the Mother-Antelope had reared him as her own son.

It was not long before all the country round about heard of the Antelope Boy and of his marvelous fleetness of foot. You must know that the antelpes never comb their hair, and while among them the boy’s head had grown very bushy. So the people called him Pée-hleh-o-wah-wée-deh (big-headed little boy).

Among the other villages that heard of his prowess was Nah-choo-rée-too-ee, all of whose people “had the bad road.”^[5] They had a wonderful runner named Pée-k’hoo (Deer-foot), and very soon they sent a challenge to Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee for a championship race. Four days were to be given for preparation, to make bets, and the like.

The race was to be around the world.^[6] Each village was to stake all its property and the lives of all its people on the result of the race. So powerful were the witches of Nah-choo-rée-too-ee that they felt safe in proposing so serious a stake; and the people of Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee were ashamed to decline the challenge.

The day came and the starting point was surrounded by all the people of the two villages, dressed in their best. On each side were huge piles of ornaments and dresses, stores of grain, and all the other property of the people. The runner for the yellow village was a tall, sinewy athlete, strong in his early manhood; and when the Antelope Boy appeared for the other side, the witches set up a howl of derision and began to strike their rivals and jeer at them, saying, “Pooh! We might as well begin to kill you now! What can that óo-deh (little thing) do?

At the word “Hái-ko!” (“Go!”) the two runners started toward the east like the wind. The Antelope Boy soon forged ahead; but Deer-foot, by his witchcraft, changed himself into a hawk and flew lightly over the lad, saying, “We do this way to each other!”^[7] The Antelope Boy kept running, but his heart was very heavy, for he knew that no feet could equal the swift flight of the hawk.

But just as he came half-way to the east, a Mole came up from its burrow and said: “My son, where are you going so fast with a sad face?”

The lad explained that the race was for the property and the lives of all his people; and that the witch runner had turned into a hawk and left him far behind.

“Then, my son,” said the Mole, “I will be he that shall help you. Only sit down here a little while, and I will give you something to carry.”

The boy sat down, and the Mole diced into the hold, but soon came back with four cigarettes.^[8]

Holding them out the Mold said, “Now, my son, when you have reached the east and turned north, smoke one; when you have reached the north and turn west, smoke another; when you turn south, another and when you turn east again, another. Hái-ko!”

The boy ran on, and soon reached the east. Turning his face to the north he smoked the first cigarette. No sooner was it finished than he became a young antelope; and at the same instant a furious rain began. Refreshed by the cool drops, he started like an arrow from the bow. Half-way to the north he came to a large tree; and there sat the hawk, drenched and chilled, unable to fly, and crying piteously.

“Now, friend, we too do this to each other,” called the boy-antelope as he dashed past. But just as he reached the north, the hawk—which had become dry after the short rain—caught up and passed him, saying, “We too do this to each other!” The boy-antelope turned westward, and smoked the second cigarette; and at once another terrific rain began.^[9] Half-way to the west he again passed the hawk shivering and crying in a tree, and unable to fly; but as he was about to turn to the south, the hawk passed him with the customary taunt. The smoking of the third cigarette brought another storm, and again the antelope passed the wet hawk half-way, and again the hawk dried its feathers in time to catch up and pass him as he was turning to the east for the home-stretch. Here again the boy-antelope stopped and smoked a cigarette—the fourth and last. Again a short, hard rain came and again he passed the water-bound hawk half-way.

The Two Runners Came Sweeping Down the Home-stretch Straining Every Nerve

Knowing of the witchcraft of their neighbors, the people of Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee had made the condition that, in whatever shape the racers might run the rest of the course, they must resume human form upon arrival at a certain hill upon the fourth turn, which was in sight of the goal. The last wetting of the hawk’s feathers delayed it so that the antelope reached the hill just ahead; and there, resuming their natural shapes, the two runners came sweeping down the home-stretch, straining at every nerve. But the Antelope Boy gained at each stride. When they saw him, the witch-people felt confident that he was their champion, and again began to push, and taunt, and jeer at their others. But when the little Antelope Boy sprang lightly across the line, far ahead of Deer-foot, their joy turned to mourning.

The people of Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee burned all the witches upon the spot, in a great pile of corn; but somehow one escaped, and from him come all the witches that trouble us to this day.

The property of the witches was taken to Nah-bah-tóo-too-ee; and as it was more than that village could hold, the surplus was sent to Shee-eh-whíb-bak (Isleta),^[10] where we enjoy it to this day; and later the people themselves moved here. And even now, when we dig in that little hill on the other side of the charco (pools), we find charred corn-cobs, where our forefathers burned the witch-people of the yellow village.

LUMMIS, CHARLES FLETCHER. THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON AND OTHER PUEBLO INDIAN FOLK-STORIES. THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON AND OTHER PUEBLO INDIAN FOLK-STORIES, BY CHARLES LUMIS. NEW YORK, NY: THE CENTURY CO., 1894. HTTPS://HDL.HANDLE.NET/2027/UC2.ARK:/13960/T3WS8JC1P.

[1] The small prairie-wolf. (Lummis)
Coyote Tales of the Southwest has more coyote stories.

[2] The highest religious official (Lummis)

[3] Four is the most important number in many Native American cultures. It stands for a cycle of fertility, being found in the four ages of man, the four seasons, and the four cardinal directions.

[4] The old men who are the congress of the pueblo (Lummis)

[5] That is, were witches (Lummis)

[6] The Pueblos believed it was an immense plain whereon the racers were to race over a square course—to the extreme east, then to the extreme north, and so on, back to the starting point. (Lummis)

[7] A common Indian taunt, either good-natured or bitter, to the loser of a game or to a conquered enemy (Lummis)

[8] These are made by putting a certain weed called pee-én-hleh into hollow reeds. (Lummis)

[9]The cigarette plays an important part in the Pueblo folk-stories,—they never had the pipe of the Northern Indians, —and all the rain-clouds are supposed to come from its smoke. (Lummis)

[10] Isleta is the largest of the Tée-wahn pueblos and the second-largest pueblo overall.

Contexts

Stories of humans raised by animals are almost as old as civilization. The story of Romulus and Remus from Roman mythology, Kippling’s Mowgli, and Incident at Hawk’s Hill (1971) by naturalist and writer Allan W. Eckert all use this trope. In most cases, this connection to nature is accompanied by animal-like abilities, such as ferocity in battle, literally talking to animals, or, in the case of “The Antelope Boy” running as fast as an antelope.

Resources for Further Study

“The Sacred Hoop: A Contemporary Perspective on Native American Literature” from The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paula Gunn Allen is a great essay on how to read Native Literature as a non-Native.
The Man Who Married the Moon by Charles Lummis (also published under the title Pueblo Indian folk-stories) is an excellent resource on the stories and the culture of the Tée-wahn pueblos of New Mexico.
“Locating the Human in Performance” from Affect, Animals, and Autists: Feeling Around the Edges of the Human in Performance by Marla Carlson touches on the idea of the feral child and how it shapes our understanding of civilization.

Pedagogy

Despite the cigarette imagery, this story is great for a comparative reading with other stories of children raised by animals, such as those listed in the Contexts section above.

Contemporary Connections

Avatar: The Last Airbender features a character raised by giant badger-like creatures.
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kippling and the subsequent movies, including the most recent Disney version, have captured imaginations for more than a century.

1890s 1910s Folktale Short Story

Coyote Tales of the Southwest

Coyote Tales of the Southwest^[1]

Collected by Katharine Berry Judson, Charles Fletcher Lummis

Annotations by Ian McLaughlin/JB

Artist unknown. *Untitled (Coyote and Turtle)*. Carved, varnished, and painted walnut, c. after 1930,
Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C. [2]

THE COYOTE AND THE BEAR

Once upon a time Ko-íd-deh (the Bear) and Too-wháy-deh (the Coyote), [3] chanced to meet at a certain spot, and sat down to talk. After a while the Bear said:

“Friend Coyote, do you see what good land this is here? What do you say if we farm it together, sharing our labor and the crop?”

The Coyote thought well of it, and said so; and after talking, they agreed to plant potatoes in partnership.

“Now,” said the Bear, “I think of a good way to divide the crop. I will take all that grows below the ground, and you take all that grows above it. Then each can take away his share when he is ready, and there will be no trouble to measure.”

The Coyote agreed, and when the time came they plowed the place with a sharp stick and planted their potatoes. All summer they worked together in the field, hoeing down the weeds with stone hoes and letting in water now and then from the irrigating-ditch. When harvest-time came, the Coyote went and cut off all the potato-tops at the ground and carried them home, and afterward the Bear scratched out the potatoes from the ground with his big claws and took them to his house. When the Coyote saw this his eyes were opened and he said:

“But this is not fair. You have those round things, which are good to eat, but what I took home we cannot eat at all, neither my wife nor I.”

“But, friend Coyote,” answered the Bear, gravely, “did we not make an agreement? Then we must stick to it like men.”

The Coyote could not answer, and went home; but he was not satisfied.

The next spring, as they met one day, the Bear said:

“Come, friend Coyote, I think we ought to plant this good land again, and this time let us plant it in corn. But last year you were dissatisfied with your share, so this year we will change. You take what is below the ground for your share, and I will take only what grows above.”

This seemed very fair to the Coyote, and he agreed. They plowed and planted and tended the corn; and when it came harvest-time the Bear gathered all the stalks and ears and carried tehm home. When the Coyote came to dig his share, he found nothing but roots like threads, which were good for nothing. He was very much dissatisfied; but the Bear reminded him of their agreement, and he could say nothing.

That winter the Coyote was walking one day by the river (the Rio Grande), when he saw the Bear sitting on the ice and eating a fish. The Coyote was very fond of fish, and coming up, he said:

“Friend Bear, where did you get such a fat fish?”

Edward Kemeys. *Bear*. Bronze, c. before 1907, Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

“Oh, I broke a hole in the ice,” said the Bear, “and fished for them. There are many here.” And he went on eating, without offering any to the Coyote.

“Won’t you show me how, friend?” ansked the Coyote, fainting with hunger at the smell of the fish.

“Oh, yes,” said the Bear. “It is very easy.” And he broke a hole in the ice with his paw. “Now, friend Coyote, sit down and let your tail hang in the water, and very soon you will feel a nibble. But you must not pull it till I tell you.”

So the Coyote sat down with his tail in the cold water. Soon the ice began to form around it, and he called:

“Friend Bear, I feel a bite! Let me pull him out.”

“No, no! Not yet!” cried the Bear, “wait till he gets a good hold, and then you will not lose him.”

So the Coyote waited. In a few minutes the hole was frozen solid, and his tail was fast.

“Now, friend Coyote,” called the Bear, “I think you have him. Pull!”

The Coyote pulled with all his might, but could not lift his tail from the ice, and there he was—a prisoner. While he pulled and howled, the Bear shouted with laughter, and rolled on the ice and ha-ha’d thill his sides were sore. There he took his fish and went home, stopping every little to laugh at the thought of the Coyote.

There on the ice the Coyote had to stay until a thaw liberated him, and when he got home he was very wet and cold and half starved. And from that day to this he has never forgiven the Bear, and will not even speak to him when they meet, and the Bear says, politely, “Good morning, friend Too-wháy-deh.”

Is that so?” cry the boys.

“That is so,” says Felipe. “But now it is time to go home. Tóo-kwai!”

The story-telling is over for to-night. Grandmother Reyes is unrolling the mattresses upon the floor; and with pleasant “good-nights” we scatter for our homes here and there in the quaint adobe village.

Original editor’s footnote: The Coyote, you must know, is very stupid about some things; and in almost all Pueblo fairy stories is the victim of one joke or another. The bear, on the other hand, is one of the wisest of animals.

THE THEFT OF FIRE (Sia, New Mexico) [4]

A long, long time ago, the people became tired of feeding on grass, like deer and wild animals, and they talked together how fire might be found. The Ti-amoni said, “Coyote is the best man to steal fire from the world below,” so he sent for Coyote.

When Coyote came, the Ti-amoni said, “The people wish for fire. We are tired of feeding on grass. You must go to the world below and bring the fire.”

Coyote said, “It is well, father. I will go.”

Will James. *Coyote-Clown of the Prairies.* Pen and ink, 1921, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.

So Coyote slipped stealthily to the house of Sussistinnako [5]. It was the middle of the night. Snake, who guarded the first door, was asleep, and he slipped quickly and quietly by. Cougar, who guarded the second door, was asleep, and Coyote slipped by. Bear, who guarded the third door, was also sleeping. At the fourth door, Coyote found the guardian of the fire asleep. Slipping through into the room of Sussistinnako, he found him also sleeping.

Coyote quickly lighted the cedar brand which was attached to his tail and hurried out. Spider awoke, just enough to know some one was leaving the room. “Who is there?” he cried. Then he called “Some one has been here.” But before he could waken the sleeping Bear and Cougar and Snake, Coyote had almost reached the upper world.

COYOTE AND THE FAWNS (Sia, New Mexico)

Another day when he was traveling around, Coyote met a deer with two fawns. The fawns were beautifully spotted, and he said to the deer, “How did you paint your children? They are so beautiful!”

Deer replied, “I painted them with fire from the cedar.”

“And how did you do the work?” asked Coyote.

“I put my children into a cave and built a fire of cedar in front of it. Every time a spark flew from the fire it struck my children, making a beautiful spot.”

“Oh,” said Coyote, “I will do the same thing. Then I will make my children beautiful.”

William L. Finley. *Coyote Hunt*. Photograph, 1908, Digital Public Library of America.

He hurried to his house and put his children in a cave. Then he built a fire of cedar in front of it and stood off to watch the fire. But the children cried because the fire was very hot. Coyote kept calling to them not to cry because they would be beautiful like the deer. After a time the crying ceased and Coyote was pleased. But when the fire died down, he found they were burned to death. Coyote expected to find them beautiful, but instead they were dead.

Then he was enraged with the deer and ran away to hunt her, but he could not find her anywhere. He was much distressed to think the deer had fooled him so easily.

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “The Theft of fire,” in MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF california and the old southwest, 83-84. A. C. MCCLURG & CO., 1912.**

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “Coyote and the fawns,” IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 162-163.**

**LUMMIS, CHARLES FLETCHER. “The Coyote and the bear,” in THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON AND OTHER PUEBLO INDIAN FOLK-STORIES, 30-33. THE CENTURY CO., 1894.**

[1] The Coyote is a core character in the southwestern tribal mythologies. His stories are usually used to teach children how—or how not—to act. His stories should only be told in winter.

[3] These names are from the Tée-wahn language, spoken at several Pueblos, most notably the Isleta Pueblo. (Lummis)

[4] The modern spelling is Zia. The Zia sun symbol is used—without the pueblo’s permission—on the state flag of New Mexico. Judson includes the tribal origins of each tale with the title.

[5] Sussistinnako is the first of all living creatures, the Great Spider, and the grandparent of all humanity in Zia mythology.

Contexts

Trickster tales like these permeate world cultures: from the Biblical Jacob; to China’s Sun Wukong; to Loki from Norse Mythology; to Indra the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain deity; to the African Ananse; the trickster archetype is a core of folklore. Trickster characters typically display several of the following six traits (according to Hynes and Doty; see resource below): fundamental ambiguity, deceitfulness, the ability to shape-shift or disguise, frequent desire to invert situations, imitation of or acting as messengers for gods, and being sacred and lewd do-it-yourself types.

Resources for Further Study

“The Sacred Hoop: A Contemporary Perspective on Native American Literature” from The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paula Gunn Allen is a great essay on how to read Native Literature as a non-Native.
The Man Who Married the Moon by Charles Lummis (also published under the title Pueblo Indian Folk-Stories) is an excellent resource on the stories and culture of the Tée-wahn pueblos of New Mexico.
Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest is one of Katherine Berry Judson’s several early 20th-century collections of Native American folk tales.
Mythical Trickster Figures: Contours, Contexts, and Criticisms by William J. Hynes and William G. Doty is a global look at trickster stories.

Contemporary Connections

Navajo Coyote Tales, collected by William Morgan, and Coyote Walks on Two Legs, by Gerald Hausman attribute versions of “Coyote and the Fawns” to the Diné (Navajo).

[2] From the gallery label: “This carving seems to portray a Hopi tale about Coyote and Turtle…While the carver of this sculpture is unknown, the imagery resembles illustrations done by Fred Kabotie (1900-86), a Hopi from the second Mesa, for Taytay’s Tales, published in 1922.

1920s Creation stories Folktale Native American

Old Man and the Bullberries

By Grey Wolf

Annotations by Catherine Bowlin

A man beats a blueberry bush with a stick above a river. — Gwenyth Waugh. Old Man and the Bullberries. 1920. From the third volume of The Brownies’ Book, 80.
W. E. B. Du Bois, ed., The Brownies’ Book, www.loc.gov/item/22001351/.

OLD MAN was walking along, very thirsty, so the first river he came to, he flung himself down to drink. Right after he had filled up, he noticed a branch full of bullberries [1], lying under the water.

“Say, that is fine,” exclaimed Old Man. “Berries! I guess I’ll dive in and get ‘em.”

He dived in, swam around under water, and felt for the berries; but not one could he find.

“That’s queer!” he gasped, coming to the surface. “I’ll look again.”

When the water cleared, he stared into it again. Sure enough, there were the berries.

Old Man dived a second time, and the poor fellow nearly suffocated, trying to stay under water long enough to find the berries. Finally he came up and blew a long breath and climbed out on the bank. After a minute, he turned to look and the berries were there as before!

“I don’t stay under long enough, that’s the trouble!” exclaimed Old Man. He found a stone and tied it around his middle and jumped in. He went down, like a stone, and flopped on the hard bottom of the river. Once there, he thrashed his arms about, looking for the berries. It was no use. At last, choking and bubbling, he tried to rise, but could not. The stone held him down.

“Do I die now?” he wondered.

“No,” answered his tomahawk,––“cut the cord!”

Old Man cut the cord, and the rock fell on his toes.

“OUCH!” he gurgled.

He shot to the surface. Now he was so exhausted that he had to lie on his back to recover breath. Suddenly he noticed, right above him a berry bush, leaning out over the river. It was the reflection of this bush that Old Man had dived for!

“So!” cried the Old Man to the berry bush, “you fooled me, did you!” He jumped up and picked out a stick and attacked the berry bush, beating it until he had knocked all of its berries.

“There!” he cried, as he ate the berries, “that is your punishment for fooling Old Man. After this, even the women will beat you!”

It was so. From that time, whenever the Indian women wanted berries, they beat the bullberry bushes with sticks, having first spread blankets to catch the berries. Old Man taught them that.

Gray Wolf, Chief of Winnebagoes. None. [Between 1865 and 1880] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/95518265/.

Grey Wolf. “Old Man and the Bullberries.” The Brownies’ Book, ed. W. E. B. Du Bois, vol. 1, no. 3, New York, N.Y.: DuBois and Dill, March 1920. 80. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/22001351/>.

[1] Bullberries, also known as Buffalo berries, are shrubs found in the Great Plains and in more northern parts of Ho-Chunk territory.

Contexts

As is usual with Native American folk tales, not much is known about the origin of this story or the author. It is possible that Grey Wolf may be Gray Wolf, Chief of Winnebagoes, though there is not much known about Chief Gray Wolf either. The Winnebago Tribe, also known as the Ho-Chunks, lived in what is now central Minnesota and northern Illinois, and now the Tribe lives in Nebraska.

There is at least one contemporary children’s story related to Native characters and berries. Paul Goble’s Iktomi and the Berries: A Plains Indian Story, published in 1989, tells the story of a Trickster figure, Iktomi, who repeatedly dives for buffalo berries in the water.

Resources for Further Study

Alexander, Hartley Burr. Native American Mythology. Dover Publications: Mineola, New York, 2005. (Link to Google Book)
Bastian, Dawn E. and Judy K. Mitchell. Handbook of Native American Mythology. ABC-Clio, 2004. (Link to Google Book)
Gill, Sam D. and Irene F. Sullivan. Dictionary of Native American Myths. Oxford University Press, 1994. (Link to eBook)

1910s Folktale Poem

Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed^[1]

By Edgar Lee Masters

Annotations by Ian MCLaughlin

     When the air of October is sweet and cold as the wine of apples
     Hanging ungathered in frosted orchards along the Grand River,
     I take the road that winds by the resting fields and wander
     From Eastmanville to Nunica^[2] down to the Villa Crossing.

     I look for old men to talk with, men as old as the orchards,
     Men to tell me of ancient days, of those who built and planted,
     Lichen gray, branch broken, bent and sighing,
     Hobbling for warmth in the sun and for places to sit and smoke.

     For there is a legend here, a tale of the croaking old ones
     That Johnny Appleseed came here, planted some orchards around here,
     When nothing was here but the pine trees, oaks and the beeches,
     And nothing was here but the marshes, lake and the river.

     Peter Van Zylen^[3] is ninety and this he tells me:
     My father talked with Johnny Appleseed there on the hill-side,
     There by the road on the way to Fruitport, saw him
     Clearing pines and oaks for a place for an apple orchard.

     Peter Van Zylen says: He got that name from the people
     For carrying apple-seed with him and planting orchards
     All the way from Ohio, through Indiana across here,
     Planting orchards, they say, as far as Illinois.

     Johnny Appleseed said, so my father told me:
     I go to a place forgotten, the orchards will thrive and be here
     For children to come, who will gather and eat hereafter.
     And few will know who planted, and none will understand.

     I laugh, said Johnny Appleseed: Some fellow buys this timber
     Five years, perhaps from to-day, begins to clear for barley.
     And here in the midst of the timber is hidden an apple orchard.^[4]
     How did it come here? Lord! Who was it here before me?

     Yes, I was here before him, to make these places of worship,
     Labor and laughter and gain in the late October.
     Why did I do it, eh? Some folks say I am crazy.
     Where do my labors end? Far west, God only knows!^[5]

     Said Johnny Appleseed there on the hill-side: Listen!
     Beware the deceit of nurseries^[6], sellers of seeds of the apple.
     Think! You labor for years in trees not worth the raising.
     You planted what you knew not, bitter or sour for sweet.

     No luck more bitter than poor seed, but one as bitter:
     The planting of perfect seed in soil that feeds and fails,
     Nourishes for a little, and then goes spent forever.
     Look to your seed, he said, and remember the soil.

     And after that is the fight: the foe curled up at the root,
     The scale that crumples and deadens, the moth in the blossoms
     Becoming a life that coils at the core of a thing of beauty:
     You bite your apple, a worm is crushed on your tongue!

     And it's every bit the truth, said Peter Van Zylen.
     So many things love an apple as well as ourselves.
     A man must fight for the thing he loves, to possess it:
     Apples, freedom, heaven, said Peter Van Zylen.

Masters, Edgar Lee. “Johnny Appleseed.” POEM. In toward the gulf, 42–45. New York, NY: The MacMillan Company, 1918.

[1] a.k.a. Johnathan Chapman

[2] Cities on the Grand River in Michigan. There is no evidence that Chapman planted in this region.

[3] Peter Van Zylen is likely a fictional character, he also appears in Masters’ “More People” (1939).

[4] Chapman did not plant trees sporadically. He would plant nurseries and leave them in the care of neighbors.

[5] Johnathan Chapman only ever made it as far west as Illinois.

[6] Even if this poem is not fictitious, it is unlikely that Johnathan Chapman said this given his planting practices (see note 4).

Contexts

While Johnathan Chapman, a.k.a. “Johnny Appleseed”, was a real person, his actions have been fictionalized over the years. Unlike other historical figures who have received the same treatment, such as Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan, the fictionalized accounts of Johnny Appleseed are often treated as historical fact.

Resources for Further Study

Johnny Appleseed and the American Orchard: A Cultural History by William Kerrigan compares Chapman’s methods to those of Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone and “dissects the tradition of the Appleseed myth”.
“John Chapman, 1774-1845” by Deborah Flemming is a short biography of Chapman’s life.

Pedagogy

This text lends itself to comparative reading. Students can read one or both of the resources above and compare the more historical accounts to the “information” in Masters’ poem

Contemporary Connections

Searching for Johnny is a 2009 documentary about Johnathan Chapman.
There are dozens of picture books about Johnny Appleseed.

Zuni Creation Cycle[1]

By Various Authors

Annotations by Ian McLaughlin

The Beginning of Newness

The Men of the Early Times

The Search for the Middle and the Hardening of the World

various authors. “The Beginning of Newness,” “The men of the early times,” “The Search for the Middle and the Hardening of the World.” In MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST, Ed. Katharine Berry Judson. Chicago: A.C. MCCLURG & CO., 1912.

Contexts

Resources for Further Study

Tales of Anthony Van Corlaer[1]

By Washington Irving, Charles M. Skinner

Annotations by Ian Mclaughlin

Irving, Washington. Knickerbocker’s History of New York. The Knickerbocker’s History of New York by washington Irving. Chicago: w.b. Conkey Company., 1809. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13042/13042-h/13042-h.htm.

Skinner, Charles M. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF Our Own Lands. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF Our Own LAnds by Charles M. Skinner. Philadelphia: j.b. lippencott company., 1896. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6615/6615-h/6615-h.htm.

Contexts

Resources for Further Study

Pedagogy

Contemporary Connections

Buffalo Tales of the Great Plains

Collected by Katherine Berry Judson

Annotations by Ian McLAughlin/JB

ORIGIN OF THE BUFFALO (Teton) [1]

THE BUFFALO AND THE GRIZZLY BEAR (Omaha)

MY FIRST BUFFALO HUNT (Omaha)[2]

JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “Origin of the buffalo,” in MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF the great plains, 53-54. A. C. McClurg & co., 1913.

JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “the buffalo and the grizzly bear,” IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 68-70.

JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “My first buffalo hunt,” IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 71-72.

Contexts

Resources for Further Study

Contemporary Connections

Epaminondas[1]

By Sarah Withers

Annotations by Ian McLAughlin

Withers, Sarah. The Child’s World: First-[third] Reader. Richmond, Va.: Johnson publishing house, 1920. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044081502759?urlappend=%3Bseq=69.

Contexts

Resources for Further Study

Pedagogy

Contemporary Connections

The Boy Who Became A God

Collected by Katharine Berry Judson

Annotations by Ian McLaughlin

JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST BY VARIOUS. PLACE OF PUBLICATION NOT IDENTIFIED: A.C. MCCLURG & CO., 1912. HTTPS://WWW.GUTENBERG.ORG/FILES/2503/2503-H/2503-H.HTM#LINK2H_4_0057.

Contexts

Resources for Further Study

Pedagogy

Contemporary Connections

The Raven and The Fish Hawk

By Chief William Shelton/Wha-Cah-Dub (Snohomish)[1]

Annotations by Jessica cory

Shelton, William. “The Raven and the fish hawk.” The Story of the Totem Pole or Indian legends. (Everett, Wash., Kane & Harcus co., printers, 1923), 60-63. [3]

Contexts

Resources for Further Study

Pedagogy

Contemporary Connections

The Antelope Boy

Collected by Charles Lummis

Annotations by Ian McLAughlin

LUMMIS, CHARLES FLETCHER. THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON AND OTHER PUEBLO INDIAN FOLK-STORIES. THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON AND OTHER PUEBLO INDIAN FOLK-STORIES, BY CHARLES LUMIS. NEW YORK, NY: THE CENTURY CO., 1894. HTTPS://HDL.HANDLE.NET/2027/UC2.ARK:/13960/T3WS8JC1P.

Contexts

Resources for Further Study

Pedagogy

Contemporary Connections

Coyote Tales of the Southwest[1]

Collected by Katharine Berry Judson, Charles Fletcher Lummis

Annotations by Ian McLaughlin/JB

THE COYOTE AND THE BEAR

THE THEFT OF FIRE (Sia, New Mexico) [4]

COYOTE AND THE FAWNS (Sia, New Mexico)

JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “The Theft of fire,” in MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF california and the old southwest, 83-84. A. C. MCCLURG & CO., 1912.

JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “Coyote and the fawns,” IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 162-163.

LUMMIS, CHARLES FLETCHER. “The Coyote and the bear,” in THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON AND OTHER PUEBLO INDIAN FOLK-STORIES, 30-33. THE CENTURY CO., 1894.

Contexts

Resources for Further Study

Contemporary Connections

Old Man and the Bullberries

By Grey Wolf

Annotations by Catherine Bowlin

Grey Wolf. “Old Man and the Bullberries.” The Brownies’ Book, ed. W. E. B. Du Bois, vol. 1, no. 3, New York, N.Y.: DuBois and Dill, March 1920. 80. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/22001351/>.

Contexts

Resources for Further Study

Zuni Creation Cycle^[1]

Tales of Anthony Van Corlaer^[1]

MY FIRST BUFFALO HUNT (Omaha)^[2]

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “Origin of the buffalo,” in MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF the great plains, 53-54. A. C. McClurg & co., 1913.**

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “the buffalo and the grizzly bear,” IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 68-70.**

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “My first buffalo hunt,” IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 71-72.**

Epaminondas^[1]

Coyote Tales of the Southwest^[1]

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “The Theft of fire,” in MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF california and the old southwest, 83-84. A. C. MCCLURG & CO., 1912.**

**JUDSON, KATHARINE BERRY., ED. “Coyote and the fawns,” IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS, 162-163.**

**LUMMIS, CHARLES FLETCHER. “The Coyote and the bear,” in THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON AND OTHER PUEBLO INDIAN FOLK-STORIES, 30-33. THE CENTURY CO., 1894.**

Johnny Appleseed^[1]