MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE SIOUX - 38 Sioux Children's Stories E-Book

Anon E. Mouse

• Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Herein you will find 38 Sioux folk and fairy tales for children. Each story has a moral to teach a life-lesson to children. Here you will find stories like - The Forgotten Ear Of Corn, The Little Mice, The Pet Rabbit, The Story Of The Lost Wife, The Faithful Lovers, The Brave Who Went On The Warpath Alone And Won The Name Of The Lone Warrior, The Legend of Standing Rock and many, many more. The 38 stories contained in this little volume were told to the compiler by the older men and women of the Sioux a long, long time ago. Careful notes were made, knowing that, if not recorded correctly, these folk tales would be lost to posterity by the passing of another generation. , In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the American Indian race was at a most interesting stage of development. Its ancient culture was fast being pushed aside and receding into the mists of the past. The compiler of the stories was, herself, one-quarter Sioux and through her birth acquired a thorough knowledge of the Sioux language. Her maternal grandfather, a Scotsman by birth, who in 1811 arrived in the British Northwest to found what was known as the Selkirk Colony, near Lake Winnipeg. Her grandmother, Ha-za-ho-ta-win, was a full-blood of the Medawakanton Band of the Sioux Tribe of Indians. Her father, Joseph Buisson, was born near Montreal, Canada. She married Major James McLaughlin who became the Indian agent at the Devils Lake Agency, North Dakota. Later they were transferred to Standing Rock, on the Missouri River, to take charge of the Sioux who had then but recently surrendered to the military authorities. Having lived on Indian reservations over forty years she, therefore, had exceptional opportunities of learning the legends and folk-lore of the Sioux. So sit back and enjoy these stories from yesteryear from a time when the virgin West was being shaped into becoming something else altogether. 33% of the net profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities.  

Leseprobe

MYTHS AND LEGENDS

OF THE SIOUX

Comoiled and Retold By

Marie L. Mclaughlin

Originally Published by

Bismarck Tribune Co.

Bismark, North Dakota

[1916]

Resurrected by

Abela Publishing

London, England

[2017

Myths and Legends of the Sioux

Typographical arrangement of this edition

©Abela Publishing 2017

This book may not be reproduced in its current format

in any manner in any media, or transmitted

by any means whatsoever, electronic,

electrostatic, magnetic tape, or mechanical

(including photocopy, file or video recording,

internet web sites, blogs, wikis, or any other

information storage and retrieval system)

except as permitted by law

without the prior written permission

of the publisher.

Abela Publishing,

London, United Kingdom

2017

ISBN-13: 978-8-822817-20-4

Email

[email protected]

Website

www.AbelaPublishing.com

Frontispiece: Sioux Chief Poor Dog

[1898]

DEDICATION

In loving memory of my mother,

MARY GRAHAM BUISSON

at whose knee most of the storiescontained in this little volumewere told to me, this book isaffectionately dedicated.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Abela Publishing

acknowledges the work that

MARIE L. MCLAUGHLIN

did in compiling and editing

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE SIOUX

in a time well before any electronic media was in use.

* * * * * * *

33% of the net profit from the sale of this book

will be donated to Charities.

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE SIOUX

THE FORGOTTEN EAR OF CORN

THE LITTLE MICE

THE PET RABBIT

THE PET DONKEY

THE RABBIT AND THE ELK

THE RABBIT AND THE GROUSE GIRLS

THE FAITHFUL LOVERS

THE ARTICHOKE AND THE MUSKRAT

THE RABBIT AND THE BEAR WITH THE FLINT

BODY

STORY OF THE LOST WIFE

THE RACCOON AND THE CRAWFISH

LEGEND OF STANDING ROCK

STORY OF THE PEACE PIPE

A BASHFUL COURTSHIP

THE SIMPLETON'S WISDOM

A LITTLE BRAVE AND THE MEDICINE WOMAN

THE BOUND CHILDREN

THE SIGNS OF CORN

STORY OF THE RABBITS

HOW THE RABBIT LOST HIS TAIL

UNKTOMI AND THE ARROWHEADS

THE BEAR AND THE RABBIT HUNT BUFFALO

THE BRAVE WHO WENT ON THE WARPATH

ALONE AND WON THE NAME OF THE LONE

WARRIOR

THE SIOUX WHO MARRIED THE CROW CHIEF'S

DAUGHTER

THE BOY AND THE TURTLES

THE HERMIT, OR THE GIFT OF CORN

THE MYSTERIOUS BUTTE

THE WONDERFUL TURTLE

THE MAN AND THE OAK

STORY OF THE TWO YOUNG FRIENDS

THE STORY OF THE PET CROW

THE "WASNA" (PEMMICAN) MAN AND THE

UNKTOMI (SPIDER)

THE RESUSCITATION OF THE ONLY DAUGHTER

THE STORY OF THE PET CRANE

WHITE PLUME

STORY OF PRETTY FEATHERED FOREHEAD

THE FOUR BROTHERS OR INYANHOKSILA

(STONE BOY)

THE UNKTOMI (SPIDER), TWO WIDOWS, AND

THE RED PLUMS

FOREWORD

In publishing these "Myths of the Sioux," I deem it proper to state that I am of one-fourth Sioux blood. My maternal grandfather, Captain Duncan Graham, a Scotchman by birth, who had seen service in the British Army, was one of a party of Scotch Highlanders who in 1811 arrived in the British Northwest by way of York Factory, Hudson Bay, to found what was known as the Selkirk Colony, near Lake Winnipeg, now within the province of Manitoba, Canada. Soon after his arrival at Lake Winnipeg he proceeded up the Red River of the North and the western fork thereof to its source, and thence down the Minnesota River to Mendota, the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, where he located. My grandmother, Ha-za-ho-ta-win, was a full-blood of the Medawakanton Band of the Sioux Tribe of Indians. My father, Joseph Buisson, born near Montreal, Canada, was connected with the American Fur Company, with headquarters at Mendota, Minnesota, which point was for many years the chief distributing depot of the American Fur Company, from which the Indian trade conducted by that company on the upper Mississippi was directed.

I was born December 8, 1842, at Wabasha, Minnesota, then Indian country, and resided thereat until fourteen years of

age, when I was sent to school at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

I was married to Major James McLaughlin at Mendota, Minnesota, January 28, 1864, and resided in Minnesota until July 1, 1871, when I accompanied my husband to Devils Lake Agency, North Dakota, then Dakota Territory, where I remained ten years in most friendly relations with the Indians of that agency. My husband was Indian agent at Devils Lake Agency, and in 1881 was transferred to Standing Rock, on the Missouri River, then a very important agency, to take charge of the Sioux who had then but recently surrendered to the military authorities, and been brought by steamboat from various points on the upper Missouri, to be permanently located on the Standing Rock reservation.

Having been born and reared in an Indian community, I at an early age acquired a thorough knowledge of the Sioux language, and having lived on Indian reservations for the past forty years in a position which brought me very near to the Indians, whose confidence I possessed, I have, therefore, had exceptional opportunities of learning the legends and folk-lore of the Sioux.

The stories contained in this little volume were told me by the older men and women of the Sioux, of which I made careful notes as related, knowing that, if not recorded, these fairy tales would be lost to posterity by the passing of the primitive Indian.

The notes of a song or a strain of music coming to us through the night not only give us pleasure by the melody they bring, but also give us knowledge of the character of the singer or of the instrument from which they proceed. There is something in the music which unerringly tells us of its source. I believe musicians call it the "timbre" of the sound. It is independent of, and different from, both pitch and rhythm; it is the texture of the music itself.

The "timbre" of a people's stories tells of the qualities of that people's heart. It is the texture of the thought, independent of its form or fashioning, which tells the quality of the mind from which it springs.

In the "timbre" of these stories of the Sioux, told in the lodges and at the camp fires of the past, and by the firesides of the Dakotas of today, we recognize the very texture of the thought of a simple, grave, and sincere people, living in intimate contact and friendship with the big out-of-doors that we call Nature; a race not yet understanding all things, not proud and boastful, but honest and childlike and fair; a simple, sincere, and gravely thoughtful people, willing to believe that there may be in even the everyday things of life something not yet fully understood; a race that can, without any loss of native dignity, gravely consider the simplest things, seeking to fathom their meaning and to learn their lesson—equally without vain-glorious boasting and trifling cynicism; an earnest, thoughtful, dignified, but simple and primitive people.

To the children of any race these stories cannot fail to give pleasure by their vivid imaging of the simple things and creatures of the great out-of-doors and the epics of their doings. They will also give an intimate insight into the mentality of an interesting race at a most interesting stage of development, which is now fast receding into the mists of the past.

Marie L. Mclaughlin (Mrs. James McLaughlin).

The

Myths and Legends

of the Sioux

THE FORGOTTEN EAR OF CORN

An Arikara woman was once gathering corn from the field to store away for winter use. She passed from stalk to stalk, tearing off the ears and dropping them into her folded robe. When all was gathered she started to go, when she heard a faint voice, like a child's, weeping and calling:

"Oh, do not leave me! Do not go away without me."

The woman was astonished. "What child can that be?" she asked herself. "What babe can be lost in the cornfield?"

She set down her robe in which she had tied up her corn, and went back to search; but she found nothing.

As she started away she heard the voice again:

"Oh, do not leave me. Do not go away without me."

She searched for a long time. At last in one corner of the field, hidden under the leaves of the stalks, she found one little ear of corn. This it was that had been crying, and this is why all Indian women have since garnered their corn crop very carefully, so that the succulent food product should not even to the last small nubbin be neglected or wasted, and thus displease the Great Mystery.

THE LITTLE MICE

Once upon a time a prairie mouse busied herself all fall storing away a cache of beans. Every morning she was out early with her empty cast-off snake skin, which she filled with ground beans and dragged home with her teeth.

The little mouse had a cousin who was fond of dancing and talk, but who did not like to work. She was not careful to get her cache of beans and the season was already well gone before she thought to bestir herself. When she came to realize her need, she found she had no packing bag. So she went to her hardworking cousin and said:

"Cousin, I have no beans stored for winter and the season is nearly gone. But I have no snake skin to gather the beans in. Will you lend me one?"

"But why have you no packing bag? Where were you in the moon when the snakes cast off their skins?"

"I was here."

"What were you doing?"

"I was busy talking and dancing."

"And now you are punished," said the other. "It is always so with lazy, careless people. But I will let you have the snake skin. And now go, and by hard work and industry, try to recover your wasted time."

THE PET RABBIT

A little girl owned a pet rabbit which she loved dearly. She carried it on her back like a babe, made for it a little pair of moccasins, and at night shared with it her own robe.

Now the little girl had a cousin who loved her very dearly and wished to do her honor; so her cousin said to herself:

"I love my little cousin well and will ask her to let me carry her pet rabbit around;" (for thus do Indian women when they wish to honor a friend; they ask permission to carry about the friend's babe).

She then went to the little girl and said:

"Cousin, let me carry your pet rabbit about on my back. Thus shall I show you how I love you."

Her mother, too, said to her: "Oh no, do not let our little grandchild go away from our tepee."

But the cousin answered: "Oh, do let me carry it. I do so want to show my cousin honor." At last they let her go away with the pet rabbit on her back.

When the little girl's cousin came home to her tepee, some rough boys who were playing about began to make sport of her. To tease the little girl they threw stones and sticks at the pet rabbit. At last a stick struck the little rabbit upon the head and killed it.

When her pet was brought home dead, the little rabbit's adopted mother wept bitterly. She cut off her hair for mourning and all her little girl friends wailed with her. Her mother, too, mourned with them.

"Alas!" they cried, "alas, for the little rabbit. He was always kind and gentle. Now your child is dead and you will be lonesome."

The little girl's mother called in her little friends and made a great mourning feast for the little rabbit. As he lay in the tepee his adopted mother's little friends brought many precious things and covered his body. At the feast were given away robes and kettles and blankets and knives and great wealth in honor of the little rabbit. Him they wrapped in a robe with his little moccasins on and buried him in a high place upon a scaffold.