Wolverine Creates the World: Labrador Indian Tales

by Lawrence Millman

folk-stories of the Innu people of Eastern Canada

Genres: Mythology

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

About the author

I've written 16 books, including such titles as Last Places, Our Like Will Not Be There Again, A Kayak Full of Ghosts, Hero Jesse, and Fascinating Fungi of New England. I've also explored remote areas in East Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. I'm a Fellow of the prestigious Explorers Club and, in my mycological capacity, past president of the A.S.S. (American Stinkhorn Society).

And here's the most recent news: In January 2017, St. Martin's will be publishing my latest book, At the End of the World: A True Story of Murder in the Arctic. Not only does the book detail a series of murders in the name of religion in 1941 among the (surprise!) Inuit, but also it discusses how digital technology is turning our species into robots.

Reviews

[Sportyrod · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whoa! Who could have conceived the idea of a human living inside an animal’s behind?!?! This book is a collection of oral folklore from the Innu Indians from Labrador, Canada. Many of these stories are metaphoric lessons for life (or at least I hope they are). Each story is a page or so. They’re about mysticism, odd couplings (that cover just about every taboo) and weird animal interactions.

Whilst the book summary did warn of a lot of scat talk, this book turned out to be far more different than I had expected. There was no easing into it.

I’m not sure how to put this properly/politely but these stories are something that a naughty 12 year old boy would enjoy reading. And perhaps people with a whacky sense of humour.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading because of the man who will not marry a porcupine.

Seriously, this short collection contains earthy folktales. There is a note section in the back. It is a nice varied collection - funny, scary, sad.

[Loïk Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of traditional stories. Only hiccup is that the anthropologist is clearly unaware of certain things such as cultural concepts and the language as everything is misspelled and the glossary for certain innu-aimun words are incorrect.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection-- all the good stuff left in, all the stories fantastic. Millman's hand seems light, and he keeps the brio.