Native American Tales and Legends

by Allan A. Macfarlan (Editor)

This exciting collection contains more than thirty richly imaginative stories from a variety of Native American sources — Cherokee to Zuñi, Pawnee to Midu — covering a broad spectrum of subjects, as well as tales of little people, giants, and monsters, and of magic, enchantment, sorcery, and the spirit world.
Readers will find stories telling how the earth, people, and bison were created and how fire was discovered, while others introduce the hero Glooscap and the Maiden of the Yellow Rocks. Still other traditional tales tell of the troubles Rabbit's boastfulness got him into, and about the clever ways Little Blue Fox managed to escape from Coyote.
Among the stories in this collection are "The White Stone Canoe" (Chippewa), "Raven Pretends to Build a Canoe" (Tsimshian), "The Theft from the Sun" (Blackfoot), "The Loon's Necklace" (Iroquois), "The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting" (Cherokee), "The Coyote" (Pueblo), and "The Origin of the Buffalo and of Corn" (Cheyenne). Young people will delight in these tales, as will any reader interested in Native American stories or folklore in general.

Genres: Mythology, Childrens, History

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Allan A Macfarlan is a published author and an editor of children's books. Some of the published credits of Allan A Macfarlan include Native American Tales and Legends (Dover Juvenile Classics), The boy's book of outdoor discovery.

Reviews

[Mark M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since growing up in Minnesota and being adjacent to Native American history, I’ve always been curious about the rich history reflected in a story-driven culture and this book was a great read in that regard. Also cool to see parallel narratives to some of the biblical stories and creation myths of other cultures too.

[Mike Malony · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories varied a lot in tone and quality. Some are marvelous tales into wild lands of history, and others seem flat. Much of it was fun and all the stories are just a few pages. I'm glad I read it, and would use the flavor for story telling myself.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The children enjoyed this and was a great basis for our learning.
I will not be reading this book next year, which is kind of sad but understandable.
I kind of lost the will to live with Iosco but the children's visit to he sun and moon was well thought out and produced decent work - bearing in mind they'd had months away from formal teaching.

I swapped The Maiden of the Yellow Rocks as upon reflection, it was too long... I changed it for the Hermit Thrush. The children loved that little bird.

I LOVE the Native American topic!!!
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Can't wait to share this - 4*

We've completely revamped our topics during lockdown 2020 so this book is going to be the basis for guided reading for one of the new topics - Road Trip USA. Teaching the US, I was very wary of the angle I was going to take. I've decided to make the basis of the topic on Native Americans as I feel this is so important but rarely taught. Like for me, this is a complete learning curve.

In terms of the book, I've chosen five myths to base guided reading on - How the Earth Began; Mon-daw-min, or the Origin of Indian Corn; Iosco, or the Priarie Boys' Visit to the Sun and Moon; The Maiden of the Yellow Rocks; The Dun Horse.

In times like this, I've read it on kindle as the physical copy delivery will take a while. It's also much easier to make notes on the kindle app than the kindle.

I can't wait to share this - whether that's in a couple of weeks of Summer 2021.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can see different uses for different stories but overall, I see learning about and learning respect for another way of life. I feel this is essential for all children.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great set of stories, perfect reading coming back from the Arizona desert