Customer Reviews:
Interesting collection, somewhat disconnected
This presents a wide range of collections including those of the creation of heros (prototypes for initiation?), creation myths, heroic stories, and the like. The collection is fairly wide-ranging and includes a lot of material. Most of the stories are short ones (no epics) but it's a good overview of many of the dimensions of Native American myths and legends.

The major problem here is that the book lumps all Native American groups together as if they are the same. This leads to a lack of continuity between the stories and a bit of a cultural disconnect. For that I'm removing one star.

All in all, though, I learned a lot from this book and found it quite interesting and useful.

Indian Myths
Thanx for the book. I only wish Seminole myths were in it. ;)

wow
This is exactly what I was looking for!
The Indians legends and myths about nearly everything.
Maybe you have read the books of Carlos Castaneda and wanted to know more about the world of Indians? Maybe you are just wondering what is behind the white peoples world? Or maybe you just enjoy reading good stories for yourselves and for your children.

It would be wise for us to start reading a stories for our children again, instead of putting them before TV. This is kind of strong base for their mental structure- to face the everyday lifes stress and routine.

For all reasons this is a good choice.

I read al lot, maybe 60-80 books a year, but this book I will remember.
Enjoyable reading to you!

authentic but inconsistent
this collection is, for the most part, written directly from recordings of tribe members retelling the stories. there is a nice sense of authenticity in the collection, but many of the stories really seem to be collected for the sake of collecting the stories... in other words, there is a definite inconsistency throughout this book.

it can be tedious to get through some parts, because the legends occasionally seem to go nowhere. it seems that many of these myths are explanations of how something came in to being, rather than a moralistic message, and in this sense it is valuable in presenting insight into the worlview of the cultures represented. nevertheless, as a reader it is enjoyable to feel that a story is leading up to something, which is not always the case here.

i was surprised by the politically incorrect title (First Nations is the preferred term nowadays- "Indians" is considered offensive), but the book was published in 1984 so this makes sense- perhaps a reprint will have a different title.

166 Quickies
Sorting through many of the American Indian Myths (As if there was a homogenized group called American Indians) Richard Erdoes and Alfonzo Ortiz selected 166 short, one or two page, stories. These stories look like the pre-curser to the urban legends today.

The myths are artificially separated into ten subjects and lose the continuity of being divided by particular ethnic group; thus we never get a feel for the bigger picture of where the stories come from.

You need a great sense of humor as many of the stories are very kinky such as "TEETH IN THE WRONG PLACE" (PONCA-OTOE), which is exactly what it implies.

There seems to be only three Zuni tales out of the 166. I wonder if there is a reason for this.


The Boy Who Made Dragonfly: A Zuni Myth

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