Other editions of book Old Indian Legends

One of the most famous Sioux writers and activists of the modern era, Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin) recalled legends and tales from oral tradition and used experiences from her life and community to educate others about the Yankton Sioux. Determined, controversial, and visionary, she creatively worked to bridge the gap between her own culture and mainstream American society and advocated for Native rights on a national level. (cover image courtesy of Kathy Belge) IKTOMI AND THE DUCKS IKTOMI'S BLANKET IKTOMI AND THE MUSKRAT IKTOMI AND THE COYOTE IKTOMI AND THE FAWN THE BADGER AND THE BEAR THE TREE-BOUND SHOOTING OF THE RED EAGLE IKTOMI AND THE TURTLE DANCE IN A BUFFALO SKULL THE TOAD AND THE BOY IYA THE CAMP-EATER MANSTIN THE RABBIT THE WARLIKE SEVEN

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Zitkala-Sa was a 19th century Sioux author and activist, and this is a collection of Native American tales he compiled during trips to various reservations. Among Native American tribes, the Sioux are one of the best known and most important. Participants in some of the most famous and notorious events in American history, the history of the Sioux is replete with constant reminders of the consequences of both their accommodation of and resistance to American incursions into their territory by pioneering white settlers pushing further westward during the 19th century. Some Sioux leaders and their bands resisted incoming whites, while others tried to accommodate them, but the choice often had little impact on the ultimate outcome. Crazy Horse, who was never defeated in battle by U.S. troops, surrendered to them in 1877, only to be bayoneted to death by soldiers attempting to imprison him. Black Kettle, who flew a large American flag from his lodge to indicate his friendship with the white man, was shot to death by soldiers under George Custer's command in 1868. Throughout the 19th century, the U.S. government and its officials in the West adopted a policy of dividing the Sioux into two groups: "Treaty Indians" and "Non-treaty Indians." Often they used these groups against each other or used one group to influence another, but the end was always the same. They were forced off the land where they resided, their populations were decimated by disease, and they were forced onto reservations to adopt lifestyles considered "appropriate" by American standards. Despite being some of the most erstwhile foes the U.S. government faced during the Indian Wars, the Sioux and their most famous leaders were grudgingly admired and eventually immortalized by the very people they fought. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse remain household names due to their leadership of the Sioux at the fateful Battle of the Little Bighorn, where the native warriors wiped out much of George Custer's 7th Cavalry and inflicted the worst defeat of the Indian Wars upon the U.S. Army. Red Cloud remains a symbol of both defiance and conciliation, resisting the Americans during Red Cloud's War but also transitioning into a more peaceful life for decades on reservation.

Excerpt from Old Indian LegendsThere were other worlds of legendary folk for the young aborigine, such as The Star Men of the Sky, The Thunder Birds Blink ing Zigzag Lightning, and The Mysterious Spirits of Trees and Flowers.' Under an open Sky, nestling close to the earth, the Old Dakota story-tellers have told me these legends. In both Dakotas, North and South I have Often listened to the same story told over again by a new story-teller.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Old Indian Legends is a classic collection of Native American legends by Zitkala-Sa that includes fourteen stories featuring Iktomi, the Native American trickster god.IKTOMI AND THE DUCKS IKTOMI'S BLANKET IKTOMI AND THE MUSKRAT IKTOMI AND THE COYOTE IKTOMI AND THE FAWN THE BADGER AND THE BEAR THE TREE-BOUND SHOOTING OF THE RED EAGLE IKTOMI AND THE TURTLE DANCE IN A BUFFALO SKULL THE TOAD AND THE BOY IYA, THE CAMP-EATER MANSTIN, THE RABBIT THE WARLIKE SEVEN

Early in the twentieth century, a Sioux woman named Zitkala-Ša published these fourteen Native legends that she had learned during her own childhood on the Yankton Reservation. Her writing talent, developed during her education back east, was put to good use in recording from oral tradition the exploits of Iktomi the trickster, Eya the glutton, the Dragon Fly, and other magical and mysterious figures, human and animal, known to the Sioux. Until her death in 1938, Zitkala-Ša stood between two cultures as preserver and translator.

Legends of the Native Americans.About the AuthorGertrude Simmons Bonnin (1876 - 1938)Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (February 22, 1876 - January 26, 1938), better known by her pen name, Zitkala-Sa, was a Native American writer, editor, musician, teacher and political activist. She was born and raised on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota by her mother, Ellen Simmons, whose Yankton-Nakota name was Tate Iyohiwin (Every Wind or Reaches for the Wind). Zitkala-Sa lived a traditional lifestyle until the age of eight when she left her reservation to attend Whites Manual Labor Institute, a Quaker mission school in Wabash, Indiana. She went on to study for a time at Earlham College in Indiana and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. A considerable talent, Bonnin co-composed the first American Indian grand opera, The Sun Dance (composed in romantic style based on Ute and Sioux themes), in 1913.After working as a teacher at Carlisle Indian Industrial School, she moved to Boston and began publishing short stories and autobiographical vignettes. Her autobiographical writings were serialized in Atlantic Monthly from January to March of 1900 and, later, published in a collection called American Indian Stories in 1921. Her first book, Old Indian Legends, is a collection of folktales that she gathered during her visits home to the Yankton Reservation. Much of early scholarship on her life comes from American Indian Stories and, more recently, from Doreen Rappaport's biography titled The Flight of Red Bird. For other reliable scholarship, see the work of P. Jane Hafen.Her life has recently received more attention after the so-called "canon wars." This new influx of scholarship from ethnic groups who have been largely excluded from the traditional American literar

Early in the century a magnificent Sioux woman named Zitkala-Ša published these legends that she learned during her childhood on the Yankton Reservation. Her eastern education developed a writing talent that was put to good use in recording from oral tradition the exploits of Iktomi the trickster, Eya the glutton, the Dragon Fly, the Blood Clot boy, and other magical and mysterious figures, human and animal, known to the Sioux. Until her death in 1938, Zitkala-Ša stood between two cultures as preserver and translator.