Books with title Native%20American%20Animal%20Stories

The Papago Indians of the American Southwest say butterflies were created to gladden the hearts of children and chase away thoughts of aging and death. How the Butterflies Came to Be is one of twenty-four Native American tales included in Native American Animal Stories. The stories, coming from Mohawk, Hopi, Yaqui, Haida and other cultures, demonstrate the power of animals in Native American traditions.Parents, teachers and children will delight in lovingly told stories about "our relations, the animals." The stories come to life through magical illustrations by Mohawk artists John Kahionhes Fadden and David Fadden."The stories in this book present some of the basic perspectives that Native North American parents, aunts and uncles use to teach the young. They are phrased in terms that modern youngsters can understand and appreciate ... They enable us to understand that while birds and animals appear to be similar in thought processes to humans, that is simply the way we represent them in our stories. But other creatures do have thought processes, emotions, personal relationships...We must carefully ccord these other creatures the respect that they deserve and the right to live without unnecessary harm. Wanton killings of different animals by some hunters and sportsmen are completely outside the traditional way that native people have treated other species, and if these stories can help develop in young people a strong sense of the wonder of other forms of life, this sharing of Native North American knowledge will certainly have been worth the effort." —excerpt from the forward by Vine Deloria, Jr.These stories first appeared in Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac

This panoramic range of tribal stories from Navajo, Cheyenne, Hopi, Kwakiutl, Tlingit and Iroquois tellers covers an equally large canvas of traditional spoken themes. From morality tales that tell us how to live and how to be smart and not merely clever to funny interpretations of marriage and fidelity, this wonderful compilation will make you smile, frown, laugh and chuckle. Popular on radio stations across America all during the 1980s and 90s and in the classrooms as well, the stories will again delight young and old alike—draw up to the fire, and give a listen.

"Native American Stories" is a collection of myths drawn from the native cultures of North America--from the Inuit in the north to the Zuni, Hopi and Cherokee in the south. A common thread throughout these stories is the native view of the world as family--Earth as our Mother, Sun as our Father and the animals as our brother and sisters. The stories foster an ethic of stewardship by clearly showing that we are entrusted with a very special misson--to maintain the natural balance, to take care of our Mother, to be Keepers of the Earth. Each story is beautifully illustrated by Mohawk artist John Kaionhes Fadden.The stories in this collection, which come from "Keepers of the Earth"--a book that unites western scientific methods and Native AMerican traditional stories--can be called "lesson stories." All come from native oral traditions. They have been chosen because the lessons they teach are relatively easy for nonnative people to understand. Some of these stories have more than one lesson to teach. As Joseph Campbell explains in "The Power of Myth," the same stories mean different things to us at different times in our lives, and as we grow, those stories grow with us. The story of Gluscabi and the game animals is one such story. While using this story in workshops, my coauthor Michael Caduto and I have asked people ho many lessons are taught by this one tale. No group ever comes up with fewer than a dozen. -- Joseph Bruchac, from the introduction