2009 Reading #62: Myths and Legends of the Sioux
Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
61. Hmong in Minnesota by Chia Youyee Vang.
62. Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie L. McLaughlin. (Link goes to electronic version at the University of Virginia.) This book is from 1916 and I have no way to be sure of the provenance of these stories, but I picked it up because the author says in her foreword that she learned most of them from her grandmother, who was of the Medawakanton Band of Dakota/Sioux tribe; this is the band which was settled in the St. Paul area in the period shortly before the city was founded. A mix of stories, some refined into familiar patterns, some stranger and therefore much more interesting. I am particularly interested in the stories about Unktomi (as it's spelled here: Iktomi is perhaps the standardized spelling) a spider-trickster figure who may or may not be the same or similar to Unktahe, a god of water and the underworld who was supposed to have lived in Wakon-teebe, a holy place which later came to be known as Carver's Cave. More research is required.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
61. Hmong in Minnesota by Chia Youyee Vang.
62. Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie L. McLaughlin. (Link goes to electronic version at the University of Virginia.) This book is from 1916 and I have no way to be sure of the provenance of these stories, but I picked it up because the author says in her foreword that she learned most of them from her grandmother, who was of the Medawakanton Band of Dakota/Sioux tribe; this is the band which was settled in the St. Paul area in the period shortly before the city was founded. A mix of stories, some refined into familiar patterns, some stranger and therefore much more interesting. I am particularly interested in the stories about Unktomi (as it's spelled here: Iktomi is perhaps the standardized spelling) a spider-trickster figure who may or may not be the same or similar to Unktahe, a god of water and the underworld who was supposed to have lived in Wakon-teebe, a holy place which later came to be known as Carver's Cave. More research is required.