Sacred Journey into Indigenous Communities

Integrated Seminar 101

Assignment 3: Bibliography for Re-Telling the Narrative Oral Traditions

 

Select a story that "speaks to you,"  you have an interest in, it offers an insightful mi'yep, etc. for you.  Consider, for example, the narratives in Landscape Traveled by Coyote and Crane or Stories That Make the World. These are stories that have been previously reviewed by elders for public sharing.  Some stories are not meant to be shared publicly.  While accessing these oral traditions through the medium of a literacy-based format is certainly not the ideal approach, in Landscape Traveled by Coyote and Crane and Stories That Make the World a concerted effort was made to retain some of the oral nuances of these stories.  The instructor can suggest additional sources to consider.  For this re-telling activity, we are focusing on the perennial First People narratives, so in Landscape Traveled by Coyote and Crane do not use for this activity "Word Battle," "Crow War Party," "Smallpox and the Five People," "Steptoe Warrior," or "Indian Uprising on the St. Joe,"  and in Stories That Make the World do not use "Wise Man," "The Little People," "Little Head," or "Cosechin."   Other texts to consider include:

1. Aoki, Haruo 1979 Nez Perce Texts. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Publications in Linguistics 90.  Example of an interlinear text with free translation of Coyote and His Daughter (compare with Phinney's Coyote and the Shadow People)

2. Aoki, Haruo and Deward Walker 1989 Nez Perce Oral Narratives. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Publications in Linguistics 104.

3.  Phinney, Archie 1934 Nez Perce Texts. New York, Columbia University Press.  Example of a free translation: Coyote and the Shadow People

4.  Boas, Franz and A. Chamberlain 1918 Kutenai Tales. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 49:1-387. Smithsonian Institution.

5.  Lowie, Robert  1918 The Religion and Myths of Crow Indians.  New York: Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History  Two free translation examples:  Curtain Boy and Spring Boy and Buffalo Wife 

6.  Also consider the stories of Salmon Always Goes Up River (Plateau Indian),   Sedna or Muskrat Man (Inuit),  and Karora (Aranda Aborigine)

7. Reichard, Gladys 1947 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths. Philadelphia: Memoirs of the American Folklore Society 41. in conjunction with "Coeur d'Alene Texts"below

"Coeur d'Alene Texts,"  these interlinear transcriptions were recorded and compiled by Gladys Reidard from Dorothy Nicodemous (over 70 years old) and Tom Miyel in 1927 and 1929.  Published in "Coeur d'Alene Texts," Part II, xvii-xxiv.  University of Indiana, Archives of Languages of he World, Bloomington, 1946 .

These texts were subsequently published as "free-translations" in Reichard, Gladys. 1969 [1947].  An analysis of Coeur d’ Alene Indian myths.  Memoirs of the American Folklore Society, no. 41.: Philadelphia, and  New York : Krauss Reprint Co.    All narratives are from Nicodemous, unless noted.

Text 1

Coyote Snares Wind

Crane

Text 4

War between Land and Water People

Chief Child of the Root

Origin of the Indian Tribes

Coyote Cuts Sun's Heat

 

Text 2

Lynx (Tom Miyel)

Lynx (Dorothy)

Skunk and Fisher

Cat Bird

Text 5

Coyote Steals Son's Wife

Calling the Deer

Little Beaver

Coyote Devours his own Children

Coyote Loses his Eyes

 

Text 3

Girls Steal Dentalia

Dog Husband

Thunder

Waterbird Contests for Women

Whale Woman

 

Text 6

Calling his Kind (Dorothy)

Calling his Kind (Tom Miyel)

Coyote and Nighthawk change Clothes

Coyote and Fish Gamble

Coyote Marries Pinesquirrel

Coyote Imitates Magpie

Coyote Kills Cricket

Cricket Rides Coyote

Badger and Coyote

 

Thanks to Kim Matheson, Language Program Manager, Hnqwa'qwe'eln Language Center, Coeur d'Alene Tribe, for the copy of the transcripts.

 

 

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