INDIAN NATURE MYTHS BY JULIA DARROW COWLES With Illustrations by Dorothy Dulin A. FLANAGAN COMPANY CHICAGO COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY [Illustration: Publisher’s device] INDIAN NATURE MYTHS Books by Julia Darrow Cowles THE ROBINSON CRUSOE READER STORIES TO TELL GOING TO SCHOOL IN ANIMAL LAND THE QUEER LITTLE TAILOR INDIAN NATURE MYTHS Published by A. Flanagan Company [Illustration: Page 121 “THE THUNDER MAIDEN FASTENED HIS PURPLE WINGS TO HIS SHOULDERS AND BADE HIM GOOD-BYE”] PREFACE The stories of this book have been chosen for the purpose of showing how the early Red Men accounted for the phenomena of nature--the presence of the birds, the moaning of the wind, the whispering of the leaves. The nature myths of the North American Indian are full of poetry, and occasionally of a rich humor. In retelling the stories for children the author has sought to retain the original spirit of the tales, and through them to give to the reader a better understanding of the inner life and thought of the primitive Red Man at his best. The tales have been gathered from many sources, and are representative of many tribes. It is well known that the same tale in varying form is told among many different tribes, just as the folk tales have been carried in early times from one nation to another and are variously accredited. It is not always possible to determine the original source. Before reading or telling the Indian Nature Myths to the children, it is best to explain that just as they love to wonder and imagine about the new and strange sights and sounds of the world, so the early races of men, the children of time, loved to wonder and imagine. And so these stories of nature grew out of their imaginings; and some of the stories are so beautiful, and some of them are so odd, that men have repeated them from one generation to another, ever since,--for even when they no longer believed them to be true, they loved them. CONTENTS PAGES How the Seasons Came to Be (Ojibwa) 11 Birth of the Arbutus (Ojibwa) 18 The Maiden with Golden Hair (Chippewa) 24 Origin of the Violet (Iroquois) 29 The Beginning of Birds (Blackfeet) 33 Why the Wind Wails (Algonquin) 37 Story of the Humming Bird (Shoshonee) 43 The Gift of Indian Corn (Chippewa) 48