[Illustration: Cover] [Frontispiece: Sîñ takes the Form of a Woodpecker [_Page_ 316]] THE MYTHS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS BY LEWIS SPENCE F.R.A.I. AUTHOR OF "THE MYTHS OF MEXICO AND PERU" "THE CIVILIZATION OF ANCIENT MEXICO" "A DICTIONARY OF MYTHOLOGY" ETC. ETC. WITH THIRTY-TWO PLATES IN COLOUR BY JAMES JACK AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON GEORGE G. HARRAP & COMPANY 2 & 3 PORTSMOUTH STREET KINGSWAY W.C. MCMXIV PRINTED AT THE BALLANTYNE PRESS LONDON ENGLAND UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME _The illustrations, which are a feature of this series, are reproduced for the most part from the finest works of past and living artists_ The Myths of Greece and Rome By H. A. GUERBER. With 64 Full-page Illustrations. A classic volume. At once a fascinating story-book and a valuable work of reference. Myths of the Norsemen From the Eddas and Sagas. By H. A. GUERBER. With 64 Full-page Illustrations. Myths and Legends of the Middle Ages By H. A. GUERBER. With 64 Full-page Illustrations. Hero Myths and Legends of the British Race By M. I. EBBUTT, M.A. With 64 Original Full-page Illustrations. Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race By T. W. ROLLESTON. With 64 Original Full-page Illustrations. The Myths and Legends of Japan By F. HADLAND DAVIS. With 32 Plates in Colour by EVELYN PAUL. The Myths of Mexico and Peru By LEWIS SPENCE, F.R.A.I. With 60 Full-page Plates and other Illustrations. {v} PREFACE The North American Indian has so long been an object of the deepest interest that the neglect of his picturesque and original mythologies and the tales to which they have given rise is difficult of comprehension. In boyhood we are wont to regard him as an instrument specially designed for the execution of tumultuous incident, wherewith heart-stirring fiction may be manufactured. In manhood we are too apt to consider him as only fit to be put aside with the matter of Faery and such evanescent stuff and relegated to the limbo of imagination. Satiated with his constant recurrence in the tales of our youth, we are perhaps but too ready to hearken credulously to accounts which picture him as a disreputable vagabond, getting a precarious living by petty theft or the manufacture of bead ornaments. It is, indeed, surprising how vague a picture the North American Indian presents to the minds of most people in Europe when all that recent anthropological research has done on the subject is taken into account. As a matter of fact, few books have been published in England which furnish more than the scantiest details concerning the Red Race, and these are in general scarce, and, when obtained, of doubtful scientific value.