Schoolcraft S Indian Legends From Algic Researches

Myths of Hiawatha, Oneata, the red race in America.

Schoocraft's Indian Legends is drawn primarily from Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's 1839 edition of Algic Researches -- a rare, yet often cited, publication. However, stories from two later Schoolcraft collections, Oneota and The Myth of Hiawatha, are also included in an appendix. With a new foreword by Philip P Mason, this book is designed to reaquaint America with one of its often-neglected geniuses.

First published in 1839, this landmark study offers scholars and general readers alike an enchanting compilation of authentic myths and legends from the native peoples of northeastern and central North America. Tales include "Manabozho: or The Great Incarnation of the North" (Algic legend), "The Summer-Maker" (Ojibwa), "The Celestial Sisters" (Shawnee), many more.

It is proposed by the author to publish the result of his observation on the mythology, distinctive opinions, and intellectual character of the aborigines. Materials exist for separate observations on their oral tales, fictitious and historical; their hieroglyphics, music, and poetry; and the grammatical structure of the languages, their principles of combination, and the actual state of their vocabulary. The former topic has been selected as the commencement of the series. At what time the remaining portions will appear, will depend upon the interest manifested by the public in the subject, and the leisure and health necessary to the examination of a mass of original papers, the accumulation of nearly twenty years. The character and peculiarities of the tribes have been studied under favourable circumstances and new aspects; offering, it is believed, an insight into their mental constitution, as yet but imperfectly understood.