Wigwam Evenings

Chosen by a renowned folklorist who was raised among the Sioux, these 27 entertaining and instructive tales include creation myths, animal fables, and other adventures that will charm young readers.

These scattered leaves from the unwritten school-book of the wilderness have been gathered together for the children of to-day; both as a slight contribution to the treasures of aboriginal folk-lore, and with the special purpose of adapting them to the demands of the American school and fireside. That is to say, we have chosen from a mass of material the shorter and simpler stories and parts of stories, and have not always insisted upon a literal rendering, but taken such occasional liberties with the originals as seemed necessary to fit them to the exigencies of an unlike tongue and to the sympathies of an alien race.

These scattered leaves from the unwritten school-book of the wilderness have been gathered together for the children of to-day; both as a slight contribution to the treasures of aboriginal folk-lore, and with the special purpose of adapting them to the demands of the American school and fireside. Notice: This Book is published by Historical Books Limited (www.publicdomain.org.uk) as a Public Domain Book, if you have any inquiries, requests or need any help you can just send an email to [email protected] This book is found as a public domain and free book based on various online catalogs, if you think there are any problems regard copyright issues please contact us immediately via [email protected]

Contains twenty-seven Sioux folk tales, including creation myths, animal fables, and stories of brave heroes, beautiful princesses, and wicked witches.

These 27 tales offer a sampling of the Sioux values. Narrated by Smoky Day, an old story-teller, these folktales suggest "the essence of what it is to be a decent, thoughtful and respectable human being."

There are stories here of different types, each of which has its prototype or parallel in the nursery tales of other nations. The animal fables of the philosophic red man are almost as terse and satisfying as those of Aesop, of whom they put us strongly in mind. A little further on we meet with brave and fortunate heroes, and beautiful princesses, and wicked old witches, and magical transformations, and all the other dear, familiar material of fairy lore, combined with a touch that is unfamiliar and fascinating.

Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman (Sioux: Ohiyesa) (1858-1939) was a Native American author, a physician and a reformer. He was active in politics and helped in finding the Boy Scouts of America. In 1899, he helped recruit students for the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. He served as a lobbyist for the Dakota between 1894 and 1897. Eastman published the autobiographical Indian Boyhood in 1902, recounting his first fifteen years of life among the Sioux during the waning years of the nineteenth century. In 1891 he married Elaine Goodale Eastman (1863-1953), an American poet. They had six children. She witnessed many monumental events in Sioux history, such as the aftermath of the Wounded Knee Massacre, which scarred her deeply. Her marriage was strained but the couple remained together for three decades. She wrote a book about her experiences as a Sioux school teacher called Sister to the Sioux. She published her last book of poems, The Voice at Eve, in 1930.