These Indian fairy tales are chosen from the many stories collected by Mr. Henry R. Schoolcraft, the first man to study how the Indians lived and to discover their legends. He lived among the Indians in the West and around the Great Lakes for thirty years in the first part of the Nineteenth Century and wrote many books about them. When the story-tellers sat at the lodge fires in the long evenings to tell of the manitoes and their magic, of how the little boy snared the sun, of the old Toad Woman who stole the baby, and the other tales that had been retold to generation after generation of red children, time out of mind, Mr. Schoolcraft listened and wrote the stories down, just as he heard them. Contents: The Boy Who Set a Snare for the Sun Manabozho, the Mischief-maker The Red Swan The Celestial Sisters Gray Eagle and His Five Brothers He of the Little Shell Osseoj the Son of the Evening Star The Wonderful Exploits of Grasshopper The Toad-woman The Origin of the Robin White Feather and the Six Giants Sheem, the Forsaken Boy Strong Desire and the Red Sorcerer The Magic Packet The Man With His Leg Tied Up Leelinau, the Lost Daughter The Winter Spirit and His Visitor The Enchanted Moccasins The Weendigoes and the Bone-dwarf The Fire-plume The Bird Lover Bokwewa, the Humpback The Little Boy-man Wunzh, the Father of Indian Corn

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Excerpt from The Indian Fairy Book: From the Original Legends These Indian fairy tales are chosen from the many stories collected by Mr. Henry R. Schoolcraft, the first man to study how the Indians lived and to discover their legends. He lived among the Indians in the West and around the Great Lakes for thirty years in the first part Of the Nineteenth Century and wrote many books about them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Indian Fairy Book: From the Original Legends by Cornelius Mathews

This volume presents 24 American Indian fantasy and folk tails, retold by Henry R. Schoolcraft. Originally published in 1916.

The boy came home unsuccessful. Then his sister told him that he must not despair, but try again the next day. She accordingly left him again at the gathering-place of the wood and returned to the lodge. Toward nightfall she heard his little footsteps crackling through the snow, and he hurried in and threw down, with an air of triumph, one of the birds which he had killed. "My sister," said he, "I wish you to skin it and stretch the skin, and when I have killed more, I will have a coat made out of the skins." "But what shall we do with the body?" said she; for they had always up to that time lived upon greens and berries. "Cut it in two," he answered, "and season our pottage with one half of it at a time." It was their first dish of game, and they relished it greatly. The boy kept on in his efforts, and in the course of time he killed ten birds-out of the skins of which his sister made him a little coat. Being very small, he had a very pretty coat, and a bird-skin to spare. "Sister," said he one day, as he paraded up and down before the lodge, enjoying his new coat and fancying himself the greatest little fellow in the world—as he was, for there was no other besides him—"My sister, are we really alone in the world, or are we playing at it? Is there nobody else living? And tell me, was all this great broad earth and this huge big sky made for a little boy and girl like you and me?" "Ah, no," answered the sister, "there are many others, but not harmless as you and I are. They live in a certain other quarter of the earth, and if we would not endanger our lives we must keep away from there. They have killed off all our kinsfolk and will kill us, too, if we go near where they are." To this the boy was silent; but his sister's words only served to inflame his curiosity the more, and soon after he took his how and arrows and went in the forbidden direction. After walking a long time and meeting no one, he became tired and stretched himself upon a high green knoll where the day's warmth had melted off the snow. It was a charming place to lie, and he soon fell asleep. While he slept, the sun heat upon him. It not only singed his bird-skin coat, but so shrivelled and shrunk and tightened it on the little boy's body as to wake him up. And then when he felt how the sun had seared the coat he was so proud of, and saw the mischief its fiery beams had played, he flew into a great passion. He vowed fearful things, and berated the sun in a terrible way for a little boy no higher than a man's knee. "Do not think you are too high," said he; "I shall revenge myself. Oh, sun! I will have you for a plaything yet." On coming home he gave an account of his misfortune to his sister, and bitterly bewailed the spoiling of his new coat. He would not eat—not so much as a single berry. He lay down as one that fasts; nor did he move or change his manner of lying for ten full days, though his sister strove to prevail on him to rise. At the end of ten days he turned over, and then he lay full ten days on the other side.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.