Mexico and the north central mesas of Arizona are not only superstitious and fatalistic but they are believers in immortality of animal as well as human hearts, except when burned. These Indians of the Rio Grande valley of New In the fox and coyote stories the victim is continually being resuscitated by this magic power of putting on and off his animal life, and there is no more cruelty in the idea than in the East Indian idea of transmigration." There is another item of primitive psychology which renders tales innocuous to the tribal mind, and that is the idea of physical life, especially for animals, as a kind of masquerade, something that can be put on and off at will. There is the same childlike spirit of fun behind them that prompts children to snow ball one another, and play such pranks as throwing one another in the creek. Mary Austin who suggests that I make it clearer in the notes that "the tales are not nearly so cruel to the Amerind mind as they seem to us. I very much appreciate the kind criticism of Mrs. In order to help mothers, and other readers of these tales-to-little-folks, answer the question after question – almost ad infinitum – that such little folk like to ask, I have added a glossary of explanatory notes. The choice of the title was suggested by the fact that the Indian "Taytay" or grandfather is usually the one who tells the stories to the children. While these stories differ widely from the ones contained in this volume, they show a decided relationship of origin.
Lummis's Pueblo Indian Folk-Stories, told by the Indians of Isleta Pueblo (there are none from that source in this collection), there are several incidents somewhat similar to The Coyote and the Fox, Deh-a, The Fox and the Skunk, Dy-yoh-wi and His Eagle, The Fate of the Boy Witch, The Fate of the Witch Wife and The Man-Eater. Gunn, the story The Coyote and the Horned Toad is almost identical with The Fox and the Lizard, which was also gotten from the Laguna Pueblo, but told by a different narrator.
In Schatchen, a book of myths collected from the Laguna Pueblo by John M. It is interesting to compare the stories of the different pueblos, where the Indians have intermarried among themselves for so many generations that each pueblo is a distinct world unto itself. There is a marked similarity between Little Red Riding Hood and Juanita, Marianita, the Cat and the Bear, and also between Uncle Remus's Tar Baby and The Gum Baby but the Indian relaters insist that these two tales were told to them by their grandfathers, and they were "already then very old when my grandfather heard them." To what extent, if any, they have been influenced by the folklore of other countries and races, or the Indian tales have influenced those of other races, I do not know. The medicine men's ceremony is "secret" nobody is allowed to witness it except the nearest relatives of the sick person upon whom they are trying to work their charms.Īs is always true with stories that are passed on orally from one generation to another, these folktales must have been somewhat changed in the relating but judging from the accuracy of detail insisted upon when they were told to me, I believe that the change has been very slight.
The dance pictures all represent real ceremonies still celebrated yearly by the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. They have drawn and painted the pictures according to their own conceptions of Neither of these boys has had any training in art. We think perhaps other little children – and some grown-ups, too – may derive the same pleasure from them, so we should like to share our stories.Īs mentioned above, the illustrations have been sketched and painted by a seventeen-year-old Hopi boy Fred Kabotie, whose Indian name is Na-kah-woh-ma (It happens again and again like the sunrise), with the exception of a few pen-and-ink sketches drawn by Otis Polelonema, another Hopi boy. Ann enjoyed them so thoroughly that we teased and cajoled other Indians into telling us other folktales, and so the number and our joy in them grew. Taytay's Tales were collected for a little girl with an insatiable thirst for "stories." The first ones were gotten by chance from the young Indian boy who has kindly illustrated this collection. A Celebration of Women Writers Taytay's Tales,ĭuring the long winter nights Taytay told tales to his little grandson.