Tibik-k�zis - Tales From The Great Lakes & Canada

by Clive Gilson (Editor)

Overview

Among many Native cultures, "storytelling" was normally restricted to the long winter evenings. The Cree were one culture with a strict belief in this regard: "During the summer, no stories founded on fiction were ever told, the Indigenous peoples believing that if any 'fairy' tales were told during that season when they were supposed to use their time to best advantage, the narrator would have his life destroyed by the lizard, which would suck his blood."

Some broad themes can be identified in Indigenous Canadian mythology. Creation myths are among the most sacred to many Indigenous cultures. Haida myths of the Raven, a "celestial being", explain the creation of the sun. The Haida word for Raven means "the one who is going to order things", and it was Raven who established the laws of nature and was present when people were first created.

Supernatural beings are prominent in many myths about the origin of places, animals, and other natural phenomena. Supernatural experiences by ordinary mortals are found in other myths. For example, the Chippewa have myths explaining the first corn and the first robin, triggered by a boy's vision. Some myths explain the origins of sacred rituals or objects, such as sweat lodges, wampum, and the sun dance.

Folktales have been a part of the social and cultural life of Native American regardless of whether they were sedentary agriculturists or nomadic hunters. As they gathered around a fire at night, Native Americans could be transported to another world through the talent of a good storyteller. The effect was derived not only from the novelty of the tale itself but also from the imaginative skill of the narrator, who often added gestures and songs and occasionally adapted a particular tale to suit a certain culture. As I said at the beginning of this short preface, it's been a delight to get to know these tales just a little, and I still have a long way to walk amongst the stories of so many more tribes and peoples across North America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781913500245
Publisher:	Clive Gilson
Publication date:	12/16/2019
Series:	Tales from the World's Firesides - North America , #2
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

I was born in 1962 into a predominantly sporting household - Dad being a good footballer, playing senior amateur and lower league professional football in England, as well as running a series of private businesses in partnership with mum, herself an accomplished and medal winning dancer. I obtained a degree in History from Leeds University before wandering rather haphazardly into the emerging world of business computing in the late nineteen-eighties. A little like my sporting father, I followed a succession of amateur writing paths alongside my career in technology, including working as a freelance journalist and book reviewer, my one claim to fame being a by-line in a national newspaper in the UK, The Sunday People. I also spent 10 years treading the boards, appearing all over the south of the UK in pantos and plays, in village halls and occasionally on the stage of a professional theatre or two. Following the sporting theme, and a while after I hung up my own boots, I worked on live TV broadcasts for the BBC, ITV, TVNZ, EuroSport and others as a rugby "Stato", covering Heineken Cups, Six Nations, IRB World Sevens and IRB World Cups in the late '90's and early '00's. I try to combine my love of storytelling with a passion for information technology, and am currently Vice President - Technology with a major UK FinTech company. You can find out more about Clive's work and contact me at: https://www.boyonabench.com

Table of Contents

PREFACE

ORIGIN OF LIGHT

ERONENIERA

THE STORY OF MANABUSH

MISHEMOKWA

THE GREAT FLOOD

THE LEGEND OF THE THUNDER BIRDS

CREATION OF LIGHT

MISHOSHA

THE ORIGIN OF TOBACCO

PEETA KWAY

ORIGIN OF MAPLE SUGAR

THE CELESTIAL SISTERS

COMING OF FIRE

AT-O-SIS, THE SERPENT

HOW GRIZZLY BEAR AND COYOTE MADE LIGHT AND THE SEASONS

THE PARTRIDGE

ORIGIN OF LIGHT AND FIRE

THE INVISIBLE ONE

HOW FIRE WAS SECURED

THE WEEWILLMEKQ'

MANABUSH AND THE GREAT FISH

FISH-HAWK AND SCAPEGRACE

OLD ONE

THE WONDERFUL EXPLOITS OF GRASSHOPPER

THE GREAT FIRE

THE GIANT MAGICIANS

WHY THE SUN IS BRIGHT

THE CLIFF OF SINIKIELT

THE DEPARTURE OF MANABUSH

OSSEO, THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR

SUN AND MOON

THE WOMAN IN THE MOON

THE REQUEST FOR IMMORTALITY

MOON

WAR WITH THE SKY PEOPLE

HOW TWO SISTERS GOT OUT OF SKY LAND

THE STAR HUNTERS

RABBIT AND PANTHER

THE GREAT BEAR AND THE HUNTER

ORIGIN OF THE CHINOOK WIND

WHY DEER NEVER EAT MEN

HOW SHEWISH BECAME A GREAT WHALE HUNTER

WHEN GLACIER MARRIED CHINOOK’S DAUGHTER

MINK’S WAR WITH THE SOUTHEAST WIND

CAPTURE OF WIND

THE PORCUPINE AND THE TWO SISTERS

WHY LIGHTNING STRIKES THE TREES

ORIGIN OF TSILHQOT’IN CAÑON

ORIGIN OF DEATH

TURTLE

HOW DEATH CAME

ORIGIN OF ARROWHEADS

HOW THE INDIANS FIRST OBTAINED BLANKETS

BALL-CARRIER AND THE BAD ONE

HUNTING IN THE SNOW MOUNTAINS

COYOTE’S GIFT OF THE SALMON AND THE CAÑON OF THE FRASER RIVER

THE FINDING OF THE TSOMASS

COYOTE AND THE SALMON

WISKE-DJAK AND THE GEESE

WISKE-DJAK AND THE PARTRIDGES

WISKE-DJAK AND GREAT BEAVER

WEENDIGOES AND THE BONE-DWARF

THE LEGEND OF EUT-LE-TEN

COYOTE AND FOX

BEAVER AND PORCUPINE

FURTHER ADVENTURES OF EUT-LE-TEN

THE BIRD LOVER

HOW BALL-CARRIER FINISHED HIS TASK

EAGLE’S FEAST

WHEN CHICKADEE CLIMBED A TREE

CHIPMUNK

WAR OF THE FOUR TRIBES

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONSTERS

HISTORICAL NOTES

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Editorial Reviews

I have edited Clive Gilson’s books for over a decade now – he’s prolific and can turn his hand to many genres. poetry, short fiction, contemporary novels, folklore and science fiction – and the common theme is that none of them ever fails to take my breath away. There’s something in each story that is either memorably poignant, hauntingly unnerving or sidesplittingly funny.

Lorna Howarth, The Write Factor

From the Publisher