The Indian Fairy Book - free ebook by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

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The Indian Fairy Book

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

25 chapters

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25 chapters

FOREWORD

FOREWORD

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

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I. THE BOY WHO SET A SNARE FOR THE SUN

I. THE BOY WHO SET A SNARE FOR THE SUN

T he 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

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II. MANABOZHO, THE MISCHIEF-MAKER

II. MANABOZHO, THE MISCHIEF-MAKER

T HERE was never in the whole world a more mischievous busy-body than that notorious giant Manabozho. He was everywhere, in season and out of season, running about and putting his hand in whatever was going forward. To carry on his game, he could take almost any shape he pleased; he could be very foolish or very wise; very weak or very strong; very poor or very rich—just as happened to suit his humor best. Whatever any one else could do, he would attempt without a moment's reflection. He was a m

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III. THE RED SWAN

III. THE RED SWAN

T HREE brothers were left destitute at an early age by the death of their parents. The eldest was not yet able to provide fully for their support, but he did all that he could in hunting; and with this aid, and the stock of provisions already laid by in the lodge, they managed to keep along. They had no neighbors to lend them a helping hand, for the father had withdrawn many years before from the body of the tribe and had lived ever since in a solitary place. The lads had no idea that there was

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IV. THE CELESTIAL SISTERS

IV. THE CELESTIAL SISTERS

W AUPEE, or the White Hawk, lived in a remote part of the forest, where animals abounded. Every day he returned from the chase with a large spoil, for he was one of the most skilful and lucky hunters of his tribe. His form was like the cedar; the fire of youth beamed from his eye; there was no forest too gloomy for him to penetrate, and no track made by bird or beast of any kind which he could not readily follow. One day he had gone beyond any point which he had ever before visited. He traveled

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V. GRAY EAGLE AND HIS FIVE BROTHERS

V. GRAY EAGLE AND HIS FIVE BROTHERS

T HERE were six falcons living in a nest, five of whom were still too young to fly, when it so happened that both the parent birds were shot in one day. The young brood waited anxiously for their return; but night came, and they were left without parents and without food. Gray Eagle, the eldest, and the only one whose feathers had become stout enough to enable him to leave the nest, took his place at the head of the family and assumed the duty of stifling his brothers' cries and providing the li

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VI. HE OF THE LITTLE SHELL

VI. HE OF THE LITTLE SHELL

O NCE upon a time, all the people of a certain country had died, excepting two helpless children, a baby boy and a little girl. When their parents died, these children were asleep. The little girl, who was the elder, was the first to awake. She looked around her, but seeing nobody but her little brother, who lay smiling in his dreams, she quietly resumed her bed. At the end of ten days her brother moved, without opening his eyes. At the end of ten days more he changed his position, lying on the

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VII. OSSEOJ THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR

VII. OSSEOJ THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR

T HERE once lived an Indian in the north who had ten daughters, all of whom grew up to womanhood. They were noted for their beauty, especially Oweenee, the youngest, who was very independent in her way of thinking. She was a great admirer of romantic places and spent much of her time with the flowers and winds and clouds in the open air. It mattered not to her that the flower was homely, if it was fragrant—that the winds were rough, if they were healthful—and that the clouds were dark, if they e

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VIII. THE WONDERFUL EXPLOITS OF GRASSHOPPER

VIII. THE WONDERFUL EXPLOITS OF GRASSHOPPER

A MAN of small stature found himself standing alone on a prairie. He thought to himself: "How came I here? Are there no beings on this earth but myself? I must travel and see. I must walk till I find the abodes of men." So soon as his mind was made up, he set out, he knew not whither, in search of habitations. He was a resolute little fellow, and no difficulties could turn him from his purpose; neither prairies, rivers, woods nor storms had the effect to daunt his courage or turn him back. After

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IX. THE TOAD-WOMAN

IX. THE TOAD-WOMAN

G REAT good luck once happened to a young woman who was living all alone in the woods with nobody near her but her little dog; for she found fresh meat every morning at her door. She was much surprised and very curious to know who it was that supplied her. So she watched one morning, just as the sun had risen, and saw a handsome young man gliding away into the forest. Having seen her, he became her husband, and they had a son. One evening not long after this, he did not return as usual from hunt

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X. THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBIN

X. THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBIN

A N old man had an only son, named Iadilla, who had come to that age when it is thought to be time for a boy to make the long and final fast which is to secure through life a guardian genius or spirit. The father was ambitious that his son should surpass all others in whatever was deemed wisest and greatest among his people. He thought it necessary that the young Iadilla, to do this, should fast a much longer time than any of those renowned for their power or wisdom. The father therefore directe

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XI. WHITE FEATHER AND THE SIX GIANTS

XI. WHITE FEATHER AND THE SIX GIANTS

T HERE was an old man living in the depth of a forest with his grandson, whom he had taken in charge when quite an infant. The child had no parents, brothers, or sisters; they had all been destroyed by six large giants, and he was informed that he had no other relative living besides his grandfather. The band of Indians to whom he had belonged had put up their children on a wager in a race against those of the giants, and had thus lost them. But there was an old tradition in the tribe, that one

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XII. SHEEM, THE FORSAKEN BOY

XII. SHEEM, THE FORSAKEN BOY

O N a certain afternoon the sun was falling in the west, and in the midst of the ruddy silence a solitary lodge stood on the banks of a remote lake. One sound only broke in the least degree the forest stillness—the low breathing of the dying inmate of the lodge, who was the head of a poor family. His wife and children surrounded the buffalo robe on which he lay. Of the children, two were almost grown up—a daughter and a son; the other was a boy, and a mere child in years. All the skill of the ho

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XIII. STRONG DESIRE AND THE RED SORCERER

XIII. STRONG DESIRE AND THE RED SORCERER

T HERE was a man called Odshedoph, or the Child of Strong Desires, who had a wife and one son. He had withdrawn his family from the village, where they had spent the winter, to the neighborhood of a distant forest, where game abounded. This wood was a day's travel from his winter home, and under its ample shadows the wife fixed the lodge, while the husband went out to hunt. Early in the evening he returned with a deer, and being weary and athirst, he asked his son, whom he called Strong Desire,

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XIV. THE MAGIC PACKET

XIV. THE MAGIC PACKET

A POOR man, called Iena, or the Wanderer, was in the habit of roaming about from place to place, forlorn, without relations, and almost helpless. He had often wished for a companion to share his solitude; but who would think of joining his fortunes with those of a poor wanderer, who had no shelter in the world but such as his leather hunting-shirt provided, and no other household than the packet in which his hunting-shirt was laid away? One day Iena hung up his packet on the branch of a tree, an

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XV. THE MAN WITH HIS LEG TIED UP

XV. THE MAN WITH HIS LEG TIED UP

A S a punishment for having once upon a time used that foot against a venerable medicine man, Aggo Dah Gauda had one leg looped up to his thigh, so that he was obliged to get along by hopping. By dint of practise he had become very skilful in this exercise, and he could make leaps which seemed almost incredible. Aggo had a beautiful daughter, and his chief care was to secure her from being carried off by the king of the buffalos, who was the ruler of all the herds of that kind, and had them enti

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XVI. LEELINAU, THE LOST DAUGHTER

XVI. LEELINAU, THE LOST DAUGHTER

L EELINAU was the favorite daughter of a hunter, who lived on the lake shore near the base of the lofty highlands called Kang Wudjoo. From her earliest youth Leelinau was observed to be thoughtful and retiring. She passed much of her time in solitude and seemed ever to prefer the companionship of her own shadow to the society of the lodge-circle. Whenever she could leave her father's lodge she would fly to remote haunts and recesses in the woods, or sit in lonely reverie upon some high promontor

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XVII. THE WINTER SPIRIT AND HIS VISITOR

XVII. THE WINTER SPIRIT AND HIS VISITOR

A N old man was sitting alone in his lodge by the side of a frozen stream. It was the close of winter, and his fire was almost ont. He appeared very old and very desolate. His locks were white with age, and he trembled in every joint. Day after day passed in solitude, and he heard nothing but the sounds of the tempest, sweeping before it the new-fallen snow. One day as his fire was just dying, a handsome young man approached and entered his dwelling. His cheeks were red with the blood of youth;

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XVIII. THE ENCHANTED MOCCASINS

XVIII. THE ENCHANTED MOCCASINS

A LONG, long time ago, a little boy was living with his sister entirely alone in an uninhabited country far out in the north-west. He was called the Boy That Carries the Ball on his Back, from an idea that he possessed magical powers. This boy was in the habit of meditating alone and asking within himself whether there were other beings similar to himself and his sister on the earth. When he grew up to manhood, he inquired of his sister whether she knew of any human beings besides themselves. Sh

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XIX. THE WEENDIGOES AND THE BONE-DWARF

XIX. THE WEENDIGOES AND THE BONE-DWARF

T HERE once lived a man and his wife and their son in a lonely forest. The father went forth every day, according to the custom of the Indians, to hunt for food to supply his family. One day while he was absent, his wife, on going out of the lodge, looked toward the lake that was near and saw a very large man walking on the water, coming fast toward the lodge. He was already so near that she could not escape by flight, even if she had wished to. "What shall I say to the monster?" she thought to

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XX. THE FIRE-PLUME

XX. THE FIRE-PLUME

W ASSAMO was living with his parents on the shore of a large bay far out in the north-east. One day, when the season had commenced for fish to be plenty, the mother of Wassamo said to him: "My son, I wish you would go to yonder point and see if you cannot procure me some fish, and ask your cousin to accompany you." Wassamo did so. He set out with his cousin, and in the course of the afternoon they arrived at the fishing-ground. The cousin, being the elder, attended to the nets. When these were s

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XXI. THE BIRD LOVER

XXI. THE BIRD LOVER

I N a region of country where the forest and the prairie strove which should be the most beautiful—the open plain with its free sunshine and winds and flowers, or the close wood with its delicious twilight walks and green hollows—there lived a wicked manito in the disguise of an old Indian. Although the country furnished an abundance of game and whatever else a good heart could wish for, it was the study of this wicked genius to destroy such people as fell into his hands. He made use of all his

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XXII. BOKWEWA, THE HUMPBACK

XXII. BOKWEWA, THE HUMPBACK

B OKWEWA and his brother lived in a far-off part of the country. By those who knew them, Bokwewa, the elder, although deformed and feeble of person, was considered a manito who had assumed mortal shape; while his younger brother, Kwasynd, manly in appearance, active, and strong, partook of the nature of the present race of beings. They lived off the path, in a wild, lonesome place. Far retired from neighbors and undisturbed by cares,' they passed their time content and happy. The days glided by

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XXIII. THE LITTLE BOY-MAN

XXIII. THE LITTLE BOY-MAN

A BOY remarkable for the smallness of his stature lived alone with his sister in a little lodge on a lake shore. Around their habitation were scattered many large rocks, and it had a very wild and out-of-the-way look. The boy grew no larger as he advanced in years, and yet, small as he was, he had a big spirit of his own and loved dearly to play the master in the lodge. One day in winter he told his sister to make him a ball to play with, as he meant to have some sport along the shore on the cle

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XXIV. WUNZH, THE FATHER OF INDIAN CORN

XXIV. WUNZH, THE FATHER OF INDIAN CORN

I N time past—we cannot tell exactly how many, many years ago—a poor Indian was living with his wife and children in a beautiful part of the country. He was not only poor, but he had the misfortune to be inexpert in procuring food for his family, and his children were all too young to give him any assistance. Although of a lowly condition and straitened in his circumstances, he was a man of kind and contented disposition. He was always thankful to the Great Spirit for everything he received. He

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