The Mishomis Book

The Mishomis Book
Author: Edward Benton-Banai
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2010-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780816673827

For young readers, the collected wisdom and traditions of Ojibway elders.

Living Our Language

Living Our Language
Author: Anton Treuer
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2010-06
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 087351680X

Fifty-seven Ojibwe Indian tales collected from Anishinaabe elders, reproduced in Ojibwe and in English translation.

Native American Tales and Legends

Native American Tales and Legends
Author: Allan A. Macfarlan
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2001-02-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0486414760

More than thirty stories, including creation myths, hero tales, trickster stories, as well as tales of little people, giants, and monsters, and of magic, enchantment, sorcery, and the spirit world.

The Legend of the Beaver's Tail

The Legend of the Beaver's Tail
Author: Stephanie Shaw
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2015-04-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1633621359

Long ago Beaver did not look like he does now. Yes, he had two very large front teeth, but his tail was not wide and flat. It was thick with silky fur. Vain Beaver is inordinately proud of his glorious tail. When he's not bragging about his tail, Beaver spends his time grooming it, while the other woodland creatures go about their business of finding food and shelter for their families. Eventually Beaver's boasting drives away his friends and he is left on his own. But when his tail is flattened in an accident (of his own making), Beaver learns to value its new shape and seeks to make amends with his friends. Based on an Ojibwe legend.

Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa

Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa
Author: Frank G. Speck
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2022-01-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

The Timiskaming and the Ojibwa are two tribes of North American (Canadian) Indians. The book is divided into two parts: one dealing with the myths and folklore of one tribe; the second dealing with the other.

Dream Catchers

Dream Catchers
Author: Julie Black
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1999
Genre: Dreams
ISBN: 9781552094396

The Ojibwa people strongly believe in the myths and legends that make up their spiritual and cultural life. A significant part of the Ojibwa's spiritual life is the dreamcatcher. Although the exact genesis of this intriguing artifact is unknown, there are many beautiful and lyrical legends that reflect the dreamcatcher's beginnings. The dreamcatcher is a web-like structure built into a circular frame. Beauty is derived in the dreamcatcher through the symmetry of natural accents. The frame is often made from fresh tender wood that is bent to form a hoop or circle into which a web is then woven. The web is often made of deer sinew or colored thread. Often the webs are 'spun' with a hole in the center and decorated with stones or feathers or other natural materials. The Ojibwa believe that the dreamcatcher will serve throughout one's life as an invitation for good dreams to come to rest with the sleeper, as well as the fortification against nightmares and evil spirits. The good dreams flow through the web and into the dreamer, while the bad dreams and evil spirits are caught in the strands of the web and never reach the dreamer. One of the Ojibwa legends about the creation of the dreamcatcher suggests that the dreamcatcher was a gift from a spider to the Ojibwa people, in return for a favor an Ojibwa once did for the spider. This theme, among many others, is carried throughout this gorgeously illustrated book that charts the development of this living legend through the combination of photography and text. The Ojibwa of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Regions share a related history with many of their sister Algonquin tribes who can be found throughout the United States and Canada. The Ojibwa have introduced the dreamcatcher and its legends to the rest of the world as a living artifact of Native culture. Throughout history, the interaction between Ojibwa and other Native tribes has taught European settlers about the elusive boundary between the spiritual world, that is the world of consciousness and the world of dreams. Featured are more than 30 color photographs of contemporary dreamcatchers created by Native people with informative captions that identify and comment on the different patterns and their significance.

Myths, Legends, and Folktales of America

Myths, Legends, and Folktales of America
Author: David Leeming
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2000-07-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0199840261

This marvelous collection brings together the great myths and legends of the United States--from the creation stories of the first inhabitants, to the tall tales of the Western frontier, to the legendary outlaws of the 1920s, and beyond. This thoroughly engaging anthology is sweeping in its scope, embracing Big Foot and Windigo, Hiawatha and Uncle Sam, Paul Revere and Billy the Kid, and even the Iroquois Flying Head and Elvis. In the book's section on dogmas and icons, for instance, Leeming and Page discuss the American melting pot, the notion of manifest destiny, and the imposing historical and literary figure of Henry Adams. And under Heroes and Heroines, they have assembled everyone from "Honest Abe" Lincoln and George "I Cannot Tell a Lie" Washington to Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Martin Luther King, Jr. For every myth or hero rendered here, the editors include an informative yet readable excerpt, often the definitive account of the story in question. Taken as a whole, Myths, Legends, and Folktales of America reveals how waves of immigrants, encountering this strange land for the first time, adapted their religions, beliefs, and folklore to help make sense of a new and astounding place. Covering Johnny Appleseed and Stagolee as well as Paul Bunyan and Moby Dick, this wonderful anthology illuminates our nation's myth-making, enriching our idea of what it means to be American.

Wild Rice and the Ojibway People

Wild Rice and the Ojibway People
Author: Thomas Vennum
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Total Pages: 372
Release: 1988
Genre: Indians of North America
ISBN: 9780873512268

Explores in detail the technology of harvesting and processing the grain, the important place of wild rice in Ojibway ceremony and legend, including the rich social life of the traditional rice camps, and the volatile issues of treaty rights. Wild rice has always been essential to life in the Upper Midwest and neighboring Canada. In this far-reaching book, Thomas Vennum Jr. uses travelers' narratives, historical and ethnological accounts, scientific data, historical and contemporary photographs and sketches, his own field work, and the words of Native people to examine the importance of this wild food to the Ojibway people. He details the technology of harvesting and processing, from seventeenth-century reports though modern mechanization. He explains the important place of wild rice in Ojibway ceremony and legend and depicts the rich social life of the traditional rice camps. And he reviews the volatile issues of treaty rights and litigations involving Indian problems in maintaining this traditional resource. A staple of the Ojibway diet and economy for centuries, wild rice has now become a gourmet food. With twentieth-century agricultural technology and paddy cultivation, white growers have virtually removed this important source of income from Indigenous hands. Nevertheless, the Ojibway continue to harvest and process rice each year. It remains a vital part of their social, cultural, and religious life.