Customer Reviews

Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though this book was first published in 1953, the stories and legends enclosed in Ms. Clark's book are interesting in 1999. I was surprized to find a story and lore concerning a local rock painting site. Each of the stories are indentified by the tribe or nation they come from. This book is a must for anyone interested in Native American lore or legends.

This book, although it is almost 60 years old, is still a valuable resource for anyone interested in Native mythology, especially if you live in the Pacific Northwest. If you lived in Greece your experience of the people and the places there would be vastly enhanced by knowledge of the Greek myths; it is the same here--there is an ancient history underlying the ordinary towns and landscapes of Washington and Oregon, and Ella Clark went to great lengths to gather and preserve what she could of it.
The book is well organized in five sections: Myths of the Mountains; Legends of the Lakes; Tales of Rivers,Rocks and Waterfalls; Myths of Creation, the Sky and the Storms; And Misc. Myths. One-fourth of the stories were given to Ms. Clark by Native people, and at the beginning of these she gives credit by name and tribal affiliation. The others were compiled from the writings of ethnologists, missionaries, pioneers and travelers and where she knows the source she again gives credit, so that if you have a further interest you can investigate the Source Notes or the Bibliography.
There are numerous Coyote and Raven tales, but there are other less familiar Heroes and Changers too. What I liked most was the inclusion of the Native names for many of the local places. For instance, I wake every morning beneath the Olympic Mountains, which I have learned were called Ho-Had-Hun, and which were, of course, people. They were apparently people who didn't always get along with each other. Mt. Rainier (Takkobad) was once part of them but because of a disagreement with her husband she went to live on the other side of the water. She scratched his face, got in her canoe and left. She took her young son, Tahoma, with her, along with her snow water, camas roots and herbs and flowers. She didn't go so far away that she couldn't keep and eye on him though, and on clear days you can still feel the connection between them.
Connections are everything. And this little book addresses the connections between mountains and people, people and animals, animals and spirits, spirits and "inanimate" objects, in over 100 tales.