Seneca Myths and Folk Tales

by Arthur Caswell Parker

Book Overview

"On the Cattaraugus reservation, it was part of a child's initial training to learn why the bear lost its tail, why the chipmunk has a striped back, and why meteors flash in the sky," writes Arthur C. Parker at the beginning of Seneca Myths and Folk Tales. His blood ties to the Senecas and early familiarity with their culture led to a distinguished career as an archaeologist and to the publication in 1923 of this pioneeering work. Parker recreates...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803287232
• ISBN13: 9780803287235
• Release Date: September 1989
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 465 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Detailed, Scholarly Resource for Seneca / Iroquois Folk Tales

I'm part Seneca, so I was thrilled to find this book. Like the other reviewer commented, it has somewhat formal language, so it might not appeal to someone casually looking for Native American folk tales. However, for someone specifically interested in Seneca folk tales, this is a detailed, scholarly book, with pictures, illustrations, a lengthy appendix and index. My favorite story is "Origin of the Chestnut Tree" featuring Dadjedondji, who remarks about obstacles on his journey: "All these things are strange. They are not right, neither are they according with the ways I know about, and, therefore, I can conquer all these obstacles." Words to live by!

Important, original work...

This is something of keynote work in traditional Seneca stories. The author -- Arthur C. Parker -- was a Seneca author from New York State who became a well-known ehtnologist, and contributed a great deal based on his first-hand perspective of his own People. (He was the nephew of Ely S. Parker, Seneca Sachem and Union Aide to Ulysses S Grant). The language, indicative of scholarship of the time, can be somewhat stiff and formalized, but the Stories and their relevance are critically important.