Dewey 398folknam - Folklore of North America - Eureka! Inquiry Unlimited - a constantly changing URL database practitioner originally sited at BostonKidWeb at the Joseph Lee Elementary School

Folklore from North America

United States * | Canada * | Mexico * | Native Peoples

compliments of Inquiry Unlimited

Folklore from North America

Folklore from the United States

SEE: Resources * for 1800s American tall tales by regional character heroes * from Inquiry Unlimited

Arnold, Caroline. The Terrible Hodag. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989. (32 ps.) [UNITED STATES] (The hodag helps Ole Swanson, the logger, run the boss man out of the forest)
Bang, Molly. Wiley and the Hairy Man. [Black America Southern states] [ALABAMA]
Birdseye, Tom. Look Out, Jack! The Giant Is Back!. NY: Holiday House, 2001. (unp) (Jack and the Beanstalk variant) (NORTH CAROLINA)
Borgenicht, David. Brer Rabbit. Philadelphia: Courage Books, 1995. (51 ps.) [AFRICAN AMERICANS - SOUTHERN STATES]
Calmenson, Stephanie. The Principal's New Clothes. [UNITED STATES] [other VARIANTS * based on Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes]
Cech, John. Django. NY: Four Winds Press, 1994. [FLORIDA] (boy uses a fiddle to save the animals from a hurricane-produced flood)
Collins, Sheila Hebert. Cendrillon: A Cajun Cinderella. Gretna: Pelican Pub., 1998. (unp.) [CAJUN - NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA] (Cinderella variant with French phrases)
Compton, Joanne. Ashpet: An Appalachian Tale. NY: Holiday House, 1994. [APPALACHIA] (old Granny helps Ashpet attend the church picnic)
Compton, Joanne. Sody Sallyratus. NY: Holiday House, 1995. (unp.) [UNITED STATES] (Running out of baking soda for biscuits, Ma and two sons her sons disappear on the way to the store. Her son Jack must solve the mystery.)
Compton, Ken. Jack the Giant Chaser: An Appalachian Tale. NY: Holiday House, 1993. NY: Holiday House, 1993. [APPALACHIA] (Jack outwits the giant on Balsam Mountain)
Crum, Shutta. Who Took My Hairy Toe? Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman & Company, 2001. (unp.) [Teeny Tiny Bone and Tailypo variants] [APPALACHIA]
DeFelice, Cynthia. The Dancing Skeleton. NY: Macmillan, 1989. (32 ps.) [UNITED STATES] (dead man refuses to stay in coffin)
Duff, Maggie. Dancing Turtle. NY: Macmillan, 1981. (32 ps.) [LOUISIANA] (captured turtle outwits captives)
Farmer, Nancy. Casey Jones's Fireman: The Story of Sim Webb. NY: Phyllis Fogelman Books, 1998. (unp.) [UNITED STATES - TENNESSEE] (though sensing danger, the railroad fireman follows his engineer's command to increase the train's power and to ring the whistle)
Faulkner, William. Brer Tiger and the Big Wind. NY: Morrow Junior Books, 1995. (unp.) [AFRICAN AMERICAN] (Brer Rabbit teaches Brer Tiger a lesson)
Forest, Heather. The Baker's Dozen: A Colonial American Tale. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988. (32 ps.) [DUTCH NEW YORK] (See: Shepard, Aaron)
Galdone, Paul. The Greedy Old Fat Man: An American Folk Tale. NY: Clarion Books, 1983. (30 ps.) [UNITED STATES] (glutton eater)
Glass, Andrew. Bewildered For Three Days: As to Why Daniel Boone Never Wore His Coonskin Cap. [PENNSYLVANIA] (tall tale)
Haley, Gail. Jack and the Fire Dragon. NY: Crown Publishers, 1988. (40 ps.) [APPALACHIA] (Jack, Fire Dragaman, rescues three beautiful sisters)
Hamilton, Virginia. A Ring of Tricksters: Animal Tales from North America, the West Indies, and Africa. NY: Blue Sky Press, 1997. [SOUTHERN STATES] (12 trickster tales that show the migration of African culture to America via the West Indies)
Hamilton, Virginia. When Birds Could Talk and Bats Could Sing: The Adventures of Bruh Sparrow, Sis Wren, and Their Friends. NY: Blue Sky Press, 1995. [SOUTHERN STATES] (collection of stories featuring sparrows, jays, buzzards, bats based on tales from an Alabam plantation)
Harris, Joel Chandler. Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit. [South]
Hicks, Ray. The Jack Tales: Stories by Ray Hicks as told to Lynn Salsi. [APPALACHIAN tellings of European tales]
Hooks, William. Moss Gown. NY: Clarion Books, 1987. (48 ps.) [NORTH CAROLINA] (Candace is banished from her father's plantation; meets Prince Charming) (Cinderella variant)
Hooks, William H. The Three Little Pigs and the Fox. NY: Macmillan, 1989. (32 ps.) [APPALACHIAN] (three little pigs variant)
Huling, Jan. Puss in Cowboy Boots. NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2002. (unp.) [TEXAS] (A clever cat in Texas wins a fortune and a wealthy bride for his master) (Puss in Boots variant)
Hunt, Angela Elwell. The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale. Batavia, Illinois: Lion Pub., 1989. [UNITED STATES]
Jaquith, Priscilla. Bo Rabbit Smart For True: Folktales From the Gullah. NY: Philomel Books, 1981. (55 ps.) [GULLAH - SOUTH CAROLINA]
Johnson, Paul Brett. Bearhide and Crow. [Appalachia] (outwits during trade]
Johnson, Paul Brett. Old Dry Frye. (tall tale) [Appalachian tale]
Ketteman, Helen. Heat Wave! (tall tale)[KANSAS]
Lester, Julius. The Knee-High Man and Other Tales. NY: Dial Press, 1972. (28 ps.) [Southern states]
Light, Steven. Puss in Boots. NY: Harry Abrams, 2002. (unp.) [FRANCE] (clever cat helps his poor master win fame, fortune, and a beautiful princess)
Lowell, Susan. Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella. NY: HarperCollins, 2000. (unp.) [UNITED STATES] (Cinderella variant) (Cindy Ellen loses one of her diamond spurs at the square dance)
Ludwig, Warren. Good Morning, Granny Rose: An Arkansas Folktale. NY: Putnam's, 1990. (32 ps.) [ARKANSAS] (granny and dog share a cave with a sleepy bear during a blizzard)
Lyons, Mary E. The Butter Tree: Tales of Bruh Rabbit. NY: Holt, 1995. (32 ps.) [SOUTH CAROLINA] (adventures of Bruh Bear, Bruh Rabbit, Bruh Wolf, Bruh Guinea Fowl)
Martin, Rafe. The Shark God. NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2001. (unp.) [HAWAII] (for freeing a shark caught in a net, the Shark God rescues a brother and sister from a cruel king's imprisonment)
Osborne, Mary Pope. New York's Bravest. NY: Knopf, 2002. (unp.) [1840s NEW YORK] (Mose Humphreys]
Rattigan, Jama Kim. The Woman in the Moon: A Story from Hawaii. Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, 1996. (unp.) [HAWAII] (How Hina, the best tapa-maker, goes to live on the moon)
San Souci, Robert D. Six Foolish Fishermen. NY: Hyperion books for Children, 2000. (unp.) [CAJUN - Louisiana bayou] (based on a Russian tale)
Schroeder, Alan. Smoky Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1997. [APPALACHIA] (Cinderella variant with Rose losing her glass slipper at a party given for a rich person on the other side of the creek)
Schroeder, Alan. The Tale of Willie Monroe. NY: Clarion Books, 1999. [TENNESSEE] (Adaptation of Japanese folktale in which a powerful wrestler hoping to win the Emperor's Wrestling Match, meets three exceptionally strong women who train him for success)
Sierra, Judy. Wiley and the Hairy Man. NY: Lodestar Books, 1996. [ALABAMA] (Wiley outwits the conjuring Hairy Man who lives in the nearby swamp with the help of his mother)
Wardlaw, Lee. Punia and the King of Sharks: A Hawaiian Folktale. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1997. (unp.) [HAWAII] (fisherman finds different ways to trick the King of Sharks)
Williams, Julie Stewart. And the Birds Appeared. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1988. (29 ps.) [HAWAII] (how Maui, a boy with magical powers, made the birds appear on Hawaii)
Mathews, Judith. Nathaniel Willy, Scared Silly. NY: Bradbury Press, 1993. (unp.) [UNITED STATES] (squeak in door frightens boy; animals in bed)
McKissack, Pat. A Million Fish - More or Less. NY: Knopf, 1992. [SOUTHERN STATES - BAYOU CLAPATEAUX]
Medearis, Angela Shelf. The Freedom Riddle. NY: Dutton, 1995. (unp.) [SOUTHERN STATES - VIRGINIA] (freedom for correct response to a riddle)
Medearis, Angela Shelf. Tailypo: A Newfangled Tall Tale. NY: Holiday House, 1996. (unp.) [TEXAS - SOUTHERN STATES] (a strange critter tries to steal the last meal of a young farmer boy's family in the Texas Hill country.)
Porter, Wesley. Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express: American Folk Legend. NY: F. Watts, 1979. (32 ps.) [IOWA - 1881] (railroad mishap averted)
Reneaux, J. J. How Animals Saved the People: Animal Tales from the South. NY: Morrow Junior Books, 2001. (64 ps.) [SOUTHERN STATES] (collection of Cajun, Creole, Native American, Appalachian, and Scotch-Irish-German tales)
San Souci, Robert D. The Boy and the Ghost. NY: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1989. (33 ps.) [SOUTHERN STATES - Virginia/Alabama] (stay the night in a haunted house to win a fortune)
San Souci, Robert D. Callie Ann and Mistah Bear. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1999. (unp.) [Southern states] (outwit a disguised bear)
San Souci, Robert D. Feathertop: Based on the Tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne. NY: Doubleday, 1992. [colonial New England] (witch and scarecrow)
San Souci, Robert D. The Hired Hand. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1997. [VIRGINIA] [AFRICAN AMERICAN] (hired man teaches Old Sam's lazy son a lesson about how to treat people)
San Souci, Robert D. Kate Shelley: Bound for Legend. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1994. [IOWA] (1881 train disaster averted)
San Souci, Robert D. Little Gold Star: A Spanish American Cinderella Tale. [NEW MEXICO] (Cinderella variant)
San Souci, Robert D. The Little Seven-Colored Horse: A Spanish American Folktale. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1995. [Southwest] (tasks as tests)
San Souci, Robert D. The Red Heels. NY: Dial Books, 1995. (unp.) [colonial New England](witch)
San Souci, Robert D. Six Foolish Fishermen. [Cajun - Louisiana bayou] (based on a Russian tale)
San Souci, Robert D. Sukey and the Mermaid. NY: Four Winds Press, 1992. [SEA ISLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA FROM AFRICA] (mermaid)
San Souci, Robert. Talking Eggs: A Folktale from the American South. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1989. (32 ps.) [SOUTHERN STATES] (witch rewards kind sister while the greedy sister is not rewarded)
San Souci, Robert. The Secret of the Stones: A Folktale. NY: Phyllis Fogelman Books, 2000. (unp.) [Southern states] (stones as bewitched orphans)
Sawyer, Ruth. Journey Cake, Ho!. NY: Viking, 1982. (45 ps.) [UNITED STATES] (Gingerbread boy variant]
Schwartz, Alvin. More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. NY: Harper & Row, 1986. [GHOST STORIES - AMERICAN]
Shepard, Aaron. The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale. NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1995. [DUTCH NEW YORK] (A baker in colonial New York learns the importance of generosity from an old woman who visits his shop on St. Nicholas Day) (See: Forest, Heather)
Sierra, Judy. Wiley and the Hairy Man. NY: Lodestar Books, 1996. [SOUTHERN STATES] [AFRICAN AMERICAN] (With the help of his mother, Wiley outwits the conjuring Hairy Man that lives in the swamp near their home)
Van Laan, Nancy. With a Whoop and a Holler: A Bushel of Lore from Way Down South. NY: Atheneum Books, 1998. (102 ps.) [SOUTHERN STATES] (tales, rhymes, riddles, superstitions, sayings from the Bayou, the Deep South, and Appalachia)
Wahl, Jan. Little Eight John. NY: Dutton, 1992. [Depression-era - NORTH CAROLINA] (Afro-Americans)
Wahl, Jan. The Singing Geese. NY: Lodestar Books, 1998. (unp.) [Maryland folklore; Afro-Americans; tall tales] (Sam Bombel shoots a goose, brings it home for his wife to cook for dinner, but this cackling goose is rescued by his fellow geese)
Wahl, Jan. Tailypo. NY: Holt, 1991. [Appalachian] (varmint haunts the woodsman who lopped off its tail)
Wetterer, Margaret K. Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express. Minneapolis, Carolrhoda Books, 1990. (48 ps.) [IOWA] (1881 railroad disaster averted)
Wooldridge, Connie Nordhielm. Wicked Jack. NY: Holiday House, 1995. [SOUTHERN STATES - GREAT DISMAL SWAMP of Virginia and North Carolina] (The actions of a mean old blacksmith leave him unwelcomed by Saint Peter and the Devil when he dies) (Jack tale adaptation)

Yee, Paul. Tales from Gold Mountain: Stories of the Chinese in the New World. [United States]

Native Peoples Creation Stories * of the Americas

INUIT (Eskimo) (Culture groups: *)
INUIT culture groups: Eskimo, Aleuts

Cohlene, Terri. Ka-ha-si and the Loon. [ESKIMO]
Dabcovich, Lydia. The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale. [INUIT] (polar bear raised by woman envied by villagers)
Dixon, Ann. The Sleeping Lady. [MODERN DAY TALE - ALASKA] (first snowfall and formation of Mount Susitna)
Jessell, Tim. Amorak. [INUIT - ALASKA - CANADA] (creation myth explaining why the caribou and wolf are brothers)
Martin, Rafe. The Eagle's Gift. NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1997. (unp.) [ESKIMO - INUIT](origin of community celebration)
San Souci, Robert D. Song of Sedna. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981. (32 ps.) [ESKIMO] (how an Eskimo maiden became goddess of the sea)
Sloat, Teri. The Eye of the Needle. NY: Dutton Children's Books, 1990. (32 ps.) [YUPIK ESKIMO] (Amik hunts for food and eats it in ever-increasing size so that when he brings it back, he is too big to get into his house)
Sloat, Teri. The Hungry Giant of the Tundra. NY: Dutton Children's Books, 1993. [ESKIMO] (hungry giant tricked out of his dinner)
Villoldo, Alberto. Skeleton Woman. [ALEUT - ESKIMO] (tsunami drowning)
Wakeland, Marcia. The Big Fish: An Alaskan Fairy Tale. [ALASKA]

Creation myths - ESKIMO * [Inuit] - Sedna *

Sedna of the North *
Sedna, the witch under the sea *
Sedna * explanations from the ancestors
The Eagle and Whale Husbands * [GREENLAND ESKIMO]

ATHAPASCAN (Culture groups: *)
ATHAPASCAN culture groups: Chipewyan, Hupa, Navajo, Chiricahuna Apache, Kiowa Apache, Mescalero Apache, Tlingit, Haida

Baker, Betty. Three Fools and a Horse. NY: Macmillan, 1975. NY: Macmillan, 1975. [APACHE] (foolish people stories)
Dixon, Ann. How Raven Brought Light to People. NY: M. K. McElderry Books, 1992. (30 ps.) [TLINGIT] (trickster; sun, moon, and stars given to the world by Raven)
Drucker, Malka. The Sea Monster's Secret. San Diego, Calif.: Harcourt Brace, 1999. (unp.) [TLINGIT/HAIDA] (young hunter wears the skin of the ferocious sea monster he killed while his mother-in-law nags him)
Duncan, Lois. The Magic of Spider Woman. NY: Scholastic, 1995. [NAVAJO] (how to keep life in balance by respecting its boundaries featuring a stubborn girl and Spider Woman)
Hausman, Gerald. Coyote Walks on Two Legs: A Book of Navajo Myths and Legends. NY: Philomel Books, 1993. (unp.) [NAVAJO] (Coyote trickster legends)
Hausman, Gerald. Eagle Boy: A Traditional Navajo Legend. NY: HarperCollins, 1996. (32 ps.) [NAVAJO] (trickster; healing ways of eagles)
Hausman, Gerald. The Story of Blue Elk. NY: Clarion Books, 1998. [PUEBLO - SOUTHWEST] (magic elk helps a mute Native American boy find his voice)
Jackson, Ellen. The Precious Gift. NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1996. [NAVAJO - SOUTHWEST] (Navajo creation and evolution myth which explains how the lowly snail is responsible for bringing pure water to the new land)
Keams, Geri. Snail Girl Brings Water: A Navajo Story. Flagstaff, Arizona: Rising Moon, 1998. (unp.) [NAVAJO] (how water came to earth)
Lacapa, Michael. The Flute Player: An Apache Folktale. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Pub., 1990. [APACHE] (sound of wind from flute)
Oughton, Jerrie. How the Stars Fell into the Sky [NAVAJO]
Renner, Michelle. The Girl Who Swam with the Fish. [ATHAPASCAN] (girl transformed into a salmon; lives with the ocean kings)
Roessel, Monty. Songs from the Loom: A Navajo Girl Learns to Weave. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1995. (48 ps.) [NAVAJO]
Rucki, Ani. Turkey's Gift to the People. [NAVAJO]
Seymour, Tryntje Van Ness. The Gift of Changing Woman. NY: H. Holt, 1993. [APACHE] (coming of age legend)
Sleator, William. The Angry Moon. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970. (45 ps.) [TLINGIT] (After an Indian girl insults the moon and is held prisoner by him, she waits for her friend to rescue her in the sky country.)
Wallis, Velma. Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival. [ATHAPASCAN] (two old women are abandonned by their tribe and must survive the winter on their own)
Whitethorne, Baje. Sunpainters: Eclipse of the Navajo Sun. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland, 1994. [NAVAJO] (solar eclipse explanation)

Creation myth - Bear-Woman and Deer-Woman * [LASSIK - ATHAPASCAN]

ALGONQUIN (Culture groups: *)
ALGONQUIN culture groups: Abenaki, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Chickahominy, Chippewa, Cree, Delaware, Illinois, Kickapoo, Massachuset, Menomini, Miami, Micmac, Mohegan, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Pennacook, Penobscott, Pequot, Powhatan Sauk, Shawnee, Wampanoag

Bruchac, Joseph. Gluskabe and the Four Wishes. NY: Cobblehill Books, 1995. [ABENAKI] (grant wishes)
Bruchac, Joseph. When the Chenoo Howls: Native American Tales of Terror. NY: Walker, 1998. [WOODLAND INDIANS] [SENECA - MOHAWK - LENAPE - PENOBSCOT - ONEIDA - ABENAKI - ONONDAGA] (legends and mythological creatures from eight tribes)
Charles, Veronika Martenova. The Maiden of the Mist. Toronto: Stoddart Kids, 2001. (32 ps.) [IROQUOIS - SENECA] [NIAGARA FALLS, NY]
Cohlene, Terri. Quillworker: A Cheyenne Legend. [CHEYENNE - GREAT PLAINS] (Origins of the stars)
Curry, Jane Louise. Turtle Island: Tales of the Algonquin Nations. [ALGONQUIN] (20 tales from varied culture groups)
Dominic, Gloria. Red Hawk and the Sky Sisters: A Shawnee Legend. Vero Beach, Fl.: Rourke, 1996. [SHAWNEE] (Red Hawk marries Bright Star's daughter; son and wife return to the sky)
Ehlert, Lois. Mole's Hill: A Woodland Tale. NY: Voyager Books, 1998. (unp.) [WOODLAND] (mole outwits fox, who wants her to relocate)
Esbensen, Barbara Juster. The Great Buffalo Race: How the Buffalo Got Its Hump: A Seneca Tale. Boston: Little Brown, 1994. (unp) [SENECA - PLAINS] (buffalo receives his hump from the Great Spirit)
Goble, Paul. The Great Race of the Birds and Animals. NY: Bradbury Press, 1985. (32 ps.) [CHEYENNE - GREAT PLAINS] (race to see if man or the buffalo should become the guardians of Creation)
Goble, Paul. Her Seven Brothers. NY: Bradbury Press, 1988. [CHEYENNE - GREAT PLAINS] (girl and her seven brothers become the Big Dipper)
Goble, Paul. Remaking the Earth: A Creation From the Great Plains of North America. NY: Orchard Books, 1996. [ALGONQUIN] (Earth Diver creation myth)
Goble, Paul. The Return of the Buffaloes: A Plains Indian Story About Famine and Renewal of the Earth. Washington, D.C.: The Society, 1996. (unp.) [LAKOTA - PLAINS] (a mysterious woman returns the buffalo and the other animals to the Indian people)
Goble, Paul. Storm Maker's Tipi. NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001. (34 ps.) [BLACKFOOT - SIKSIKA] (origin of Blackfoot tipis and their symbolic designs)
Greene, Ellin. The Legend of the Cranberry. NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1993. [DELAWARE INDIANS] (Cranberry to remind people of battles with mastodons and woolly mammoths)
Kohn, Rita. Winter Storytime. Chicago: Childrens Press, 1995. (31 ps.) [DELAWARE - LENAPE] (Origin of the "kokolesh" (rabbit-tail) game)
Martin, Rafe. Rough-Face Girl. NY: Putnam, 1992. [NATIVE AMERICAN] (ALGONQUIN INDIAN Cinderella variant)
Norman, Howard. Trickster and the Fainting Birds. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1999. (82 ps.) [CREE - OJIBWA] (7 Cree and Chippewa trickster tales)
Martin, Rafe. The Rough-Face Girl. NY: Putnam, 1992. [ALGONQUIN] (Cinderella variant)
Ross, Gayle. The Legend of the Windigo: A Tale from Native North America. [ALGONQUIN - WINDIGOS] (stone monster feeds on people)
San Souci, Robert D. The Legend of Scarface: A Blackfeet Indian Tale. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978. (40 ps.) [BLACKFOOT - SIKSIKA] (young brave travels to the Sun to ask for the hand of his beloved)
San Souci, Robert. Sootface: An Ojibwe Cinderella Story. NY: Doubleday Book for Young Readers, 1994. [OJIBWA] (mistreated by two older sisters; mighty invisible warrior for her husband)
Spooner, Michael. Old Meshikee and the Shagizenz: An Ojibwe Story. NY: Holt, 1996. [OJIBWA - GREAT LAKES REGION] (sand crabs try to get rid of Old Meshikee, the turtle, who drums a lot but are not as clever as he)
Taylor, Harriet Peck. When Bear Stole the Chinook: A Siksika Tale. NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997. (unp.) [SIKSIKA] (poor Indian boy and his animal friends travel to the lodge of the Great Bear to release the chinook due to the hard winter with scarce firewood and food)
Van Laan, Nancy. Rainbow Crow. (LENAPE)
Yolen, Jane. Sky Dogs. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990. (32 ps.) [BLACKFEET - SIKSIKA] (A young motherless boy in a tribe of Blackfeet Indians is present when his people see horses for the first time and are changed forever.)

Manabozho's Adventures * (OJIBWA)
Trickster's Great Fall and His Revenge * (MENOMINI)
The Deceived Blind Men * (MENOMINI)
The Star Husband * (OJIBWA)

The Piqued Buffalo-Wife * (BLACKFOOT)

MUSKOGEAN (Culture groups: *)
MUSKOGEAN culture groups: Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole

Ata, Te. Baby Rattlesnake. San Francisco, Calif.: Children's Book Press, 1989. (30 ps.) [CHICKASAW] (rattlesnake throws tantrum to get rattle too early; misuses it)
Bruchac, Joseph. The Great Ball Game: A Muskogee Story. NY: Dial Books for Children, 1994. [CREEK] (Bat plays an important part in a game between the Birds and the Animals to decide which group is better)

Harrell, Beatrice Orcutt. How Thunder and Lightning Came to Be: A Choctaw Legend. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995. (unp) [CHOCTAW] (origin of thunder and lightning)

CADDOAN (Culture groups: *)
CADDOAN culture groups: Caddo, Wichita, Pawnee, Arikara

Moroney, Lynn. The Boy Who Loved Bears. Chicago: Childrens Press, 1994. [PAWNEE] (young hunter learns the powers of the bear)

IROQUOIAN (Culture groups: *)
IROQUOIS culture groups: Cayuga, Mohawk, Onandago, Oneida, Seneca, Tuscarora, Wyandot, Erie, Cherokee

Bierhorst, John. The Naked Bear: Folktales of the Iroquois. NY: Morrow, 1987. (123 ps.) [IROQUOIS] (16 tales Iroquois tales)
Bierhorst, John. The Woman Who Fell From the Sky: The Iroquois Story of Creation. NY: Morrow Junior Books, 1993. [IROQUOIS] (creation of the world)
Bruchac, Joseph. The Boy Who Lived With the Bears: And Other Iroquois Stories. NY: HarperCollins, 1995. [IROQUOIS] (animals and caring)
Bruchac, Joseph. The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1993. [CHEROKEE] (when the Sun causes strawberries to grow out of the earth, a quarrel that had developed between the first man and first woman is reconciled)
Cohlene, Terri. Dancing Drum. [CHEROKEE]
Bruchac, Joseph. The Story of the Milky Way: A Cherokee Tale. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995. [CHEROKEE] (Milky Way created when villagers ward of the thieves after the corn is stolen from village)
Dolan, Ellen. The Leaves of Autumn: An Oneida Indian Legend. St. Louis, MO: Milliken Pub., 1987. (30 ps.) [ONEIDA - IROQUOIS] (origin of the autumn season)
Dolan, Ellen. The Robin's Red Breast: An Iroquois Indian Legend. St. Louis, MO: Milliken Pub., 1987. (30 ps.) [IROQUOIS] (while helping a hunter survive the cold, how the robin got its red breast)
Dominic, Gloria. First Woman and the Strawberry: A Cherokee Legend. Vero Beach, Fla.: Rourke, 1996. (47 ps.) [CHEROKEE - IROQUOIS] (argument between the first man and woman and how the strawberry was created)
Dominic, Gloria. Song of the Hermit Thrush: An Iroquois Legend. [IROQUOIS] (Contest to determine if animals or birds of the forest will sing to greet the day)
Gates, Frieda. Owl Eyes. NY: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1994. (unp.) [MOWAWK - IROQUOIS] (Raweno the Everything-Maker and the Owl)
Haley, Gail. Two Bad Boys: A Very Old Cherokee Tale. NY: Dutton Children's Books, 1996. (unp)[CHEROKEE- IROQUOIS] (Boy's wild brother leads him astray)
Keams, Geri. Grandmother Spider Brings the Sun: A Cherokee Story. Flagstaff, Ariz: Rising Moon, 1997. (32 ps.) [CHEROKEE - IROQUOIS] (spider brings light to the world after possum and buzzard fail)
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Hiawatha's Childhood. NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1984. (32 ps.) [IROQUOIS] (Describes in verse the boyhood of the legendary Iroquois Indian, Hiawatha.)
Ross, Gayle. How Rabbit Tricked Otter and Other Cherokee Trickster Stories.
Ross, Gayle. How Turtle's Back Was Cracked: A Traditional Cherokee Tale. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995. [CHEROKEE] (the wolves crack turtle's shell because he boasts)

UTO-AZTECAN/TANOAN (Culture groups: *) and PENUTIAN (California)
UTO-AZTECAN culture groups: Arapaho, Pueblo, Shoshone, Comanche, Hopi, Kiowa, Paiute, Ute and PENUTIAN: Maidu, Miwok

Bernstein, Margery. Earth Namer: A California Indian Myth. NY: Scribner, 1974. (40 ps.) [MAIDU] (At Turtle's request, Earth Namer makes the world, sun, moon, and animals)
Bierhorst, John. Is My Friend At Home? Pueblo Fireside Tales. NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2001. (30 ps.) [HOPI] (animal tales)
De Paola, Tomie. The Legend of the Bluebonnet: An Old Tale of Texas. NY: Putnam, 1983. (30 ps.) [COMANCHE] (origin of Texas' bluebonnet flower)
Hausman, Gerald. The Story of Blue Elk. NY: Clarion Books, 1998. [PUEBLO] (mute Native American boy finds his voice with the help of a magic elk)
Hodges, Margaret. The Fire Bringer [PAIUTE]
London, Jonathan. Fire Race: A Kapuk Coyote Tale About How Fire Came to the People. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1993. (unp.) [KAROK - northwest California] (With the help of other animals, Wise Old Coyote manages to acquire fire from the wicked Yellow Jacket sisters.)
McDermott, Gerald. Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale. NY: Viking Press, 1974. (42 ps.) [PUEBLO] (origin of the sun to man)
Rosen, Michael. Crow and Hawk: A Traditional Pueblo Indian Story. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1995. [PUEBLO] (hawk raises crows)
Schecter, Ellen. The Warrior Maiden: A Hopi Legend. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1997. (44 ps.) [HOPI] (Apache raider alert)
Sekaquaptewa, Emory. Coyote and Little Turtle=lisaw niqw Yongosonhoy: A Traditional Hopi Tale. Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers, 1994. (90 ps.) [HOPI] (coyote and Little Turtle spar)
Stevens, Janet. Coyote Steals the Blanket: An Ute Tale. NY: Holiday House, 1993. [UTE] (Coyote angers the spirit of the desert)
Stevens, Janet. Old Bag of Bones: A Coyote Tale. NY: Holiday House, 1996. [SHOSHONE]

The Lizard Hand * [YOKUTS - PENUTIAN]
Splinter-Foot-Girl * [ARAPAHO]
Theft of Fire * [MAIDU]
San Souci, Robert D. Two Bear Cubs: A Miwok Legend from California's Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, Calif.: Yosemite Associate, 1997. (unp.) [MIWOK - PENUTIAN] (worm saves two bear cubs stranded on El Capitan)

SIOUAN, YUMAN, POMO (Culture groups: *)

Dominic, Gloria. Coyote and the Grasshoppers: A Pomo Legend. Vero Beach, Fla: Rourke Corp., 1996. [POMO - California] (Great Spirit's advice to Coyote to eat many grasshoppers saves the Pomo's from starvation)

SIOUAN culture groups: Catawba, Crow, Winnebago, Osage, Dakota Sioux, Assiniboin, Mandan

Bernhard, Emery. Spotted Eagle and Black Crow: A Lakota Legend. NY: Holiday House, 1993. (unp.) [LAKOTA - DAKOTA] (eagles help warrior survive)
Dominic, Gloria. Brave Bear and the Ghosts: A Sioux Legend. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Corp., 1996. [DAKOTA SIOUX] (Brave Bear outwits four ghosts who are trying to scare him)
Goble, Paul. Adopted by the Eagles. NY: Bradbury Press, 1994. [DAKOTA SIOUX] (two friends hunt for horses but only one returns)
Goble, Paul. Crow Chief: A Plains Indian Story. NY: Orchard Books, 1992. [LAKOTA] (live like relatives)
Goble, Paul. The Great Race of the Birds and Animals. NY: Bradbury Press, 1985. (32 ps.) [CHEYENNE - DAKOTA]
Goble, Paul. Iktomi and the Boulder: A Plains Indian Story. NY: Orchard Books, 1988. (32 ps.) [DAKOTA] (origin of Grand Canyon)
Goble, Paul. Iktomi and the Buzzard: A Plains Indian Story. NY: Orchard Books, 1994. [DAKOTA INDIANS - TETON INDIANS] (iktomi wants a ride on buzzard's back)
Jones, Jennifer Berry. Heetunka's Harvest: A Tale of the Plains Indians. [LAKOTA SIOUX] (greed)
Medicine Crow, Joseph. Brave Wolf and the Thunderbird. Washington, D. C.: National Museum of the American Indian, 1998. (31 ps.) [CROW] (Thunderbird, monster)
Rubalcaba, Jill. Uncegila's Seventh Spot: A Lakota Legend. NY: Clarion Books, 1995. (28 ps.) [LAKOTA SIOUX] (shaman, evil serpent, Ugly-Old-Woman)
Taylor, C.J. The Secret of the White Buffalo. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1993. (unp.) [DAKOTA - TETON - OGLALA] (origin of peace pipe)

OTHER LANGUAGES (Culture groups: *)
OTHER culture groups: Beouthukan, Klamath, Modoc, Mosan, Salishan (Chelan, Chinook, Bella Coola, Keallam, Coeur d'Alene, Nisqualli), Wakashan (Makah, Nootka, Kwakiutl)

Cohlene, Terri. Clamshell Boy [MAKAH]
Dwyer, Mindy. Coyote in Love. Seattle, WA: Alaska Northwest Books, 1997. [OREGON] (creation of Crater Lake, Oregon)
Luenn, Nancy. Miser on the Mountain: A Nisqually Legend of Mount Rainier. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1997. [SALISHAN - NISQUALLY - WASHINGTON STATE] (Pacific Northwest Native American story of the man who climbs Mount Rainier to collect a valuable shell)
Martin, Rafe. The Boy Who Lived With the Seals. NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1993. [CHINOOK] (boy grows up with seals in the sea; returns to tribe)
Simms, Laura. The Bone Man: A Native American Modoc Tale. NY: Hyperion Books, 1997. [MODOC - Oregon/California] (monster story)
Simms, Laura. The Bone Man: A Native American Modoc TaleMoon and Otter and Frog. NY: Hyperion Books for Children, 1995. (unp.) [MODOC - Oregon/California] (With the help of friend Otter, Moon finds a bride in Little Ugly Green Frog, who lacks physical beauty but possesses a special gift.)
Man Who Acted As the Sun * [BELLA COOLA]
The Sun Tests His Son-in-law * [BELLA COOLA]

Folklore from Canada

British Columbia | Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba | Ontario | Quebec | Atlantic/Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Nefoundland and Labrador, Saint-Pierre and Miguelon | Northern Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territory)

Andrews, Jan. Out of the Everywhere: Tales for a New World. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2000. (95 ps.) [CANADA] (10 traditional stories from the world varied to portray the heritage of Canada)
Cleaver, Elizabeth. The Enchanted Caribou. NY: Atheneum, 1985. (30 ps.) [ESKIMOS - CANADA] (transformation of a maiden into a white caribou after meeting 3 hunters)
Dixon, Ann. How Raven Brought Light to People. NY: Maxwell Macmillan, 1992. (30 ps.) [TLINGIT INDIANS] (Raven tricks the great chief who is hoarding the sun, the moon, and the stars from the people of the world and gives them to the people)
Drucker, Malka. The Sea Monster's Secret. San Diego, Calif.: Harcourt Brace, 1999. (unp.) [BRITISH COLUMBIA] [TLINGIT; HAIDA] (resourcefulness)
Field, Edward. Magic Words: Poems. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1998. (unp.) (A collection of poems based on songs and stories gathered by Knud Rasmussen on the Fifth Thule Expedition, which recorded Inuit legends about the universe and its creation.)
Frankenhuyzen, Gijsbert van. The Legend of Sleeping Bear. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 1998. [GREAT LAKES REGION - MICHIGAN] (Ojibwe tale of a mother bear losing sight of her two cubs as they all attempt to escape a forest fire by swimming across Lake Michigan)
Jessell, Tim. Amorak. [INUIT - ALASKA - CANADA] (creation myth explaining why the caribou and wolf are brothers)
Lewis, Paul Owen. Storm Boy. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words Pub., 1995. [HAIDA] (Haida Indian story telling of a boy who falls from his canoe into a world of eighteen-foot tall humanlike creatures who welcome him and later take him home to his village)
Lunge-Larsen, Lise. The Legend of the Lady Slipper: An Ojibwe Tale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. (30 ps.) [OJIBWA] (origin of the lady's slipper flower)
Norman, Howard. Trickster and the Fainting Birds. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1999. (82 ps.) [CREE AND OJIBWA] (7 Cree and Chippewa trickster tales)
Reid, William. The Raven Steals the Light. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1984. (91 ps.) [BRITISH COLUMBIA - QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS] (HAIDA]
Rodanas, Kristina. Follow the Stars: A Native American Woodlands Tale. Boston, Little Brown, 1998. [OJIBWA] (explanation of the return of the warm season)
Sleator, William. The Angry Moon. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970. (45 ps.) [TLINGIT] (An Indian girl insults the moon and is held prisoner by him until her friend reaches the sky country to rescue her)
Van Laan, Nancy. Shingebiss: An Ojibwe Legend. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. (unp.) [OJIBWA] [GREAT LAKES REGION - LAKE SUPERIOR] (Shingebiss the duck bravely challenges the Winter Maker and manages to find enough food to survive a long, harsh winter)
Wood, Douglas. The Windigo's Return: A North Woods Story. NY: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers, 1996. [OJIBWA - ANISHIBABE] (when the fearsome Windigo preys upon the People of the North Woods, Morning Star comes up with a plan to stop him)

Folklore from Mexico

Aardema, Verna. Borreguita and the Coyote: A Tale from Ayulta, Mexico. NY: Knopf, 1991. (34 ps.) [Mexico] (cleverness of a lamb against a coyote)
Aardema, Verna. Pedro & the Padre: A Tale From Jalisco, Mexico. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1991. (32 ps.) [MEXICO] (boy learns about honesty)
Aardema, Verna. Riddle of the Drum: A Tale From Tizapan, Mexico. NY: Four Winds Press, 1979. (29 ps.) [JALISCO, MEXICO] (anxious to keep his daughter from marrying, a king announces that no man may marry his daughter unless he guesses the kind of leather used in a drum made by a wizard)
Bernhard, Emery. The Tree That Rains: The Flood Myth of the Huichol Indians of Mexico. NY: Holiday House, 1994. [MEXICO-HUICHOL] (With the help of Great-Grandmother Earth, Watakame, a hard-working Indian, survives a great flood and begins a new life)
Coburn, Jewell Reinhart. Domitila: A Cinderella Tale from the Mexican Tradition. [MEXICO] (Cinderella variant)
Cruz Martinez, Alejandro. The Woman Who Outshone the Sun: The Legend of Lucia Zenteno. San Francisco, Calif.: Children's Book Press, 1991. [ZAPOTEC - MEXICO] (exiled woman punishes the village by taking away its water)
Czernecki, Stefan. Pancho's Pinata. NY: Hyperion Books for Children, 1992. [MEXICO] (On Christmas Eve, Pancho rescues a star from a cactus and receives the gift of happiness)
Ehlert, Lois. Cuckoo: A Mexican Folktale. [MEXICO] (how the cuckoo lost her colorful feathers)
Hayes, Joe. Juan Verdades: The Man Who Couldn't Tell A Lie. NY: Orchard Books, 2001. (unp.) [MEXICO - SOUTHWEST] [two wealthy rancheros bet all they own on the honesty - - or the lack of it - - of a ranch foreman named Juan Verdades (John Truth)]
Johnston, Tony. The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote. NY: Putnam's, 1994. [ZAPOTEC - MEXICO] (why coyotes howl at the moon as Rabbit outwits Coyote)
Marcos, subcomandante. The Story of Colors. [MEXICO - CHIAPAS]
Mike, Jan. Oppossum and the Great Firemaker. [MEXICO]

MAYAN CULTURE * folktales
Burton, Albert. Journey of the Nightly Jaguar: Inspired by An Ancient Mayan Myth. [MAYA] (sun becomes a jaguar at night)
Gerson, Mary-Joan. People of Corn: A Mayan Story. [MAYA - GUATEMALA] (creation of people who will praise their creators)
Lattimore, Deborah Nourse. Why There Is No Arguing in Heaven: A Mayan Myth. [MAYA - MEXICO] (gods challenge each other to create beings to worship them)
McDermott, Gerald. Musicians of the Sun. [MEXICO - AZTEC] (Deity Tezcatlipoca, Lord of the Night, brings color to the Earth by freeing musicians Red, Yellow, Blue and Green)
Mora, Pat. The Night the Moon Fell: A Maya Myth. [MAYA] (Creation of the Milky Way)
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Quetzal: Sacred Bird of the Cloud Forest. NY: Morrow Junior Books, 1996. (40 ps.) [AZTEC - MEXICO]
Rockwell, Anne. The Boy Who Wouldn't Obey: A Mayan Legend. [MAYA] (Chac, a god of the sky, and a disobedient boy)
Shetterly, Susan Hand. The Dwarf Wizard of Uxmal. [MEXICO - MAYA] (magic, leadership)
AZTEC * Creation Story (See: 972.12)
Trinidad and Tobago

Joseph, Lynn. The Mermaid's Twin Sister: More Stories from Trinidad. NY: Clarion Books, 1994. [TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO] (duennes, mermaids, birthday presents)
Joseph, Lynn. A Wave in Her Pocket: Stories from Trinidad. NY: Clarion Books, 1991. [TRINIDAD] (Tantie tells the children 6 stories originating in her own imagination, in Trinidad, and in West Africa)

Educator is the recipient of the Miss Rumphius Award *
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For a broadened view of folklore, refer to The Folktale by Stith Thompson for tale types and motifs.

For your reading enjoyment, peruse "Folk Tales of the North American Indians" by Stith Thompson. It includes tales categorized by culture group and motif.