Description
Tales of the Iroquois Volumes I and II is a reprint of several classic and out of print works first published in pamphlet form by the Six Nations Museum and the Akwesasne Mohawk Counselor Organization. Volume one is a collection of 15 traditional stories, plus a key to pictographs and an opinion piece on Indian conservation. Nine of the legends are told with pictographs and text. As the author notes, the pictographs or picture writing were collected from a variety of sources such as wampum belts, Condolence canes, rock paintings, and beadwork. The pictograph section consists of 12 pages of symbols. Each image is a simple sketch with a caption; one page is devoted to symbols of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Stories told through pictographs are Creation, Gift of the Great Spirit, Thunder Boy, The Hermit Thrush, The Great Gift Tobacco, Why We Have Mosquitoes, The Seven Dancers, Story of the Great Dipper, and The Flying Head. Those told through text are The Rabbit Dance, The Wampum Bird, The Discovery of Fire, The invention of the Bow and Arrow, Sagoianawasai Our Grandfather, and The Fierce Beast. The second part of the book or volume two documents three important historical events in Iroquois culture history. These include the Migration of the Iroquois, The Formation of the Iroquois Confederacy, and the Code of Handsome Lake. Throughout the text, illustrations by the author's son, John Fadden Kahionhes enhance the stories. This is an important reprint that consolidates original texts from the 1940s and 1950s, first recorded by Ray Fadden Tehanetorens, and later issued as two volumes by Akwesasne Notes. Students from elementary to post secondary will find this a valuable collection of Six Nations (Haudenosaunee) stories that teach and offer guidance as well as documenting Iroquois world view and the spiritual connection to the earth. This book is available only in Canada.