Indian Why Stories: Sparks from War Eagle’s Lodge-Fire

Frank B. Linderman kept as close as possible to the Indian style of storytelling, using only the tales told to him by elders of the Blackfeet, Chippewa, and Cree tribes in the early days of the twentieth century. Indian Why Stories recalls a timeless in the early evening a medicine man sits before a lodge fire, relating tales of the old days to attentive youngsters of the tribe. He tells about the animal people – the deer and antelope in a footrace, the dancing fox who convulses the buffalo with laughter, the white beaver and ghost-people, the huge snake in love with the moon, the sparrow hawk of conscience, and many more. These stories have a moral framework, revealing a reverence for life, an emphasis on honesty, and the unity of creation.