[6] Keewaydin.
[7] The Brothertons.
INDIAN TALES AND LEGENDS,
MYTHOLOGIC AND ALLEGORIC.
RENDERED FROM THE ORAL TRADITIONS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS BY COMPETENT INTERPRETERS,
AND WRITTEN OUT
FROM THE ORIGINAL NOTES.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE TALES.
The following tales are published as specimens of an oral imaginative lore existing among the North American aborigines. In the long period of time in which these tribes have been subjects of observation, we are not aware that powers of this kind have been attributed to them. And it may be asked, Why the discovery of this peculiar trait in their intellectual character has not been made until the first quarter of the nineteenth century? The force of the query is acknowledged; and, in asserting the claim for them, the writer of these pages proposes first to offer to the public some proofs of the correctness of his own conclusions on this point.