Legends of the Elders

Thomas S. Abler is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo and the author of A Canadian Indian Bibliography, 1960-1970.

Eighteen stories of diverse origin are presented in this brief volume.
The longest is a bit over two pages, and many occupy only a single page.
Friesen does not provide sources of the tales presented. He attributes
them to various First Nations or to a region or language family,
including Stoney, Blackfoot, Ojibway, Assiniboine, Iroquois, Woodland
Cree, Plains Cree, Ottawa, Ute, Plains Indian, Algonquian, and Inuit.

In a short introduction, Friesen suggests that among Indians on the
North American Plains, all oral traditions fall into one of four
categories: entertainment legends, teaching legends, moral legends, or
sacred legends. Sacred legends, he states, can be told only by “a
recognized elder ... and their telling is considered a form of
worship.” No oral tradition that would fall into Friesen’s final
category is included in this volume, but the first three classes are
used to organize the presentation of the tales.

Some readers may find the book and its illustrations have a certain
charm, but others may find it perpetuates superficial stereotypes of the
uniformity of Native culture and the nature of oral traditions among the
variety of indigenous cultures of North America.