The Mythology of Native North America

by Leeming, David Adams

• ISBN13: 9780806132396
• ISBN10: 0806132396
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr

Summary

Most North Americans experience mythology by way of translations of classical texts, and surprisingly few of us are familiar with Coyote, Spider Woman, Water Jar boy, Falling Sky Woman, or the epic of the Blessingway - to name just a few of the stories retold in this collection of significant myths of Native North America. David Leeming and Jake Page, building on the success of their Goddess: Myths of the Female Divine and God: Myths of the Male Divine, have provided an introduction and commentary on seventy-two myths drawn from a variety of cultures and language groups. They honor the Native pantheons, cosmologies, heroes, and heroines first as cultural expressions, then as variations on other mythic narratives to which they may be related, and ultimately as expressions of the larger human experience of mythmaking.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	3	(12)
PART ONE: PANTHEONS	15	(58)
Native American Deities	16	(2)
World Parents	18	(4)
The Great Goddess	22	(18)
The Supreme God	40	(6)
Other Deity Types	46	(27)
The Trickster	46	(14)
The Dying God or Goddess	60	(10)
Lesser Gods and Spirits	70	(3)
PART TWO: COSMOS	73	(72)
Creation	74	(30)
The Earth-Diver Creation	77	(12)
Emergence Creation	89	(10)
Other Types of Creation	99	(5)
The Flood	104	(10)
The Afterlife	114	(21)
The End of the World	135	(10)
PART THREE: HEROES AND HEROINES	145	(46)
Heroes	148	(38)
The Culture Hero	149	(4)
The Twins	153	(5)
The Quest	158	(5)
The Search for the Father	163	(2)
The Wicked Parent	165	(1)
Monster-Slayer Trickster	166	(11)
The Quest for Love	177	(2)
The Savior Hero	179	(7)
Heroines	186	(5)
The Heroine and the Family	186	(1)
The Heroine as Savior	187	(4)
Bibliography	191	(10)
Index	201