Myths, Legends, and Folktales of America An Anthology

by Leeming, David; Page, Jake

• ISBN13: 9780195117837
• ISBN10: 0195117832
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-01-28
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In this marvelous collection, David Leeming and Jake Page have gathered together the great myths and legends of America, ranging from the creation stories of the first inhabitants, to the tall-tales of the Western frontier, to the legendary outlaws of the 1920s. Here is a thoroughly engaging chronicle, a book unrivaled in its scope, embracing Big Foot and Windingo, Hiawatha and Uncle Sam, Paul Revere and Billy the Kid, the Iroquois Flying Head and Elvis. The editors cast their nets widely. Under myths, for instance, Leeming and Page include "the melting pot," "manifest destiny," and Henry Adams's "dynamo." And under "Heroes and Heroines," they have assembled everyone from Honest Abe Lincoln and George Washington, to Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Martin Luther King. For each myth or hero, the editors include an excerpt--often the definitive rendering of the story in question--so that for Moby Dick, we find a passage from Melville's classic, and for Brer Rabbit, the "Tar Baby" tale by Joel Chandler Harris. And along the way, the editors reveal how waves of immigrants, encountering this strange land for the first time, adapted their religion and folklore to help make sense of a new and astounding place. Thus a central Asian god becomes the Great Spirit of Native American myth, and an Aztec goddess is transformed into Our Lady of Guadaloupe. Ranging from the coyote trickster, to Johnny Appleseed, to John Henry and Stagolee, this wonderful collection illuminates the mythmaking process, and sheds much light on what it means to be American.

Author Biography

David Leeming was formerly Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut and is the author of many books including The World of Myth, Mythology: The Voyage of the Hero, and Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, all published by OUP. Jake Page is an essayist, science writer, novelist, and co-author with his wife Susanne of both Hopi and Navajo. Leeming and Page have collaborated in the past on Goddess and God, both published by OUP. Leeming and Page live in New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(7)
I DEITIES, DEMIDEITIES, DOGMAS, AND ICONS FOR A NEW LAND	7	(64)
Native American	11	(16)
Creation Myths	12	(4)
Zuni: The Separation of the First Parents	12	(1)
A Cherokee Earth-diver Creation Myth	13	(1)
A Tewa Emergence Creation Myth	14	(2)
A Hawaiian Creation Myth	16	(1)
Goddesses	16	(5)
A Navajo Myth of Changing Woman	17	(2)
A Sioux Myth of White Buffalo Woman	19	(1)
An Inuit Myth of Sedna	20	(1)
Trickster Gods	21	(4)
A Karuk Myth of Coyote	22	(1)
A Tsimshian Myth of Raven	23	(2)
The Indian and the White Man	25	(2)
A Brule Sioux Myth of the Coming of the White Man	25	(2)
European American	27	(31)
Hispanic Visions	28	(7)
The Virgin of Guadalupe	29	(2)
La Llorona	31	(1)
The Sacred Earth of Chimayo	32	(2)
The Penitentes---the Passion	34	(1)
``Anglo'' Visions	35	(23)
The Work Ethic	36	(1)
Cotton Mather
The Almighty Dollar	37	(1)
Benjamin Franklin
God and the Elect	38	(1)
Jonathan Edwards
The Melting Pot	38	(1)
Crevecoeur
Manifest Destiny	39	(2)
Richard Yates
William Gilpin
Miss Liberty	41	(1)
Uncle Sam	42	(1)
Yankee Doodle	43	(2)
The Transcendental Deity	45	(4)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Technology Apotheosized	49	(1)
Henry David Thoreau
The Dynamo	50	(1)
Henry Adams
The Book of Mormon	51	(5)
The Devil in the West	56	(2)
Charles O. Brown
African American	58	(10)
The Spiritual---``Go Down, Moses,''	58	(1)
God and the Devil---``The Devil's Doing,''	59	(2)
``The Creation''	61	(2)
James Weldon Johnson
The Nation of Islam	63	(2)
Voodoo	65	(3)
Asian American	68	(3)
Hare Krishna and Other Movements	69	(1)
``Amitabha's Song''	69	(2)
Gary Snyder
II NEW WORLD MYTHICAL MONSTERS AND FABULOUS CREATURES	71	(26)
Native American	75	(5)
Hopi Ogres	76	(1)
The Iroquois Flying Head	77	(1)
The Chinook Ship Monster	78	(2)
European American	80	(10)
Bigfoot	81	(4)
The Jersey Devil	85	(1)
Moby Dick	85	(5)
African American	90	(6)
``A Boarhog for a Husband,''	90	(3)
``The Poor Man and the Snake,''	93	(3)
Asian American	96	(1)
The Dragon	96	(1)
III NEW WORLD HEROES AND HEROINES	97	(110)
Native American	101	(15)
The Wabanaki Glooskap---The Fight with the Water Monster	101	(2)
The Tewa Water Jar Boy	103	(1)
The Iroquois Hiawatha	104	(2)
The Ojibwa Corn Hero	106	(2)
An Oneida Maiden Hero	108	(1)
Geronimo---Apache Hero	109	(1)
Custer's Last Stand---Two Versions	109	(7)
European American	116	(52)
Patriotic Heroes	116	(9)
George Washington---``I Cannot Tell a Lie,''	117	(3)
Abraham Lincoln---``Honest Abe,''	120	(1)
Paul Revere---The Midnight Ride	121	(4)
American Loners, Frontiersmen, and Tall Tales	125	(19)
Johnny Appleseed	126	(4)
Davy Crockett	130	(4)
Mike Fink	134	(1)
Paul Bunyan	135	(2)
Joe Magarac	137	(1)
Mountain Men	137	(3)
Miners	140	(2)
Betsey and the Mole	142	(1)
The Yankee Pedlar	142	(2)
Western Outlaws and Lawmen	144	(11)
Billy the Kid	145	(5)
Jesse James	150	(3)
Wild Bill Hickok	153	(1)
Wyatt Earp	154	(1)
The Hanging Judge	154	(1)
The Cowboy	155	(6)
The Cowboy's Prayer	155	(1)
Pecos Bill	156	(5)
Women of the Frontier	161	(1)
Annie Oakley	162	(1)
Calamity Jane	162	(1)
Bad Men and Bad Women	162	(3)
Ma Barker	162	(2)
Bonnie and Clyde	164	(1)
The Comic Book Hero	165	(1)
Superman	165	(1)
The Rock Hero	166	(2)
Elvis---``Jesus and Elvis,''	166	(2)
African American	168	(34)
The Slave Rebels	168	(2)
Gabriel Prosser and Denmark Vesey	168	(1)
Nat Turner	169	(1)
Tricksters and the Black Tall Tale	170	(15)
Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby	170	(2)
Stagolee	172	(9)
John Henry	181	(4)
Blues Lovers and Legends in Cool	185	(5)
``Frankie and Johnny,''	185	(3)
Bessie Smith	188	(1)
``Lady Sings the Blues,''	189	(1)
Billie Holiday
Leader Heroes	190	(12)
``I Have a Dream,''	191	(4)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
``To Mississippi Youth,''	195	(7)
Malcolm X
Asian American	202	(5)
Yeh-Shen	202	(4)
The Guru	206	(1)
Conclusion	207	(4)
Bibliography	211	(4)
Text Credits	215	(2)
Index	217