Wigwam Stories Explained

Wigwam Stories is a children's literature book containing traditions, myths, stories, folklore, tribal customs, and sketches of Native American tribes, retold by Mary Catherine Judd.^[1] The first edition was published in 1901 in Boston by Ginn & Company.^[2]

Overview

The tales were told by Native Americans and compiled by a friend of theirs.^[3] The myths which appear in Wigwam Stories are mainly those which refer to nature myths, Judd being guided in her choice by her love for nature which was fostered and encouraged by her work among children while she was a school teacher. The stories were carefully examined by several ethnologists, among them Alice Cunningham Fletcher, a lecturer at Harvard University.

The book was bound in yellow and brown in a design made up of Native American emblems. The work for the covers and for the headings of the chapters and three of the full-page drawings was done by Angel De Cora. The other illustrations were made from photographs selected with reference to sentiment and meaning by students in the several tribes from whom they are taken.^[4]

There are translations into Spanish and Norwegian.^[5]

Reception

The Chicago Tribune gave the book a mixed review, but was laudatory of the artwork:

Format

Part I: Sketches

• Books in the Indian Language
• Some Things the Indians knew before White Men came
• How the Iroquois built their Log Forts
• Indian Records
• Wampum Money
• Indian Traits
• The Indian's Eye Training
• Medicine Men among the Indians
• The Indian at Home
• Meaning of Indian Totems and Names
• Indian Names for the Months or Moons
• Customs of Kickapoo, Seminole, and Other Tribes
• The Indians who live in Brick Houses
• The Moki Indians
• Dakota or Sioux
• Indian Games
• Sioux and Chippewas of Minnesota
• Chief Logan and Others
• A Navajo Medicine Chant
• How the Cave People found Dry Land on the Earth

Part II: Traditions and myths

• Iagoo, the Great Story-Teller
• How Clay Dishes were first made
• Leaping Rock in the Pipestone Valley
• The Face of the Great Manitou in the Rock
• How Two Squaws saved their Band
• Origin of the Crane Tribe
• Story of the First Man and Woman
• Giants and Fairies
• Weenk the Sleep-Bringer
• The Little People of the Senecas
• The Hunter who could fly
• How the Bear lost his Tail
• The Blue Heron and the Wolf
• The Little Wolf Brother
• The Good Bear and the Lost Boy
• Legend of Niagara Falls
• How the Indians came to know Medicine Plants
• Mondahmin, who gave the Corn
• The Marriage of Mondahmin
• The Prairie Dandelion
• The Shadow Canoe
• An Indian Temperance Speech
• The Girl who became a Pine Tree
• The White Stone Canoe
• The Great Bear in the Sky
• The North Star
• The Star that never moves
• Trapping in the Happy Hunting Grounds
• The Old Man in the Sky
• Where the Morning Star came from
• The Woman in the Moon
• The Seven Stars of Pleiades
• The Chipmunk s Black Stripes
• The Echo God and the Northern Lights
• Legend of Mackinaw Island
• How the Water Lily came
• The North Wind s Defeat
• A Rip Van Winkle
• Legend of the Wampum-Bird and the Boy
• The Magic Moccasins
• Opechee the Robin Redbreast
• The Indian who married the Moon

Part III: Stories recently told of Hiawatha and other heros

• Menabozho and his Three Brothers
• Story of the Deluge
• Menabozho caught
• How the Kingfisher got his Ring and his Ruffle
• How the Woodchuck helped Menabozho
• Menabozho swallowed by a Large Fish
• The Thunder-Bird of the Dakotas
• Hiawatha the Wise
• Wampum or Indian Money
• Legend of the Arbutus
• The One who loved him most
• The Marten and the White Rabbit
• How Light, Fire, and Water first came to the World
• How the Copper Mountain came to fall
• The Sun and Moon
• Custer's Heart

Notes and References

1. News: Indian Tales and Legends . 9 April 2023 . The Minneapolis Journal . Newspapers.com . 1 June 1901 . 13 . en.
2. Book: Judd, Mary Catherine . 1901 . Wigwam Stories Told by North American Indians . Boston . Ginn . . 1102331518 .
3. Book Shop . Everyland: A Magazine of World Friendship for Girls and Boys . September 1914 . 5 . 4 . 252 . 9 April 2023 . Everyland publishing Company. . en.
4. News: WIGWAM STORIES - Indian Legends Are Arranged by a Minneapolis Woman. . 9 April 2023 . . . 11 May 1901 . 16 . en.
5. News: WIGWAM STORIES' IN NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE . 9 April 2023 . Star Tribune . Newspapers.com . 6 August 1916 . 41 . en.