List of Illustrations
Introduction: The Storytellers’ History
1 Creation Stories
The Turtle’s Back
The Seven Stars
The Snow and Ice Boy
The Girl Who Sounds the Thunders
A Snake Legend [Julius Fouts]
The Disappearance of Corn [Charles Elkhair]
2 Big House Stories
The Misingwe [Charles Elkhair]
Vision on the Kansas River [Charles Elkhair]
The Future of the Big House [Charles Elkhair and Julius Fouts]
Delaware Church [Julius Fouts]
3 Culture Heroes
Ball Player [Julius Fouts]
The Big Fish [Charles Elkhair]
Wehixamukes (Strong Man) [Charles Elkhair]
4 Humans Learning Lessons
Rock-Shut-Up [Charles Elkhair]
Little Masks [Julius Fouts]
He Is Everywhere (Wē ma tī gŭnīs) [Julius Fouts]
5 Talking to the Dead
First Cause of the Feast for the Dead [Minnie Fouts]
Talking to the Dead [Susan Elkhair]
Lost Boy [Charles Elkhair’s daughter?]
Otter Hide [Charles Elkhair?]
6 The Coming of the Whites
The Coming of the White Men [Julius Fouts]
Origination of White Men [Julius Fouts]
Whites & Indians [Charles Elkhair]
7 Tales of Ordinary Life
A Child’s Life [Julius Fouts]
The Three Clans [Julius Fouts]
The Origin of Stories
An Afterword in Three Parts
I What Happened to the Storytellers?
II Four Elders at the End of the Twentieth Century
Rosetta Coffey (September 17, 1997)
Pat Donnell (September 20, 1997)
Joanna Nichol (October 11, 1997)
Bonnie Thaxton (August 19, 1997)
III Today
Appendix A: The Turtle’s Back (Iroquoian and Munsee Versions)
Appendix B: Dutch Arrival at Manhattan (John Heckewelder’s Version)
Appendix C: The Woman Who Wanted No One (as told to Truman Michelson)
Appendix D: Elected Leaders of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, ca. 1800–Present
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
