Star Maiden and Other Tales
The Star Maiden and Other Indian Tales
Told by Anne Pellowski
CMS Records, Inc.
The storyteller looking for good Indian tales soon learns that is is almost impossible to judge the more modern tales for authenticity, unless one has years of experience an an anthropologist, or better yet, the rare understanding which can come from realm honest friendship with Indians. To attempt telling the tales in the version which come to us from such older, recognized authorities as Catlin, Copway, Schoolcraft, or Thompson, would be pointless, since they are in a language not entirely meaningful to today's world.
Schoolcraft states that the "language and phraseology are of the most simple kind. Few adjectives are used, and few comparisons are resorted to. "if this is true, there was surely some other force in the language of the narrative which held the listener's attention, for most records indicate that the Indian storyteller had an honored position in his society. It is precisely that quality of language which is so difficult to render in any translation, and Schoolcraft himself used largely the conventional literary forms of his day.
Many of the tales were connected with a religious or moral belief, and therefore ideally suited, in the Victorian opinion for use with children, yet not before the violent passages had been removed and the moral ornately embellished. The end result were often more like European tales than Indian.
The tales chosen for this recording are from the standard sources mentioned above, and cited in full below. The are available in numerous versions, and the aim here has been to combine versions in such a way that the essence of the tale is recorded remains intact, but the language has been selected for smoothness of narration.
About the storyteller
Anne Pellowski is the Assistant Storytelling and Group Work Specialist at The New York Public Library. Her work takes her to the many branches of the library, and to the parks in the summer, telling stories in the traditional manner. In addition she is frequent guest on the Library's television programs and does extensive reviewing of recordings and books for children.
She grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, attending a rural school there. The family eventually moved to Winona, Minnesota and she there received the Bachelor's Degree from the College of Saint Teresa. A Fulbright Scholarship then took her to the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany, where she read extensively from contemporary European children's literature, which studying formally at the University of Munich. After her return, she joined the staff of the New York Public Library, and finished work for the Master's Degree in Library Science at Columbia University. Later, she interrupted her work at the Library to return to Munich for two years additional research on a world bibliography of children's literature, to be published next year.
Schoolcraft states that the "language and phraseology are of the most simple kind. Few adjectives are used, and few comparisons are resorted to. "if this is true, there was surely some other force in the language of the narrative which held the listener's attention, for most records indicate that the Indian storyteller had an honored position in his society. It is precisely that quality of language which is so difficult to render in any translation, and Schoolcraft himself used largely the conventional literary forms of his day.
Many of the tales were connected with a religious or moral belief, and therefore ideally suited, in the Victorian opinion for use with children, yet not before the violent passages had been removed and the moral ornately embellished. The end result were often more like European tales than Indian.
The tales chosen for this recording are from the standard sources mentioned above, and cited in full below. The are available in numerous versions, and the aim here has been to combine versions in such a way that the essence of the tale is recorded remains intact, but the language has been selected for smoothness of narration.
About the storyteller
Anne Pellowski is the Assistant Storytelling and Group Work Specialist at The New York Public Library. Her work takes her to the many branches of the library, and to the parks in the summer, telling stories in the traditional manner. In addition she is frequent guest on the Library's television programs and does extensive reviewing of recordings and books for children.
She grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, attending a rural school there. The family eventually moved to Winona, Minnesota and she there received the Bachelor's Degree from the College of Saint Teresa. A Fulbright Scholarship then took her to the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany, where she read extensively from contemporary European children's literature, which studying formally at the University of Munich. After her return, she joined the staff of the New York Public Library, and finished work for the Master's Degree in Library Science at Columbia University. Later, she interrupted her work at the Library to return to Munich for two years additional research on a world bibliography of children's literature, to be published next year.
Play song |
Name |
Performed by |
Description |
Native Words |
Translation |
Notes |
 |
The Star Maiden | This is a Shawnee story, and the ending is probably meant to explain how the birds and the beasts came to live in all corners of the world. The Wyandot Indians used their version to explain the origin of the start cluster, the Pleiades. As they told it, only seven sisters came down to earth, and after the youngest was captured, the six returned to shine brightly in the sky, but the shadow of the youngest can still be seen at certain times. | Stories | |||
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The Punishment Of Raccoon | Similar animal "how" stories can be found in many collections, but this version of how the raccoon came to be so small in size is uniqued in its directness and flavor. | Stories | |||
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Snow Bird And The Water Tiger | A vine swing over a lake and a jealous mother appear in most examples of this tale which is widely spread among several tribes. The story told here follows closely the one recorded among the Osage Indians. The number four, which is mentioned in Snowbird's tale within the tale, was considered to be magic, much as the number three is found in folk tales of other countries. | Stories | |||
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Why The Rattlesnake Sheds Its Skin | In some cases, this is called "How Echo Came To Be," since the story answers both a "why" and "how." The small boys in these stories have only diminutive or pet names, since children did not usually get their real names until after they were six years old or more. | Stories |