THESE legends are relics of our country's
once virgin soil. These and many others are
the tales the little black-haired aborigine loved
so much to hear beside the night fire.

For him the personified elements and other
spirits played in a vast world right around the
center fire of the wigwam.

Iktomi, the snare weaver, Iya, the Eater,
and Old Double-Face are not wholly fanciful
creatures.

There were other worlds of legendary folk
for the young aborigine, such as "The Star-
Men of the Sky," "The Thunder Birds Blink-
ing Zigzag Lightning," and "The Mysterious
Spirits of Trees and Flowers."

Under an open sky, nestling close to the
earth, the old Dakota story-tellers have told me
these legends. In both Dakotas, North and
South, I have often listened to the same story
told over again by a new story-teller.

While I recognized such a legend without the
least difficulty, I found the renderings varying

-v-