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On the turtle's back : stories the Lenape told their grandchildren / Camilla Townsend and Nicky Kay Michael.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Townsend, Camilla, Author.
- Series:
- Ceres: Rutgers studies in history
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Delaware Indians--Folklore.
- Delaware Indians.
- Indians of North America--Oklahoma--Folklore.
- Indians of North America.
- Delaware language--Texts.
- Delaware language.
- Delaware Indians--Biography.
- Delaware Indians--Oklahoma--Social life and customs.
- Indians of North America--Oklahoma--Social life and customs.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (x, 255 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations, facsimiles, maps.
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Place of Publication:
- New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, 2023.
- Language Note:
- Text in English, with some text in the Delaware language.
- Summary:
- "The Lenape (or Delaware) people were pushed out of the New Jersey region in colonial times, embarking on a two-hundred year odyssey that eventually brought them to Indian Territory, soon to be the State of Oklahoma. On the Turtle's Back: Stories the Lenape Told Their Grandchildren presents the stories that they decided to write down in the early 1900s, when their language was still fully vibrant, but they were beginning to fear for the future. Two Delaware families, Charles and Susan Elkhair and Julius and Minnie Fouts, together with their children, invited an anthropologist into their living rooms, and they began to talk. These families told stories of creation, of great heroes, and of people who needed to learn a lesson or two. In doing this, they allowed future generations into their imaginative and metaphorical story world, elements of which had existed for centuries. The book they hoped for wasn't published in their time, but their efforts to preserve their culture were nevertheless fruitful: they made this book possible. The second part of this volume includes interviews with elders at the end of the twentieth century, people who had been children when the stories were told. They still remembered the old Lenape story world, as do the Delaware of today"-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Cover
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- 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 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
- About the Authors.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on print version record.
- ISBN:
- 1-9788-1916-1
- 1-9788-1918-8
- OCLC:
- 1396698859
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