Old Indian Legends · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for Old Indian Legends by Zitkála-Šá.
Chapter 1
Old Indian Legends
A collection of traditional Dakota stories featuring the trickster figure Iktomi, exploring themes of deception, transformation, and cultural values through various adventures and moral lessons.
Chapter 2
Iktomi and the Ducks
Iktomi, a mischievous spider fairy, tricks a group of ducks by pretending to carry songs in his blanket. He builds a straw hut and convinces the ducks to dance with their eyes closed, then twists their heads and breaks their necks. He takes the dead ducks home to roast, but while his foot is caught in a tree, wolves eat his feast.
Chapter 3
Iktomi's Blanket
Iktomi, hungry and cold, prays to Inyan, the great stone grandfather, for food and offers his blanket as a gift. After receiving a freshly wounded deer as an answer, he regrets giving away his blanket when night falls and retrieves it from Inyan. Upon returning, he finds the deer has vanished, leaving only dry bones, and he selfishly laments not having eaten first.
Chapter 4
Iktomi and the Muskrat
Iktomi is eating boiled fish alone when a muskrat appears and, following custom, expects an invitation to share the meal. Instead of offering hospitality, Iktomi proposes a race with a stone on his back to decide who gets the fish. The muskrat agrees but swims across the lake while Iktomi struggles under the weight, then retrieves the pot and climbs a tree. Iktomi arrives to find his meal gone and, looking into the water, sees the muskrat in the tree above. The muskrat drops a bone into Iktomi's throat, teaching him a lesson about generosity.
Chapter 5
Iktomi and the Coyote
Iktomi discovers a seemingly dead coyote on the prairie and carries it home to roast for his evening meal. However, the coyote is only pretending to be dead and, after being thrown into the fire, leaps out and escapes, leaving Iktomi burned and humiliated. The coyote warns Iktomi not to take things for granted.
Chapter 6
Iktomi and the Fawn
Iktomi, dissatisfied with his own form, seeks transformation from a peacock into a beautiful bird but fails to keep the condition of not flying, reverting to his original self. He then asks an arrow to turn him into an arrow, but again breaks the condition by leaping like a fawn, reverting once more. Finally, he persuades a fawn to bury him in a pit with fire to mark his face with brown spots, leading to his apparent demise as smoke rises from the pit.
Chapter 7
The Badger and the Bear
A family of badgers generously hosts a hungry black bear, who repays their kindness by stealing their home and food. The badgers are left starving until the bear's youngest, ugliest cub secretly gives them a piece of meat. The father badger prays over a clot of buffalo blood, and from it springs a human avenger who confronts the bear, forcing him to return the dwelling and flee.
Chapter 8
The Tree-Bound
Iktomi tricks the young avenger, who possesses a magic arrow, into climbing a tree and then uses a charm to glue him to the bark. Stealing the avenger's arrow and buckskins, Iktomi plans to kill the red eagle and win the chieftain's daughter. A young woman later frees the tree-bound brave, who departs with a gesture of gratitude.
Chapter 9
Shooting of the Red Eagle
The real avenger arrives to shoot the red eagle, but Iktomi impersonates him and fails. After the deception is revealed, Iktomi is bound and disgraced. The true avenger then successfully kills the eagle with a magic arrow, winning the chieftain's daughter and a great feast.
Chapter 10
Iktomi and the Turtle
Patkaša the turtle finds a deer killed by another's arrow and is about to take it home when Iktomi tricks him into a jumping contest for the deer. Iktomi wins by cheating, then leaves to fetch his children, but Patkaša, realizing the deception, takes the deer and retreats to his teepee by the creek. Iktomi follows, plunges into the water to cool Patkaša's fire, but is drowned when his toes (mistaken for coals by his children) surface.
Chapter 11
Dance in a Buffalo Skull
On a dark prairie night, field mice hold a joyful feast and dance inside an old buffalo skull, unaware of a pair of fiery eyes approaching from the river bottom. The eyes eventually slide into the skull's eye sockets, startling the mice, who flee into the darkness, crying out about a cat.
Chapter 12
The Toad and the Boy
A young mother leaves her baby alone briefly to gather willow sticks, and upon returning finds him gone. Despite extensive searching by the community, the child is not found. Ten years later, the boy has been raised by a large, ugly toad on a marshy island, unaware of his human origins. He hears his real mother's weeping across the lake and is deeply moved, but the toad mother tries to keep him by imitating the human cry. Eventually, an Indian hunter spots the boy and leads his overjoyed parents to him.
Chapter 13
Iya, the Camp-Eater
A baby is found in the tall grass by hunters and brought to the chieftain, who adopts him as his grandson named Chaske. During a feast and dance, the young mother hears voices from the baby's mouth and discovers he is Iya, a giant camp-eater in disguise. The tribe flees at night, and at dawn Iya reveals his true form but is slain by warriors, freeing a tribe he had swallowed.
Chapter 14
Manštin, the Rabbit
Manštin, a kindhearted rabbit brave, warns his grandmother about Iktomi and sets off on a hunt to the North country. Along the way, he rescues a baby from the cruel Double-Face, returns the child to its parents, and magically transforms the infant into a full-grown man. Continuing his journey, he encounters a blind old grandfather living in a hut with magic food bags. Manštin trades his eyes for the grandfather's comfortable life, but soon regrets his decision when he struggles to fetch water and firewood. His friend with the Earth Ear helps reunite him with the grandfather, who returns Manštin's eyes, and Manštin learns a lesson about appreciating his own gifts before resuming his hunt.
Chapter 15
The Warlike Seven
Seven unlikely warriors—Ashes, Fire, Bladder, Grasshopper, Dragonfly, Fish, and Turtle—set out to make war, but one by one they fall to natural mishaps. Only Fish and Turtle reach a village, where they are mocked and threatened. After being thrown into a lake, they escape and anger the villagers, who summon Iya the Eater to swallow the lake. Iktomi, also swallowed, stabs Iya from within, causing the water to flood and drown the village, while Fish and Turtle emerge victorious.
