
The Man with his Leg Tied Up: Native American Folklore
The Man with his Leg Tied Up: Native American Folklore As a punishment for having once upon a time used that foot against a venerable medicine man, Aggo Dah Gauda had one leg looped up to his thigh, so that he was obliged to get along by hopping. By dint of practice he had become very skillful in this exercise, and he could make leaps which seemed almost incredible. Aggo had a beautiful daughter, and

Strong Desire and the Red Sorcerer: Native American Folklore
Strong Desire and the Red Sorcerer: Native American Folklore There was a man called Odshedoph, or the Child of Strong Desires, who had a wife and one son. He had withdrawn his family from the village, where they had spent the winter, to the neighborhood of a distant forest, where game abounded. This wood was a day’s travel from his winter home, and under its ample shadow the wife fixed the lodge, while the husband

Gray Eagle and his Five Brothers: Native American Folklore
Gray Eagle and his Five Brothers: Native American Folklore There were six falcons living in a nest, five of whom were still too young to fly, when it so happened that both the parent birds were shot in one day. The young brood waited anxiously for their return; but night came, and they were left without parents and without food. Gray Eagle, the eldest, and the only one whose feathers had become stout enough to

The Boy who Set a Snare for the Sun: Native American Folklore
The Boy who Set a Snare for the Sun: Native American Folklore At the time when the animals reigned in the earth, they had killed all the people but a girl and her little brother, and these two were living in fear, in an out-of-the-way place. The boy was a perfect little pigmy, and never grew beyond the size of a mere infant; but the girl increased with her years, so that the task of

The Water Spirit: Germanic Folklore
The Water Spirit: Germanic Folklore About the middle of the sixteenth century, when Zündorf was no larger than it is at present, there lived at the end of the village, hard by the church, one of that useful class of women termed midwives. She was an honest, industrious creature, and what with ushering the new-born into life, and then assisting in making garments for them, she contrived to creep through the world in comfort, if

The Cellar of the Old Knights: Germanic Folklore
The Cellar of the Old Knights: Germanic Folklore There was a poor, but worthy, and withal very merry, fellow at Tilleda, who was once put to the expense of a christening, and, as luck would have it, it was the eighth. According to the custom of the time, he was obliged to give a plain feast to the child’s sponsors. The wine of the country which he put before his guests was soon exhausted, and