The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories by Lummis
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"The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories" by Lummis is a collection of folk tales and ethnographic sketches written in the late 19th century. Drawn from the Tée‑wahn (Isleta Pueblo) tradition, it gathers myths, animal fables, and hero legends framed by the rhythms of winter storytelling and everyday village life. Central figures include the culture hero Nah-chu-rú-chu and the perennial trickster Coyote, alongside moon, animal, and spirit beings.
The opening of this collection sets the scene with an engaging introduction to Pueblo history, towns, customs, and the sacred practice of oral storytelling, then moves into fireside tellings by venerable narrators in Isleta. Early tales include The Antelope Boy—an orphan reared by antelopes who, with a Mole’s magical help, wins a world-circling race and frees his people—and a run of brisk origin fables explaining why Coyote feuds with crows and blackbirds, how mice once routed warriors, and how Bear outwits Coyote at farming and “ice-fishing.” The First of the Rattlesnakes recounts how the hero Nah-chu-rú-chu, bewitched into a coyote by a false friend, is restored by a shepherd’s rite and in turn transforms the traitor into the first rattlesnake, bound to rattle before striking. The Man who Married the Moon tells how a pearl-dipper test wins him the Moon-maiden, her murder by jealous Yellow-Corn-Maidens, his profound mourning and the animal searchers (including the buzzard who burns his head), and her resurrection through sacred song—ending with the witches turned into harmless cliff snakes. Briefly, The Mother Moon explains night as the Moon’s loving sacrifice of one eye so the world could sleep. The Maker of the Thunder-Knives blends practical knapping notes with Horned Toad lore and a cautionary episode in which two boys, sent for the “skin of the oak,” take enemy scalps, are haunted for breaking ritual purity, and help establish taboos on love-thoughts during the scalp ceremony and on smoking before manhood; the section closes as a song that moves stones begins. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928 |
|---|---|
| LoC No. | 04005480 |
| Title | The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories |
| Original Publication | New York: The Century Co., 1891, copyright 1892, copyright 1894. |
| Contents | Introduction: The brown story-tellers -- The antelope boy -- The coyote and the crows -- The war-dance of the mice -- The coyote and the blackbirds -- The coyote and the bear -- The first of the rattlesnakes -- The coyote and the woodpecker -- The man who married the moon -- The mother moon -- The maker of the thunder-knives -- The stone-moving song -- The coyote and the thunder-knife -- The magic hide-and-seek -- The race of the tails -- Honest big-ears -- The feathered barbers -- The accursed lake -- The Moqui boy and the eagle -- The north wind and the south wind -- The town of the snake-girls -- The drowning of Pecos -- The ants that pushed on the sky -- The man who wouldn't keep Sunday -- The brave bobtails -- The revenge of the fawns -- The sobbing pine -- The Quères Diana -- A Pueblo Bluebeard -- The hero twins -- The hungry grandfathers -- The coyote -- Doctor field-mouse. |
| Credits | Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | E011: History: America: America |
| Subject | Pueblo Indians -- Folklore |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77804 |
| Release Date | Jan 28, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 374 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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