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Nebraska
Press Series 2
| Myths
and Tales of the Chiricahua Apache Indians
David French, Scott Rushforth, Morris Edward
Opler, Paper: 1994,xxvi,115,CIP.LC 94-12396,0-8032-8602-3
Sources of American Indian Oral Literature
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"We are dealing here with a living
literature," wrote Morris Edward Opler in his preface
to Myths and Tales of the Chiricahua Apache Indians.
First published in 1942 by the American Folk-Lore Society,
this is another classic study by the author of Myths
and Tales of the Jicarilla Apache Indians. Opler conducted
field work among the Chiricahuas in the American Southwest,
as he had earlier among the Jicarillas. The result is
a definitive collection of their myths. They range from
an account of the world destroyed by water to descriptions
of puberty rites and wonderful contests. The exploits
of culture heroes involve the slaying of monsters and
the assistance of Coyote. A large part of the book is
devoted to the irrepressible Coyote, whose antics make
cautionary tales for the young, tales that also allow
harmless expression of the taboo. Other striking stories
present supernatural beings and "foolish people."
Scott Rushforth introduces this volume, placing the
Chiricahua Apaches in history and discussing the pioneering
ethnography of Morris Edward Opler. Rushforth is an
associate professor of anthropology at New Mexico State
University and the author of Cultural Persistence: Continuity
in Meaning and Moral Responsibility among the Bearlake
Athapaskans.
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