Cyrus MacMillan

Canadian Fairy Tales Cyrus MacMillan

Canadian Fairy Tales is a collection of 26 of Native American folk tales gathered from across Canada by Professor Cyrus MacMillan, who did not indicate the origin tribe of each story. The collection was originally published in 1922, and several tales within contain themes of creation. This is MacMillan's second collection of fairy tales. Like the Grimms Brothers did in Europe, MacMillan traveled the country seeking tales from the First Nations people in Canada.

HOW GLOOSKAP MADE THE BIRDS RABBIT AND THE GRAIN BUYERS SAINT NICHOLAS AND THE CHILDREN THE FALL OF THE SPIDER MAN THE BOY WHO WAS CALLED THICK-HEAD RABBIT AND THE INDIAN CHIEF GREAT HEART AND THE THREE TESTS THE BOY OF THE RED TWILIGHT SKY HOW RAVEN BROUGHT FIRE TO THE INDIANS THE GIRL WHO ALWAYS CRIED ERMINE AND THE HUNTER HOW RABBIT DECEIVED FOX THE BOY AND THE DRAGON OWL WITH THE GREAT HEAD AND EYES THE TOBACCO FAIRY FROM THE BLUE HILLS RAINBOW AND THE AUTUMN LEAVES RABBIT AND THE MOON-MAN THE CHILDREN WITH ONE EYE THE GIANT WITH THE GREY FEATHERS THE CRUEL STEPMOTHER THE BOY WHO WAS SAVED BY THOUGHTS THE SONG-BIRD AND THE HEALING WATERS THE BOY WHO OVERCAME THE GIANTS THE YOUTH AND THE DOG-DANCE SPARROW'S SEARCH FOR THE RAIN THE BOY IN THE LAND OF SHADOWS

The tales in this collection, like those in "Canadian Wonder Tales," were gathered in various parts of Canada--by river and lake and ocean where sailors and fishermen still watch the stars; in forest clearings where lumbermen yet retain some remnant of the old vanished voyageur life and where Indians still barter for their furs; in remote country places where women spin while they speak with reverence of their fathers' days. The skeleton of each story has been left for the most part unchanged, although the language naturally differs somewhat from that of the story-tellers from whose lips the writer heard them.