Review of Lankford's Legends

Here's a book I got as a present long ago and finally read. Unfortunately, I can't say it was worth the wait.

Native American Legends: Southeastern Legends: Tales from the Natchez, Caddo, Biloxi, Chickasaw, and Other Nations (Paperback)Of Flying Heads, Snake Men, and Water People, March 28, 2000
By "freddie988" (La La Land, California)

Lankford's "Native American Legends" is a very readable but also scholarly collection of Southeastern Native legends and folktales. The stories are collected under the principles of the Finnish/Historical-Geographical school of folktale analysis. On the surface, this note may not mean much to lay readers. However, it means that the stories are examined in the context of from whom and where they come, a very useful arrangement. Simply stated, the stories come with additional cultural information as to their symbols and customs. This makes our attempts to understand the stories easier. If one is not interested in historical-cultural analysis, one can skip the informative introduction and head right into the tales themselves, which are written in the typical straightforward manner of most folktales everywhere. In addition, for purposes of comparison, Lankford also provides examples of African and African-American folktales and legends. The endnotes and bibliography are extensive.Comment:  The above is an accurate summary of Native American Legends' strengths. At first I thought the book was going to be better than the average collection of fables, which is usually unimpressive. But the stories got longer and more repetitious, and Lankford's analysis grew shorter and less interesting. By the end I was thinking, "Another average collection of fables." Rob's rating: 5.5 of 10.

One tidbit of information is worth repeating. Lankford surmises that Rabbit, the Southeastern Indian trickster, was only one of several trickster animals originally. But the African slaves imported into America also had trickster tales featuring a rabbit. When the Creek and other Indians adopted these tales, the combination made Rabbit predominant.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books.