608 TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI [ETH. ANN. 46 



ness evinced by all to hear them ridiculed or contradicted. We think 

 the truth of the matter is these tales were believed and formed a 

 portion if not the greater part of the religion of their ancestors, 

 are reverenced for their antiquity and originality, together with a 

 lingering uncertainty as to their having actually transpired in 

 times long passed. This may be deduced from the evident venera- 

 tion with which some of them are regarded, and from the fact that 

 there are no new fables made at the present day, nor any one who 

 possesses or professes the character of a myth maker. These stories 

 are not added to or diminished, for if in the telling the least cir- 

 cumstance be omitted the narrator is reminded of the error and 

 corrects it. In none of them is the creation of animals or other 

 objects, animate or inanimate, reasonably attempted, though such 

 things are alluded to in many absurd forms and grotesque imagin- 

 ings according with the general tenor of the tale. These, though 

 often trifling in their details, present a connected chain of events 

 and often contain a kind of moral, that is, a double meaning as 

 observed in the one relating to the formation of the Ursa Major and 

 Polar Star, before inserted. 



None of these serve to demonstrate to the young the power and 

 ubiquity of Wakoiida. 52 This awful principle is too much feared 

 to be lightly introduced in common conversation or connected with 

 amusing tales, though inferior demons and minor supernatural pow- 

 ers with a great variety of figures of the imagination, such as mon- 

 sters, ghosts, giants, beasts with reasoning powers, transformation, 

 and works of necromancy, are represented. 



There does not appear to be much useful instruction conveyed by 

 any of these oral tales, but they are resorted to as a source of amuse- 

 ment. Stories related by us to them from books, such as the fables 

 of iEsop or those from the "Arabian Nights," are listened to with 

 great attention and sought after as eagerly as their own fiction. 

 Moreover, they can, when these fables are plainly narrated, not only 

 comprehend the literal meaning but appreciate the moral when it is 

 pointed, not in its moral sense but as a necessary conclusion arising 

 from the circumstances related. The only objection to recording 

 many of these tales is their interminable length, one frequently occu- 

 pying two or three hours in its recital. So remarkably long are they 

 that the auditors are apt to become sleepy, and the narrator, if not 

 responded to occasionally to convince him of their attention, breaks 

 off and abruptly takes his leave. We now subjoin some of these 

 stories that may serve to show the scope of imagination involved 

 and that others may form their own opinions regarding their interest 

 and utility. 



12 This statement is highly questionable, since these Indians show a deep reverence for 

 Wakonda, the highest God of their pantheon, as may be learned from various passages 

 in Denig's own report. 



