Alsea texts and myths / by Leo J. Frachtenberg.

  • Leo J. Frachtenberg
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Alsea texts and myths / by Leo J. Frachtenberg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ALSEA TEXTS AND MYTHS By Leo J. Frachtenberg INTRODUCTION In the present volume are embodied materials collected at separate periods by two investigators. The older collection, consisting of three creation myths, two tales, and four stories that were obtained in English (nine traditions in all), was made by Dr. Livingston Farrand during June and July, 1900. These narratives are printed in this volume as Nos. 3, 5, 6, 11, 12, 25, 26, 27, and 28, re¬ spectively. My own material,1 comprising five creation myths, seven folktales, three historical narratives, and four superstitious beliefs (19 tales in all), was obtained at two different periods. Tales numbered 1, 2, 4, 7-9, 10, 13-16, and 18-24 were dictated to me during July and August, 1910; the tradition numbered 17 was collected in the month of February, 1913. Both collections were obtained on the Siletz Reservation, in northwestern Oregon, where the few re¬ maining members of the Alsea tribe, a subdivision of the Yakonan linguistic family, are still living. Doctor Farrand’s informants were Alsea George and U. S. Grant, both of whom are now dead. From the former, Doctor Farrand obtained narratives Nos. 26 and 27, and an English version of creation myth No. 5 (No. 25); the latter translated into the native tongue the above-mentioned creation myth and supplied all other traditions that form part of Doctor Farrand’s collection. Of the two men Alsea George was, according to all accounts, the older and more reliable informant; this is shown by the completeness and clearness of the stories obtained from him. Doctor Farrand evidently in¬ tended to translate with the aid of U. S. Grant all three narratives told to him in English, but failed to do so for reasons unknown to me. My own informants were William Smith and Thomas Jackson. To the former I am indebted for the texts numbered 2, 7, 8, 13-16, and 18-24; from the latter I obtained the remaining traditions. In spite of his willingness to work, William Smith was not so reliable an informant as I should have liked. He was comparatively 1 Four additional texts were published separately in the International Journal of American Linguis¬ tics, vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 64-75.
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