Traditions of the Osage: Stories Collected and Translated by Francis La Flesche - Softcover

Garrick Bailey (editor)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826348513 ISBN 13: 9780826348517

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press, 2023

Synopsis

The forty-nine traditional Osage narratives presented here, collected in Oklahoma between 1910 and 1923 for the Bureau of American Ethnology, have never before been assembled in one book. What makes these stories especially important is that they were collected in their original language, Osage, by a scholar who was a native speaker of a mutually intelligible language, Omaha, and who was also highly educated and articulate in English. As contextualized in Garrick Bailey's introduction, these stories offer insights into Osage culture and society that are not available elsewhere.

Bailey divides the stories into sacred teachings, folk stories, and animal stories. To the Osage, the sacred included not only religious but also what we would consider social and political institutions. Unlike the sacred teachings, which were known only to priests, folk tales were public property. Sacred teachings were always educational, whereas folk stories served a variety of purposes. Some were entertaining, some humorous, some frightening, but all were also designed to instill the proper social norms and values of the Osage. The animal stories, intended for children, also illustrate Osage values as well as convey information about the animals themselves.

About this title

About the Author

Garrick Bailey is a professor of anthropology at the University of Tulsa. Among his earlier books are The Osage and the Invisible World and the coauthored study Art of the Osage.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826348513
• ISBN 13: 9780826348517
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192