Beauchamp. Iroquois Folk Lore

Today's free book is Iroquois Folk Lore, Gathered from the Six Nations of New York by W. M. Beauchamp. The Six Nations are the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora peoples of the Iroquois League (Iroquois Confederacy).

For the table of contents, check at the bottom of this post below the image. Because the book does not have a table of contents (only an index in the back), I have prepared a table of contents here, including the page number for each story.

The book is available at Internet Archive and Hathi Trust.


Iroquois Folk Lore — p. 3
Iroquois Trail and David Cusick — p. 3
Creation — p. 7
Writers in Genera — p. 7
David Cusick on the Creation — p. 8
False Faces and Creation — p. 12
Terrible Skeleton — p. 13
Serpent and Thunderers — p. 15
Okwencha or Red Paint — p. 19
Good Hunter and Great Medicine — p. 30
The Medicine — p. 33
False Faces — p. 36
Stone Giants — p. 40
Indian Fairies — p. 41
Ga-hon-ga or Stone Throwers — p. 46
Neh Jogaoh or Mythic Dwarf People — p. 46
Stone Throwers or Gahonga — p. 46
Neh Ohdowas, the Underneath Myths — p. 47
Neh Gandayah of Fruits and Grains — p. 49
Lost Boy — p. 51
Duel of the Bear and Fox — p. 58
Corn Stories and Customs — p. 59
Witches and Witchcraft — p. 61
Atotarho, the Entangled — p. 66
Witch Water Gull — p. 68
Canassatego's Tale — p. 78
Hiawatha — p. 83
Dekanawida Legend — p. 97
Founders of the League — p. 100
Wampum Belts — p. 102
Return of the Sun — p. 104
Pleiades, The, or Ootkwatah — p. 107
Sun — p. 107
Serpent Stories — p. 110
Great Serpent at Bare Hill — p. 110
Other Serpents — p. 113
Serpents, Other — p. 113
Gun-no-do-yah, The Thunder Boy and Serpent — p. 114
Heno and the Serpent — p. 115
Mohawk Story of Origin of Thunder  — p. 116
Hinun Destroying Giant Animals  — p. 117
Thunderer — p. 118
Boy and Skeleton — p. 120
Boy and Chestnuts — p. 123
Great Head — p. 124
Local Stories — p. 126
Green Pond — p. 127
Drowning Man at Otisco Lake — p. 128
Sacred Waters — p. 129
Grave of the Indian King — p. 131
Skaneateles — p. 132
Alqonquin and Wannutha — p. 136
Lost Arrow — p. 136
Queen  Peacemaker — p. 137
Kienuka — p. 140
Johnson's Legend of Kienuka — p. 141
Miss Trippe's Tales — p. 143
Peacemaker — p. 144
Ges-gar-doh — p. 146
Stone Giant's Wife — p. 148
Splitting Moon or Tyah-goh-wens — p. 149
Northern Giants — p. 151
Five Nations — p. 152
Oneida Origin — p. 154
Oneida Stone — p. 155
Land of Souls — p. 158
Seneca Story — p. 160
Dead Feast — p. 161
Ghost Dance — p. 162
Green Corn Dance — p. 163
Women's Dresses — p. 164
Intoning — p. 165
Origin of Man — p. 166
New Year's Feast — p. 168
Local Deities — p. 169
Language — p. 172
Relationship — p. 172
Condolence — p. 173
Music — p. 175
Games — — p. 176
La Crosse — p. 178
Mid-Winter Feasts — p. 180
White Dog Feast — p. 183
Other Feasts — p. 189
Handsome Lake and New Religion — p. 190
Constitution of the Five Nations — p. 193
Wampum Belts — p. 194
Government and Lands  — p. 197
Modern Questions — p. 198
Ornaments _ — p. 200
Relationship — p. 201
Odds and Ends — p. 202
Women's Night Dance — p. 203
Hidden in the Husks — p. 204
Stars — p. 205
Onondaga Migrations — p. 206
Principal Chiefs — p. 207
Changes — p. 209
Some More Stories — p. 211
Origin of Medicine — p. 212
Origin of Wampum — p. 213
Origin of Tobacco — p. 214
How Early Animals Were Changed — p. 215
Hunter's Adventure — p. 215
Ga-do-jih and Sa-go-da-oh — p. 216
Captain George's Story — p. 218
Story of the La Forts — p. 219
Animals — p. 220
Story by Albert Cusick — p. 220
Fire Dragon — p. 222
French Colonies in Onondaga — p. 223
The Giant Big Neck — p. 225
Great Spirit Descends — p. 225
Intercalary Month — p. 226
Rattles — p. 227
Corn and Other Foods — p. 228
Councils — p. 228
Maple Feast — p. 230
Local Names _ — p. 232
Burial — p. 235
Four Onondaga Tales — p. 238
Maple and the Ash — p. 239
Thrush's Song — p. 239
Ta-heech-ejha, or Two Dogs — p. 240
Three Brothers and the Sun — p. 240
Date of the Iroquois League — p. 242
Revolutionary Soldiers — p. 244