« At the arrival of our guests I sat close to my mother, and did not leave her side without first asking her consent. I ate my supper in quiet, listening patiently to the talk of the old people, wishing all the time that they would begin the stories I loved best. At last, when I could not wait any longer, I whispered in my mother’s ear :
«Ask them to tell an Iktomi story, mother. »

Thus spoke ZITKALA-SA, one of the first Sioux writers and activists of the 20th century. In 1901, she published these stories and many others.

Once upon a time, there was a strange creature named Iktomi, a mischievious spider fairy. Sometimes a man, at other times a bird or an arrow, but always starving, he spent his time playing tricks on people that eventually turned against himself, and made Dakota children burst into laughter. These native American legends (called ohunkankan in Sioux) are to be read by the parents or by the grandparents, at nightfall, as the Dakotas used to do.

This bilingual collection (English and French), illustrated in black and white, also includes for the parents and the teachers a detailed biography of Zitkala-Sa and a presentation of Iktomi who, according to the Dakotas, would be the inventor of this big cobweb called the Web.

••A BILINGUAL COLLECTION FOR THE YOUTH
•• THE FAVOURITE STORIES OF SITTING BULL
•• A PREFACE ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND IKTOMI
•• At the end of the book, listen to the « Old Indian Legends » by following the link to Libravox, a free website.

ISBN : 978-2-95242-593-3
147 pages
illustrations in black and white
Format : 18, 5 x 22, 5 cm
Price : 19 € TTC

ZITKALA-SA (1876-1938) : A SIOUX WOMAN WHO SPENT HER LIFE DEFENDING THE INDIAN CAUSE.

Portrait de Zitkala-Sa
© Smithsonian Institution

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