The Western Shoshone people live throughout eastern Nevada and western Utah (Goshute). When Anne Smith visited the region in 1939 there was only one formally designated reservation. Smith and her companion Alden Hayes traveled countless mile of remote road collecting stories, documenting Western Shoshonean tradition, and seeking to determine the outlines of Great Basin culture. The tales in this volume are set primarily in the "Time when Animals Were People," the legendary past when animals had the power of speech and established human customs though their adventures (and misadventures). Trickster tales figure prominently, with obscenity and blunt delivery common humorous devices. These tale were prized for their educational as well as entertainment value, and storytelling ability was highly respected. Thus, Smith was careful to credit individual storytellers of their versions of favorite Basin tales, avoiding the dryness of generic anthologies.
Anne M. Smith (1900-1981) was the first woman to receive a doctorate degree from Yale. Author of Ethnography of the Northern Utes (1974), her posthumously edited volume Ute Tales was published in 1992.
Foreword Map of Shoshone Lands Gosiute Tales: Controversy Over Death Controversy Over Conditions of Life How Fire Started Coyote Marries His Daughters (1) Coyote and Sage Hen's Children Owl's Widow Coyote and Bear Cottontail Shoots the Sun Bat (1) Coyote and His White Relatives Coyote Wins the White Man's Goods Rolling Rock Crow Coyote and Crow Spider Plays Hand Game Coyote Plays Hand Game Bat (2) Cannibal Giant Bear and Fawns Coyote and Crow (2) Eagle and Crow Coyote and Mouse Two Brothers Coyote Races With Frog Coyote and the Bear Cubs Origin Tale Creation of the Deep Creek Mountains Coyote and Wildcat Disfigure Each Other Council on Seasons Theft of Pine Nuts Giant Cannibal Bird Coyote and the Trappers Wolf and Coyote Coyote Marries His Daughters Western Shoshone Tales: Coyote and Mouse Cannibal Bird (1) Coyote Marries His Daughters Coyote Eats His Own Penis Porcupine Tricks Coyote Tso'apittse (1) Bat (1) Coyote Races Cannibal Brother Man Taken Captive by Bear Coyote and the Wood Tick Cannibal Giant Orion's Belt (1) Coyote and Fox Coyote Wants to Be Chief Weasel Eagle Hunting Water Babies (1) Comments from Anna Premo Skeleton Ghost Tso'apittse (2) Another Tso'apittse Tale Theft of Pine Nuts (1) Bungling Host (1) Origin Tale (1) Coyote and Wolf Eye Juggler Coyote and Eagle Rolling Rock (1) Cottontail and His Brother Shoot the Sun Cannibal Bird (2) Bat (2) Chitawi Rolling Rock (2) Orion's Belt (2) The Flood Water Baby Rat and His Mother-in-Law Council on Seasons Bungling Host (2) Coyote Avenges Bear's Death Big Dipper Man and Ugly Girl Coyote Gets Racehorses by a Trick Wolf Replaces Coyote's Eyes Owl's Widow Alligators Owl Kills Birds by Naming Them Coyote and Turtle Wolf and Coyote Battle With Bears Devil-Wife Coyote and the Devil Ghost Race to Koso Springs Coyote Learns to Fly (1) Coyote Avenges Wolf's Death Cannibal Bird (3) Tso'apittse (3) Bee Steals Food Cannibal Gambler Easy or Difficult Life Theft of Pine Nuts (2) Chicken Hawk Origin Tale (2) Coyote and His Daughter Theft of Pine Nuts (3) Origin Tale (3) Another Tso'apittse Tale Bat (3) Origin Tale (4) Coyote Learns to Fly (2) Si-ets The Cannibal Bluebirds Watoavic Water Babies (2) Theft of Fire Cottontail Shoots the Sun Antelope Hunting Afterword
"A rich addition to the meager materials available from the Shoshone oral tradition." --Books of the Southwest "Not only a fine collection of traditional stories told by Native people of the Great Basin bioregion in northern Utah and Nevada, it is also a testament to perseverance. The well-chosen black-and-white photos, as well as the names, locations, and occasional comments of the storytellers, put a unique human face on the stories in Shoshone Tales. The cooperative efforts at preservation made by Anne Smith and her collaborators have made this a readable and precious collection of myths and stories from the Great Basin region." --Shaman's Drum "Opens to our view how folklore nourished and illuminated the inner life of a people who lived close to the Earth, close to the ultimate mysteries of nature."--Salt Lake Tribune
