when I was a boy and heard our old people tell these tales in the wigwams
and at the camp fire.

I am very glad that you are in this way saving them from being forgotten,
and I am sure that many people will be glad to read them.

With best wishes,
KECHE CHEMON (Charles Big Canoe),
Chief of the Ojibways.




INTRODUCTORY NOTE


In all ages, from the remotest antiquity, the story-teller has flourished.
Evidences of his existence are to be found among the most ancient monuments
and writings in the Orient. In Egypt, Nineveh, Babylon, and other ancient
lands he flourished, and in the homes of the noblest he was ever an honored
guest.

The oldest collection of folklore stories or myths now in existence is of
East Indian origin and is preserved in the Sanskrit. The collection is
called _Hitopadesa_, and the author was Veshnoo Sarma. Of this collection,
Sir William Jones, the great Orientalist, wrote, "The fables of Veshnoo are
the most beautiful, if not the most ancient, collection of apologues in the
world." As far back as the sixth century translations were made from them.

The same love for myths and legends obtains to-day in those Oriental lands.