Basil Johnston

xiii, 247 p. : 21 cm

Autobiography of Basil Johnston, a native Ojibway, who was taken from his family at age 10 and placed in a residential school in northern Ontario.

Side-by-side texts in English and Chippewa relate the Chippewa legend of how birds came to have their colors.

Rarely accessible to the general public, Ojibway mythology is as rich in meaning, as broad, as deep, and as innately appealing as the mythologies of Greece, Rome, and other Western civilizations. In Ojibway Heritage Basil Johnston introduces his people's ceremonies, rituals, songs, dances, prayers, arid legends. Conveying the sense of wonder and mystery at the heart of the Ojibway experience, Johnston describes the creation of the universe, followed by that of plants and animals and human beings, and the paths taken by the latter. These stories are to be read, enjoyed, and freely interpreted. Their authorship is perhaps most properly attributed to the tribal storytellers who have carried on the oral tradition that Johnston records and preserves in this book. -- ‡c From back cover.

A collection of children's stories which teach kids to live in harmony with nature.

A collection of essays and presentations that Mr. Johnston has delivered to numerous educational conferences and gatherings across Canada and the United States.

The stories and art reveal the power of Ojibway myth-making and a world of star-visitors, magical thunderbolts, thunder people, sea serpents, and mermaids