Zitkála-Šá

Collection of American Indian stories by Zitkala-Sa, an Sioux Indian. Many of the stories are of an autobiographical nature.

Short stories, essays, speeches and other writings by the American Indian author Zitkala-Sa.

Old Indian Legends is a collection of Dakota legends, retold by the 19th and early 20th-century Dakota author Zitkála-Šá. The collection was compiled in 1901 when Zitkála-Šá returned to her birthplace in the Yankton reservation to take care of her mother, after she had spent several years in the assimilationist Indian residential school system, both as a student and as an educator. While taking care of her mother, she gathered traditional tales from Dakota storytellers which were retold in English for Old Indian Legends. The stories revolve around various spirits and heroes from Dakota myth, especially Iktomi, a shapeshifting spider trickster.

A collection of writings by one of the most prominent Native American activists and writers of the 20th century. Included are tales about mythic characters such as Buffalo Woman, Buzzard Skin, the Hawk Woman, the Stone Boy, and the Thunder People. In "The Sun Dance Opera," a performance of the sacred Sun Dance is inserted into the story of a love triangle involving a Sioux woman and her two suitors, one good and one evil.