Table of Contents

• 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

About the Author

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.

Reviews

"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