Sacred Texts  Native American 

American Indian Fairy Tales by Margaret Compton [1907]

This is a collection of Native American folklore, retold for children and young adults, over a century ago. The author, probably not a Native American herself, drew on authentic lore from a wide variety of culture regions, but sprinkled in stereotypical language and anomalous items from the woodland area ("squaw," "papoose," "wigwam"). However, the author was obviously well-intentioned and, for her time, appears to have had a fairly progressive attitude. Notably, she preserves some of the motifs in the stories such as grotesque monsters and cross-dressing, which some other children's book authors of her day (and ours) might have glossed over.

This is the second edition of this book, which was originally published in 1895 and titled Snow Bird and the Water Tiger and other American Indian Tales. The uncredited illustrations are nice examples of children's book art from the period. The book also has decorative borders on every page, some of which can be viewed on the verso page image.