Leland has a rare sense for the profound significance of the myths he relates, and thus one forgives him any archaisms, which are as nothing compared to the fact that he places the Algonquin religion shoulder to shoulder with any of the other great world religions, and has gathered their lore with s

My one takeaway was "well, that was racist."

The book is old enough that some heavy-handed infantilism and noble savagery concepts are deep-baked into the writer's perspective, and they are not shy about sharing that.

Furthermore, there is the repeated assertion that many of the tales are taken from N

It’s wonderful if you can get past the annoying obsession with tracking on Norse parallels and the debilitating racism. Worth the read for some of these woodland monsters!

Inspiring collection of Algonquin Legends. Charles Leland wrote this book in 1884 and included several references to Old Norse Mythology (e.g., comparing Lox to Loki - the God of Mischief). He suggested that the Algonquin myths were the result of Native American interaction with the Vikings in Newfo

The commentary leaves a lot to be desired but the stories themselves amazing.

Reading and studying 19th century collections of folktales is by turns intriguing and exasperating. This assemblage of stories is, like many of its contemporaries, of inestimable value simply due to the author-editor’s direct proximity and access to the original tellers, many of whom he identifies b

So. Mixed review time.
The recordings are really interesting. Leland does a pretty good job of translating without changing things as he has heard them, particularly for his time. As such, this is a fascinating historical record.

BUT.

His conclusions based on these recordings are hilariously, out of