I had found a Native American Story that I wanted to tell that was from the Zuni culture. I had some questions regarding their history, and lifestyle. The story had as its main character a hummingbird so, of course, I wanted to know its importance to the Zuni. I found a couple of relevant websites:
- ashwi.org is primarily an information guide for the Zuni community
- native-net.org and www.native-american-indian-facts.com both gave snapshot views of their culture and history.
This information was helpful, however it did not answer my questions about the hummingbird and the Zuni. I looked under some Zuni folktale sites, but they did not have the story listed. I was beginning to have questions about the integrity of the story I found.
I decided just to type in the hummingbird’s name as it appeared in the story, “Hummingbird Hoya.” I did find another site featuring the story. I found it strange that the words were exactly the same as the original one I found. The best part was that it was that it listed the source from where it was taken. It was a book entitled “North American Legends” by Virginia Haviland.
I found the book on Amazon for less than ten dollars and ordered it. I was excited when the book arrived. It had stories from most of the cultures of North America. The only story it did not have was mine. I really had doubts about the story being a real Zuni folktale and I decided to find a new one. I looked in the same book and found one that really delighted me. It is a Louisiana folktale, “Jean Sotte.” I checked its integrity and found many sites telling about this story and how it became a written tale. Perhaps you will hear me tell it one day!
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