Review: Fascinating and Significant Collection of Folklore
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 3, 2014
In his introduction Dennis Waller quotes a Tlingit who said: "The Tlingit and the Haida don't have myths; they are stories about our history."For someone educated in the classic Western tradition, the quote becomes extraordinary when the parallels between these, far more obscure, folk tales are compared with more familiar ones. The Raven is impulsive, malicious, and glutinous yet capable of great creativity and generosity, like the gods and goddess of antiquity. He made things he ingested. Athena sprang from the head of Zeus. Like the Raven, Prometheus shaped man from clay. And, there are many others.The parallels however don't stop with antiquity. While those with Christianity aren't quite as stark, they are there. The Raven caused a flood not unlike that described in the Old Testament. The Raven finds himself in the belly of a whale as did Jonah.I don't mean to focus entirely on comparisons. The myths recounted here are in themselves fascinating and as a whole must represent a significant contribution to recorded folklore. But, the inescapable conclusion after reading this is that man in all civilizations has sought to explain his origins and the origins of the world around him with similar symbology.Waller's earlier book on the the Kushtaka, Alaska's Bigfoot provided ample demonstration of his meticulous scholarship.This one casts a broader net, but is no less meticulous and as I say represents a significant addition to recorded folklore.Bravo, Dennis.