Description
In this timeless collection, Seneca anthropologist Arthur C. Parker shares stories of wit, bravery, and wisdom, all told through a cast of animals who share the foibles and character flaws of humans. Readers learn that boastfulness and deceit cost Fox his friendships, that the red eyes of ducks signal the folly of wanting too much, and that even a kind nature cannot protect you from those who are mean and jealous. Growing up on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in western New York, Parker knew the importance of the storyteller. Oral narratives—whether myths, legends, or folktales—are more than just “stories.” They are the way by which a society communicates to its members the order and meaning to be found in the world around them.
This expanded edition includes a new preface by Hayden Haynes and Joy Porter that places the collection in its full cultural and historical context, from Parker’s complex legacy to the enduring relevance of these tales as pathways to intercultural understanding and wisdom. Far from relics of the past, these Seneca stories, as retold by Parker, foster awareness that we exist in kinship with all beings on Earth.
About the Author
Arthur C. Parker (1881–1955), a renowned anthropologist and folklorist, was born on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in western New York State. Throughout his career, he was affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum at Harvard, the New York State Museum at Albany, and the Rochester
Museum of Arts and Sciences.
Hayden Haynes is a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians, Deer Clan. He currently serves as the director of the Seneca Nation Onöhsagwë:de' Cultural Center, located on the Seneca-Allegany Territory in what is now western New York.
Joy Porter is a professor of Indigenous and environmental history at the University of Birmingham. She is the author of To Be Indian: The Life of Iroquois-Seneca Arthur Caswell Parker.
Related Interest
August 2026