Canadian Fairy Tales

Canadian Fairy Tales is a collection of 26 of Native American folk tales gathered from across Canada by Professor Cyrus MacMillan, who did not indicate the origin tribe of each story. The collection was originally published in 1922, and several tales within contain themes of creation. This is MacMillan's second collection of fairy tales. Like the Grimms Brothers did in Europe, MacMillan traveled the country seeking tales from the First Nations people in Canada.

Selected Tales

HOW GLOOSKAP MADE THE BIRDS

RABBIT AND THE GRAIN BUYERS

SAINT NICHOLAS AND THE CHILDREN

THE FALL OF THE SPIDER MAN

THE BOY WHO WAS CALLED THICK-HEAD

RABBIT AND THE INDIAN CHIEF

GREAT HEART AND THE THREE TESTS

THE BOY OF THE RED TWILIGHT SKY

HOW RAVEN BROUGHT FIRE TO THE INDIANS

THE GIRL WHO ALWAYS CRIED

RINE AND THE HUNTER

HOW RABBIT DECEIVED FOX

THE BOY AND THE DRAGON

OWL WITH THE GREAT HEAD AND EYES

THE TOBACCO FAIRY FROM THE BLUE HILLS

RAINBOW AND THE AUTUMN LEAVES

RABBIT AND THE MOON MAN

THE CHILDREN WITH ONE EYE

THE GIANT WITH THE GREY FEATHERS

THE CRUEL STEPMOTHER

THE BOY WHO WAS SAVED BY THOUGHTS

THE SONG-BIRD AND THE HEALING WATERS

THE BOY WHO OVERCAME THE GIANTS

THE YOUTH AND THE DOG-DANCE

SPARROW'S SEARCH FOR THE RAIN

THE BOY IN THE LAND OF SHADOWS

About the Collection

The tales in this collection, like those in "Canadian Wonder Tales," were gathered in various parts of Canada—by river and lake and ocean where sailors and fishermen still watch the stars; in forest clearings where lumbermen yet retain some remnant of the old vanished voyageur life and where Indians still barter for their furs; in remote country places where women spin while they speak with reverence of their fathers' days. The skeleton of each story has been left for the most part unchanged, although the language naturally differs somewhat from that of the story-tellers from whose lips the writer heard them.