Dakota -- Poetry, Dakota, Poetry 

"Cultural concepts of a great tribe expressed in its typical speech patterns.

The Indian's well known gift of oratory and use of metaphor are duplicated with impressive fidelity in this unique book. Not only does it trace Dakota traditions which date back beyond the factual memory of man but it recounts them in indeterminate rhythms which ring true to Indian ears/

The amazing revelation of this book is the close parallel between its content and well established anthropological conclusions. That these legends are accepted by the Dakotas themselves as an authentic presentation of their traditions is attested by two irrefutable facts.

In the first place the material was gathered in person to person research. The author spent five years talking with the wise men of the tribes now living from Oklahoma to Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana. They were his source for every idea he presents.

And in addition, the Oklahoma Poncas, a tribe of the Dakota Nation, have enthusiastically accepted the material as the narration for a four part pageant to dramatize their proud and ancient culture.

The first part dwells on the beginnings of things, beautifully developed in a sequence on the discovery of the bow and arrow; it shows man's identification with nature: "I am part of all I see and all is part of me."

The narrative flows on into the period when prolonged drought drove the Dakotas from the barren plains of the Southwest to the woodlands of the North and the beginning of a new and different culture.

From the coming of the horse to the present time concludes the epic. These passages have a modern flavor, portraying the Dakota's pride of race and his emphasis on the cardinal virtues.

These are all things the Red Man knows and treasures. But, for the White Man, this book opens new vistas of Indian lore, rich in poetic imagery and in ethical concepts not unlike his own."--Book jacket. 

xvi, 164 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.