Traditional Stories of the Plains Nations

Traditional Stories of the Plains Nations — page 1 — CHAPTER ONE

Traditional Stories of the Plains Nations — page 2 — THE STORY PATH Imagine you are at a gathering of people in a school gym The story begins with the sound of a drum The clear strong voice of the storyteller rings out The words stretch back thousands of years across the rolling plains of North America The words take listeners into a world where animals share their stories In these tales the land holds danger But it is also the key to survival Soon the listeners forget the hard gym floor They share laughter and learning Stories and ceremonies help the Plains Nations pass along their way of life Storytelling dancing and ceremonies are often held in community gathering places such as school gyms or arenas

Traditional Stories of the Plains Nations — page 3 — PEOPLE OF THE PLAINS West to east the Plains region spans the area from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River North to south it stretches from Canada to central Texas Many types of grass sage and plants cover the region Foothills and forests are found here too The weather can be extreme In the winter temperatures can fall far below freezing In the summer they THE POWER OF THE WORD Plains storytellers use their voices faces and body movements A storyteller may clap or speak loudly or softly He or she may make animal noises or imitate other natural sounds such as wind Some words also contain sounds from nature and animals These words can have more than one meaning in a story The stories often carry more meaning in their original languages than when they are translated can rise to more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit 32°C More than 30 different nations live in this area They include the Cree Nei yahw the Siksika

Traditional Stories of the Plains Nations — page 4 — The Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming lie within the Plains region the Mandan Numakiki and many others For the Plains Nations the landscape is bound to their oral traditions THE IMPORTANCE OF STORIES Today's storytellers may be men or women young or old Often the storyteller tells a traditional story the

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