Dakota storytellers, Teresa Peterson writes, are "loved and respected," seen as keepers of culture, tradition and history. Their stories were rarely written down but were passed down through the telling, until modern times began to change this.
So Peterson set out to collect them.
Her great-grandfather, Fred Pearsall, and her uncle, Walter LaBatte Jr, are two such storytellers, and in this oral history published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press the reader can hear their voices as they recount their stories. "Drop any expectations you may have," she warns the reader. "The collection you are about to read does not use a predictable Western approach."
The stories that follow meander and wander. Some are little more than family tidbits and anecdotes. Some are fables that have deeper meaning. Some are little lessons in the Dakota language or history or arts — such as how to tan hide, or bead a moccasin, or make a painted drum.
What a remarkable and important thing Peterson has done here, preserving these tales and traditions.
