Tricksters. Cree Trickster Tales.

I have a wonderful addition to this week of Wesakachak stories: these are the stories told by Chief Thunderchild in the 1920s to Edward Ahenakew, which Ahenakew published in the Journal of American Folklore in 1929: Cree Trickster Tales. 

This is a remarkable collection of stories, and it covers a wide range of the Wesakachak cycle, beginning with his birth and the drama of his mother, the rolling head, and ends with his departure from this world into some place unknown. 

You can read more about the life of Chief Thunderchild, Peyasiw-Awasis, at The Canadian Encyclopedia Online. This photo was taken around 1925; Thunderchild was born in 1849 and died in 1927.

There is an article about Ahenakew at Wikipedia, whose grandfather was the brother of Chief Ahtahkakoop, making Ahenakew Chief Ahtahkakoop's great-nephew.

After Edward Ahenakew's death in 1961, papers were found with the other stories he heard from Chief Thunderchild, and these were finally published in 1973. That book is also at the Internet Archive! They are beautiful resources for learning about Chief Thunderchild and the world that he knew: Voices of the Plains Cree.