Opler, Morris Edward
1995 Myths and Tales of The Chiricahua Apache Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Notes: Reissue of 1942 edition. ISBN Number 0-8032-8602-3.Reviewed 18 Jun 1999 by:
John E. Dockall <dockall@lava.net>
Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai'i, USAMedium: Written Literature Subject
Keywords:Apache Indians -- Folklore
Apache Mythology
Tales -- New Mexico
As an ethnologist, Opler devoted much of his field research primarily on the Mescalero and Chiricahua Apache of the American Southwest. His classic ethnography An Apache Life-Way: The Economic, Social, and Religious Institutions of the Chiricahua Indians was published in 1941. Soon afterward, the Myths and Tales of the Chiricahua Apache Indians was published in 1942 as No. 37 of the Memoirs of the American Folk-lore Society. Previously, Opler had published Myths and Tales of the Jicarilla Apache Indians and Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians in 1938 and 1940 respectively, as memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. The current volume, Myths and Tales of the Chiricahua Apache Indians, is an outgrowth of field research from 1931-1935.Included in this volume are tales devoted to the destruction of earth by the Flood and the adventures and deeds of various significant culture heroes such as Child-of-the-Water, White- Painted-Woman, and Killer-of-Enemies. The tales included in this first section serve to illustrate some of the most pivotal and significant characters in Chiricahua folklore and the origins of some of their most important beliefs and traditional practices. A significant portion of Opler's book is devoted to tales featuring the Coyote trickster. Tales devoted to Coyote represent that time before human beings. The Chiricahua have employed Coyote tales and tales featuring other animated non-human characters in order to stress the outcomes of violating cultural mores, values, and beliefs. Equally important are those myths and tales devoted to the supernatural, spirit beings, and death. Figuring prominently among these tales are the Gahe and Water Monsters and the afterworld. The Gahe are supernatural beings that are believed to inhabit the interiors of certain mountains and are personified as masked dancers during various ceremonies and are significant in curing illness and as a first line of defense in the face of an epidemic. Still other tales and myths are devoted to informing and educating members of Chiricahua society on the costs of foolishness, unfaithfulness, and perversion.
The reader of this text will readily realize several things about Chiricahua myths and tales. They are at once both entertaining and instructional. But within Chiricahua society these stories serve a threefold function: entertainment of the group, education of the young, and reinforcement of traditional beliefs and practices. This volume makes an excellent companion to any of Opler's previous similar studies and to his ethnography on Apache lifeways (Opler 1941). Most impressive is the continued social relevance of these myths and tales as instructional and entertaining reading. The preface to the current volume is authored by Scott Rushforth which places Opler's research in context with Southern Athapaskan research at large and includes an extensive and useful bibliography on Southern Athapaskans. This volume concludes with an Appendix entitled Comparative Notes on Chiricahua Apache Mythology by David French which illustrates the geographic distribution of Chiricahua tales among the Southern Athapaskan groups (inclusive of the Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, San Carlos, and White Mountain Apache and the Navajo). Included in the appendix are references to other published tales among these groups by such scholars as Harry Hoijer, Grenville Goodwin, Morris Opler, and Gladys Reichard. Readers interested in Native American oral tales and ethnographic studies should find this a useful compendium of information.
To cite this review, the American Anthropological Association recommends the following style:
Dockall, John E.
1999 Review of Myths and Tales of The Chiricahua Apache Indians. Anthropology Review Database. June 18. Electronic document, http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=139, accessed February 9, 2010.© Anthropology Review Database
(available online: http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/)