The book Old Indian Legends, written by Yankton Dakota author Zitkala-Sa, is a compilation of Sioux folktales. She wished to keep alive the folktales of her people. This book is made up of 14 legends, according to the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center. In her book, Zitkala-Sa argues that stories have a significant role in both American society and American Indian culture. She hoped that through sharing these tales, Americans would be inspired to learn more about American Indians and be reminded of "the wonderful brotherhood of mankind. "An unlucky trickster character named Iktomi, a spider fairy, appears in the first five legends. Iktomi and the ducks Iktomi befriends a flock of dancing ducks and plays music to deceive them into dancing in such a way that their necks twist and shatter, killing the ducks. After that, he cooks the ducks in his teepee till he hears a tree cracking in the wind and decides to go investigate. Iktomi's Blanket Iktomi, a hunter, asks Inyan, whom he refers to as the great-grandfather, for food in his prayers. Iktomi constructs a fire and prepares deer meat, but he becomes chilly in the process. He makes the decision to return and get the blanket he gave Inyan.
Zitkala-Ša was a writer, editor, translator, musician, teacher, and activist from the Yankton Dakota tribe. The Sun Dance Opera, the first American Indian opera, has a libretto written by her. co-founded the National Council of American Indians to advocate for the citizenship of Native Americans. She was born on February 22, 1876, in South Dakota. From 1884 until 1887, she was a student at a Quaker missionary boarding school in Wabash, Indiana. The School Days of an Indian Girl, a later work of hers, contains a description of this period. Zitkala-a returned to the Yankton Reservation in 1891 to pursue music studies. From 1897 to 1899, Zitkala-a studied violin at the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1901, she ended her engagement with Yavapi (Mohave-Apache) Indian Carlos Montezuma. To take care of her ailing mother and compile stories for a book, Zitkala-a went back to the Yankton Reservation. She fell in love with and wed Raymond Talephause Bonnin, a BIA employee stationed at the Utah Uintah-Ouray tribe, in 1902. Zitkala-Ša was one of the most persuasive Native American activists of the twentieth 100 years. She passed away in Washington, D.C., on January 26, 1938, at the age of 61. She is honored with a crater on Venus named after her.
