Indigenous Myths and Legends

In a time when darkness covered the land, a boy named Weget is born who is destined to bring the light. With the gift of a raven's skin that allows him to fly as well as transform, Weget turns into a bird and journeys from Haida Gwaii into the sky. There he finds the Chief of the Heavens who keeps the light in a box. By transforming himself into a pine needle, clever Weget tricks the Chief and escapes with the daylight back down to Earth.

Vividly portrayed through the art of Roy Henry Vickers, Weget's story has been passed down for generations. The tale has been traced back at least 3,000 years by archeologists who have found images of Weget's journey in petroglyphs on the Nass and Skeena rivers. This version of the story originates from one told to the author by Chester Bolton, Chief of the Ravens, from the village of Kitkatla around 1975.


Roy Henry Vickers is a renowned carver, painter and printmaker whose Eagle Aerie Gallery in Tofino, BC, has become a provincial landmark. In 1998, Roy was appointed to the Order of British Columbia and in 2006, the Order of Canada, and has received the Queen's Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals. He currently lives in Hazelton, BC.


Robert Budd (known as Lucky) is the host of the CBC radio series Voices of BC. Holding an MA in history, he has digitized many high profile oral history collections including that of the Nisga'a First Nation. He is the author of the book Voices of British Columbia, which was shortlisted for the 2011 Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award, and currently lives in Victoria, BC.

A man appears to two boys who have injured a raven & tells them the story of the terrible consequences that befell a man who did the same thing.

A collection of six stories, histories, and memories of four elders of the Kitselas Canyon, land of the Tsimshian peoples of the Northwest Coast. [Some examples include memories of picking berries and smoking salmon, or the legends of Dam lax aam and Chief G'thawn and the wolves.

(74 p., approx. 60 left with NO reprint expected)

Learn about the traditional ways of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples in this informative series for young readers. Music and dance, art, tools, transportation, clothing, and housing are some of the topics covered in the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada series.

13 titles in all in this series.

Learn about the traditional ways of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples in this informative series for young readers. Music and dance, art, tools, transportation, clothing, and housing are some of the topics covered in the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada series.

13 titles in all in this series.

Learn about the traditional ways of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples in this informative series for young readers. Music and dance, art, tools, transportation, clothing, and housing are some of the topics covered in the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada series.

13 titles in all in this series.

Learn about the traditional ways of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples in this informative series for young readers. Music and dance, art, tools, transportation, clothing, and housing are some of the topics covered in the
Aboriginal Peoples of Canada series.

Learn about the traditional ways of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples in this informative series for young readers. Music and dance, art, tools, transportation, clothing, and housing are some of the topics covered in the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada series.

7 titles in all in this series.

Learn about the traditional ways of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples in this informative series for young readers. Music and dance, art, tools, transportation, clothing, and housing are some of the topics covered in the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada series.

7 titles in all in this series.

Learn about the traditional ways of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples in this informative series for young readers. Music and dance, art, tools, transportation, clothing, and housing are some of the topics covered in the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada series.

13 titles in all in this series.

Learn about the traditional ways of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples in this informative series for young readers. Music and dance, art, tools, transportation, clothing, and housing are some of the topics covered in the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada series.

13 titles in all in this series.

Learn about the traditional ways of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples in this informative series for young readers. Music and dance, art, tools, transportation, clothing, and housing are some of the topics covered in the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada series.

7 titles in all in this series.

B.C. Science Supplementary Resource: Gr.3-Earth and Life Science

The heavens, the sun, the stars, and the moon, have inspired, intrigued, and mystified us from the beginning of time. We've always searched for ways to comprehend their beauty and their meaning. Mohawk artist and author C. J. Taylor has drawn from First Nations legends from across North America to present a fascinating collection of stories inspired by the night skies.

The legends, Salish, Onondaga, Blackfoot, Netsilik (Inuit), Wasco, Ojibwa, and Cherokee, are by turns funny, beautiful, tragic, and frightening, but each one is infused with a sense of awe.

From the Ojibwa legend of the great hunter, White Hawk, and his love for an unattainable maiden, or the Salish legend of a magical lake that is threatened when human beings turn greedy and lose their respect for its gifts and for the sun’s power, to the delightful Cherokee legend of Grandmother Spider who brought light to the world, this is an important collection that is enhanced by Taylor’s glorious paintings.
Ages 9-12

A visionary and beautiful book, "Ancient Thunder" celebrates wild horses and the natural world in which they lived in harmony. Using an extraordinary technique, artist of Ojibwa ancestry, Leo Yerxa makes paper look like leather, so that his illustrations seem to be painted on leather shirts. Each shirt is accompanied by a rich, wild song of praise for the wild horses that came to play such an important role in the lives of the First Peoples. Years in the making, the book is truly a work of art, one that reflects Yerxa''s sense of nature and the place of native people within it.
Ages 3+

In 2008, Ancient Thunder was the award recipient for First Nation Communities Read.

Before the printing press dominated the world of formal communication, families, communities, and cultures all over the world relied solely on the oral tradition to pass along revered knowledge. Much valued cultural content, particularly spiritual or historical beliefs and practices, was transmitted through legends or stories shared between generations. This responsibility rested with formally acknowledged storytellers, as well as elders.This practice was very much the case with Aboriginal tribes in North America.

This collection of North American Aboriginal cultural stories represents only a small component of the vast store of oral literatures, and underscores the magnitude of its scope across various Native American and Canadian Indian tribes.

Legends contained in this volume have been drawn from a diverse store of written sources, documented in the bibliography. Through the years that we have been associated with the University of Calgary, we have visited most of the traditional tribal communities represented in this book. We have taught university courses in several First Nations communities including Blackfoot, Chipewyan, Plains Cree, Woodland Cree, Stoney (Nakoda Sioux), and Tsuu T'ina (Sarcee).

From time immemorial, Native Americans of all backgrounds have been oriented to the arts, which comprised an important cultural component. Each particular art form reflected the cultural makeup and physical resources of the region in which a tribe lived. Plains Indians, for example, relied heavily on rock art, consisting of paintings and carvings done on rocks. This art form is recognizable today in the form of pictographs and petroglyphs. A full explanation of the nature and function of this art form is offered in Appendix C.

The essence of each traditional Indigenous story contained in this volume has been preserved, although individual legends have in most cases been abbreviated from their original sources, and written in language that may readily be understood by and shared with children. It is also our hope that through this means would be students of Indigenous ways may learn a great deal about Aboriginal culture and philosophy and, hopefully, enhance their respect for AmerIndian ways