Tales and Legends of the Yup'ik Eskimos of Siberia by Alexander B. Dolitsky and Henry N. Michael

A creative compilation of traditional stories of the aboriginal peoples of the Chukchi Peninsula. Fifty-nine Asiatic Eskimo tales and legends make this book both educational and entertaining. This book endeavors to relate not only the major genre and subject matter of the Asiatic Eskimos' narrative folklore but also the specific aspects of the folklore of each people of the Eskimo-Chukchi regions. The factual material presented in the collection will be interesting to those fond of oral traditions, as well as to the specialists in comparative and typological research in anthropology and folklore. This volume is a translation from Russian into English. Fifty-five stories (1-55) are translated from Fairy Tales and Myths of the People of Chukotka and Kamchatka (Shazki I Mify Narodov Chukotki I Kamchatki) compiled by G. Menovshchikov and edited by E. Meletinsky (1974), and four stories (56-59) are translated from the New Life of Ancient Legends of the Chukotka (Novaya Zhizn' Drevnikh Legend Chukotki) compiled and written by T. Mitlyanskaya and I. Karakhan and edited by L. Savelieva (1987). Altogether Monovshchikov's and Meletinsky's Russian edition consists of 206 Asiatic Eskimo, Chukchi, Kerek, Koryak, and Itelmen (Kamchada) stories. Dolitsky's (1997) English edition began with the Chukchi stories: the Kerek, Koryak and Itelmen (Kamchadal) stories of Menovshchikov's and Meletinsky's (1974) Russian edition have been translated by Henry Michael and will be published by the Alaska-Siberia Research Center in the near future. This volume of the Asiatic Eskimo (the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia) tales is a pioneering translation of the Paleoasiatics' (natives of the Chukchi and Kamchatka Peninsulas) folklore from Russian into English. It consists of the transliteration table, ethnographic information on the Asiatic Eskimos, introduction, fifty-nine stories, glossary, and bibliography.