Native American Fairies

There are a number of names for small fairy folk in the Native American mythologies. They have similarities with the small folk of other countries, actually a remarkable number of similarities. But they are not a homogeneous group by any stretch of the imagination.

 They can have personalities anywhere from brownie types to cannibals. And the appearances are not the same either. Sizes can be from four feet

 to ones that are only a few inches tall, though usually they are around two to three feet.

Some are hairy all over, but most look like smaller versions of the people that the myths came from. Some live in the woods and some in rock.

Some are friendly, some are antagonistic, but they all seem to protect nature, turn invisible and need to be treated with respect or they get more dangerous.

I actually didn't find the most through websites on the subject when researching mythology directly, since most sites just regurgitated the same info, leaving out huge quantities. Instead I found the best info when researching the languages of Native Americans. The language sites have a wealth of cultural information as well as the language and also a treasure house of stories.

I feel like I hit the jack pot about Native Americans that I was looking for a year ago when I started this blog. Here's some of the best sites I found:


Native Languages of the Americas This site lead me to these other sites.
The Edge of Reality
Terrain Walker
Mythology Dictionary

Some of the more informative little people pages are jogah and nimerigar.

I focused on the tribes from the North Eastern wood land area, since that is where my story takes place in part.The mythology of these tribes is harder to find, especially the Lenni Lenape also known as the Delaware, because of the extensive contact with white settlers, as I stated in an earlier post of a book review of How to Tell the Difference. (This book teaches about how to tell if a books about Native Americans is respectful or not.)

Here is a list of some of the Native American little people that may make an appearance in my story and their tribal origins.

Ganhongas - Iroquis
Nunne'hi - Cherokee
Pukwudgie - Algonquian
Wematekan'is - Lenape
Yunwi Tsunsdi - Cherokee


Picture of the week :

Here is an example of something that must be treated with respect and taken care of, or we lose it.


Questions:

1.Why do you think there is more information about Native American mythology on language sites than on mythology sites?

2.Why do mythological little people from around the world have so much in common?