Of the digital editions available above, the PDF and the fixed layout epub best reproduce the prosodic rendition of the Quechan text, and readers can select a two-page view of the document to display both the original and the translation at the same time.
This book makes a long-awaited contribution to the oral literature and mythology of the American Southwest, and its format and organization are of special interest. Narratives are presented in the original language and in the storytellers’ own words. A prosodically-motivated broken-line format captures the rhetorical structure and local organization of the oral delivery and calls attention to stylistic devices such as repetition and syntactic parallelism. Facing-page English translation provides a key to the original Quechan for the benefit of language learners. The stories are organized into "story complexes”, that is, clusters of narratives with overlapping topics, characters, and events, told from diverse perspectives. In presenting not just stories but story complexes, this volume captures the art of storytelling and illuminates the complexity and interconnectedness of an important body of oral literature. Stories from Quechan Oral Literature provides invaluable reading for anyone interested in Native American cultural heritage and oral traditions more generally.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services Program grant no. MN-00-13-025-13 has generously contributed towards the publication of this volume.
Stories from Quechan Oral Literature is the sixth volume in our World Oral Literature Series. The Series is produced in conjunction with the World Oral Literature Project.
Stories from Quechan Oral Literature
Linguistic work by A.M. Halpern and Amy Miller | November 2014. Version 1.1. Minor edits made, April 2015
xii + 535 | 6.14" x 9.21" (234 x 156 mm)
ISBN Paperback: 9781909254855
ISBN Hardback: 9781909254862
ISBN Digital (PDF): 9781909254879
ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 9781909254886
ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 9781909254893
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0049
BIC subject codes: JHMC (Social and cultural anthropology, ethnography), JFHF (Folklore, myths and legend), 2J (American indigenous languages)
Notes on Contributors
Foreword by Mark Turin
Introduction by Amy Miller
Part I: The stories and their cultural context
Part II: How this volume came about
Acknowledgments
References
1. The Man Who Bothered Ants
The Man Who Bothered Ants, told by Jessie Webb Escalante
2. Two Stories about the Orphan Boy and the Monster
‘Aréey, told by an anonymous Quechan elder
Tsakwshá Kwapaaxkyée (Seven Heads), told by John Comet
3. Xarathó
Xarathó, told by Jessie Webb Escalante
4. Three Stories about Kwayúu
Kwayúu, told by Mary Kelly Escalanti
Kwayúu, told by Josefa Hartt
Púk Atsé, told by Rosita Carr
5. Three Stories about Old Lady Sanyuuxáv
‘Aakóoy Sanyuuxáv, told by an anonymous Quechan elder
‘Aakóoy Sanyuuxáv, told by Josefa Hartt
Shakwatxót, told by John Comet
6. ‘Aavém Kwasám
‘Aavém Kwasám, told by Tom Kelly

A.M. Halpern, and Amy Miller, Stories from Quechan Oral Literature. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2014, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0049
The cover image, Picacho Peak - Early Morning, by William D. Isbell, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
The photographs of Rosita Carr and Jessie Webb Escalante in the frontispiece are all rights reserved.
Further details about CC licenses are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
1. The Man Who Bothered Ants
Told by Jessie Webb Escalante
This story was told to Abe Halpern by Jessie Webb Escalante on April 22, 1980. Halpern later reviewed his transcript of the story with Ernest Cachora. The main character in this story is a person who has a habit of annoying ants by poking their nest with a stick. Eventually an angry ant pulls both the man and his horse into the nest. Man and horse are held captive for such a long time that the man’s family and friends begin to mourn his death. Finally, the man and his horse are released and return home. The horse, once pure white, is now covered with red spots which are the handprints of ants.
In some ways, this is a simple story explaining a fact of nature: how the appaloosa got his spots. At a deeper level, however, the story is revealing about Quechan literature, culture, and worldview. It takes place at the beginning of time, and its characters are among the First People. It features a theme favored in Quechan oral literature: the main character’s love of
his home and people. No explanation is given for the man’s behavior, and none is needed: in Quechan culture, people are the way they are, and others around them accept this. In the end, the man understands that what has happened to him is the consequence of his own actions.
2. Two Stories About the
Orphan Boy and the Monster
'Aréey
Told by an anonymous Quechan elder
This chapter presents two narratives about an orphan boy and a seven headed monster. These stories appear to have been influenced by European folklore (as discussed below), yet they are nonetheless very much Quechan stories. For readers who are unfamiliar with Quechan literature, they provide a relatively simple plot while introducing Quechan themes, literary devices, and rhetorical style. Readers who are already expert in Quechan oral literature will appreciate the ingenuity with which these stories integrate European and traditional Quechan ideas. The two narratives in this chapter focus on different events: ‘Aréey on the difficult journey the boy must make in order to reach the monster, and Tsakwsha Kwapaaxkyée on the details of the fight between the two main characters and the events which unfold after the monster is killed.