Many were
similar to others in my collection, but I have never yet received a
duplicate which did not contain something essential to the whole.
Though the old Indians all declare that most of their lore has
perished, especially the more recondite mythic poems, I am confident
that much more remains to be gathered than I have given in this work.
As it is, I have omitted many tales simply because they were evidently
Canadian French stories. Yet all of these, without exception, are half
Indian, and it may be old Norse modified; for a French story is
sometimes the same with one in the Eddas. Again, for want of room I
have not given any Indian tales or chronicles of the wars with the
Mohawks. Of these I have enough to make a very curious volume.
These legends belong to all New England. Many of them exist as yet
among the scattered fragments of Indian tribes here and there. The
Penobscots of Oldtown, Maine, still possess many. In fact, there is not
an old Indian, male or female, in New England or Canada who does not
retain stories and songs of the greatest interest. I sincerely trust
that this work may have the effect of stimulating collection. Let every
reader remember that everything thus taken down, and deposited in a
local historical society, or sent to the Ethnological Bureau at
Washington, will forever transmit the name of its recorder to
posterity.
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