DURING the past century the untiring labors of a score or two of field workers have gathered from the North American Indians by far the most extensive body of tales representative of any primitive people. These tales are available in government reports, folk-lore journals, and publications of learned societies. Unfortunately, the libraries in which more than a small portion of them can be examined are few, and 
even in the largest libraries the very wealth of material serves but to confuse the general reader who seeks without undue expenditure of time to acquaint himself with American Indian tales.