The Jicarilla Apache lived in what is now
Northern New Mexico and Eastern Colorado.
Their name means 'Little Baskets'.
Along with the Navaho they were among the southernmost of the Athabascans.
They are grouped with the Plains indians,
due to their nomadic life and reliance on Buffalo hunting.
However, a large portion of the Jicarilla occupied mountainous areas.
The animated movie 'Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmarons',
depicts the beautiful Jicarilla territory.
The official Jicarilla
Apache website [External Site] has more information on the tribe.
This etext is extracted from a book of Jicarilla Apache texts
collected at the turn of the century.
The first part of this book is interlinear Apache and English,
which would be difficult if not impossible to transcribe properly into HTML.
This etext consists of the second section, which contains
English translations of the texts.
The texts contain myths and legends (including many trickster stories),
stories of war and hunting, and a few ethnographic details.
The stories were collected at the close of the frontier, and
Mexicans and Americans (including Kit Carson)
show up as actors in some of the historical texts.
It is important to note that at this time Plains culture
had been greatly impacted by cultural contact with Europeans.
However, these texts have all the hallmarks of genuine traditional texts.
As with many texts of traditional peoples of all continents, the
narrative style may be jarring to westerners used to a
four act story structure and a strict distinction between
comedy and tragedy.
