Mono traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Mono people, including the Owens Valley Paiute east of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

and the Monache on that range's western slope, in present-day eastern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. An interesting contrast exists in Mono oral literature. The eastern group, the Owens Valley Paiute, have narratives that most closely match those of their

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

kinsmen, the

Northern Paiute Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

Southern Paiute The Southern Paiute people () are a tribe of Native Americans who have lived in the Colorado River basin of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, and southern Utah. Bands of Southern Paiute live in scattered locations throughout this territory an ...

, and Kawaiisu. The traditions of the western group, the Monache, are more similar to those of such central Californians as the

Yokut The Yokuts (previously known as MariposasPowell, 1891:90–91.) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Yokuts ...

s and

Valley and Sierra Miwok The Plains and Sierra Miwok were once the largest group of California Indian Miwok people, Indigenous to California. Their homeland included regions of the Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra Nevada. Geography The Plains and ...

Online examples of Mono narratives

''The North American Indian''
by

Edward S. Curtis Edward Sheriff Curtis (February 19, 1868 – October 19, 1952; sometimes given as Edward Sherriff Curtis) was an American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and Native American people. Sometimes referred to a ...

(1926)

Sources for Mono narratives

* Curtis, Edward S. 1907–1930. ''The North American Indian''. 20 vols. Plimpton Press, Norwood, Massachusetts.(Two Owens Valley Paiute myths collected from Mose Weyland, vol. 15, pp. 123–129.) * Gayton, Anna H. 1930a. "Yokuts-Mono Chiefs and Shamans". ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 24:361-420. Berkeley. (Portrayals of chiefs in myths, pp. 369–371.) * Gayton, Anna H. 1930b. "The Ghost Dance of 1870 in South-Central California". ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 28:57-82. Berkeley. (Yokuts/Mono version of the Orpheus legend, p. 77.) * Gayton, Anna H., and Stanley S. Newman. 1940. "Yokuts and Western Mono Myths". ''Anthropological Records'' 5:1-110. University of California, Berkeley. (Variants of myths, including Earth Diver, Theft of Fire, and Orpheus, from many Yokuts and Monache groups collected in 1925–1931, with comparative notes.) * Gifford, Edward Winslow. 1923. "Western Mono Myths". ''Journal of American Folklore'' 36:301-367. (Narratives, including Earth Diver, Orpheus, and Bear and Fawns, collected at North Fork in 1918.) * Gifford, Edward Winslow, and Gwendoline Harris Block. 1930. ''California Indian Nights''. Arthur H. Clark, Glendale, California. (Seven previously published narratives, pp. 91–94, 156–157, 167–168, 177–179, 187–189, 253–258, 285–287.) * Margolin, Malcolm. 1993. ''The Way We Lived: California Indian Stories, Songs, and Reminiscences''. First edition 1981. Heyday Books, Berkeley, California. (Two myths, pp. 123, 155–156, from Steward 1936.) * Steward, Julian H. 1933. "Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute". ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 33:233-350. Berkeley. (Brief notes on myths collected by others, including Earth Diver, pp. 323–324.) * Steward, Julian H. 1936. "Myths of the Owens Valley Paiute". ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 34:355-440. Berkeley. (Narratives, including Theft of Fire, collected in 1927–1928, with comparisons and also some Northern Paiute and Shoshone myths.) {{Populations of Native California Groups Mono people Traditional narratives (Native California) History of the Sierra Nevada (United States)

See also

Online examples of Mono narratives

Sources for Mono narratives