From the time I was a young girl I have always had memories of my grandmother telling countless fascinating stories of the past. It has not been until recently that I have recognized the importance of this custom of storytelling. My grandmother is a tradition-bearer of many valuable resources but I am only going to concentrate on the significance of storytelling. My grandmother and all other elders like her are fountains of information that is relevant to us all as an aboriginal society which we as a younger generation must soak up and again pass on.

By the time I reached grade school I had already learned how my village, Beaver, was founded and many great stories of the founder, Frank Yasuda. I also knew of the medicine men of our area and their ways of practice. In addition to knowing about the stories and legends I knew of the social roles of certain people in the village society.

Storytelling in our Native culture is not done to fit the needs of people. It doesn't change and grow with time. Native storytelling is handed down from one person to the next, verbatim. The stories don't change with the fancy of the storyteller like fairy tales do.

Storytelling is unique to many cultures but in the Native culture of Alaska storytelling is done to show values, pass on skills, and in some instances show why and how something is or came to be, for example, the etymological genre of storytelling.

When a story is told etymologically it is a story specifically designed to tell why something is the way it is, for example, why the raven is black, and why pussywillows have twisted tree trunks. They are told to explain something.

Stories that tell of legends are passed down to show human characteristics or again just to show why things are the way they are. In the legends of my people there is a first man, who deals with nature. The stories of this man usually show human types of personalities like shrewdness and the emotional traits of people. Most of the time animals and nature are personified to stress the meaning of the handed-down values. An example of this is that hunters are thought to be great and noble but the little animals are usually more shrewd and quicker with their wits. Hence this type of story hands down values and sets the society's expectations.

The most common type of storytelling is when a skill is handed down from person to person. In the Interior this could be how to kill a moose quickly and efficiently, but in other places it could be how to kill a whale.

Basically these stories are told so people know how to live off the land and survive. These are the stories that do not change very much or at all. They are passed down to another as if the teller is reading from a book. There are usually no major additions or falsities put into these stories. This is because the way Native people have been living has been that way for tens of thousands of years and there is no need to change something that works.

All of these types are used to preserve a life-style that has been in existence for thousands of years. Keeping the tradition of storytelling guarantees that the ideas and values and skill stay alive even in a competitive, dominant White society. Storytelling is an educational source of wisdom for the young people of a Native American society. Native storytelling also preserves an attitude, a certain pride that shows in the faces of those who know and live by the traditional Native values. To this day these stories and legends are still in circulation and will continue to be as long as they are passed down to the next generation.

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