Modoc traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the

Modoc Modoc may refer to: Ethnic groups *Modoc people, a Native American/First Nations people ** Modoc language ** Modoc Nation, a federally recognized tribe of Modoc * Modoc War, the last armed resistance of the Modoc people in 1873 *The "Modocs", ri ...

and Klamath people of northern

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 ...

and southern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Modoc

oral literature Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used v ...

is representative of the Plateau region, but with influences from the Northwest Coast, the

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 ...

, and central California. Of particular interest are accounts supposedly describing the volcanic origin of

Crater Lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ) is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the Western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is a tourist attraction for its deep blue color and water clarity. T ...

in Oregon. (''See also''

Traditional narratives (Native California) The traditional narratives of Native Indigenous Californians are the folklore and mythology of the native people of California. In California, most of the native peoples can be categorized into three large groups, Penutian, Hokan and Uto-Aztec ...

Online examples of Modoc 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 ...

(1924)
"The Legends of Crater Lake"
by W. Craig Thomas (1984)

Sources for Modoc narratives

* Applegate, O. C. 1907. "The Klamath Legend of La-o". ''Steel Points'' 1:75-76. * Bancroft, Hubert Howe. 1883. ''The Native Races: Myths and Languages''. 5 vols. History, San Francisco. * Barker, M. A. R. 1963. ''Klamath Texts''. University of California Publications in Linguistics No. 30. Berkeley. (21 Klamath myths collected in 1955–1957, including Bear and Fawns, pp. 7–117.) * Clark, Ella E. 1953. ''Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest''. University of California Press, Berkeley.(Includes seven narratives, pp. 9–11, 53–61, 132–135, from Applegate 1907, Bancroft 1883, Curtin 1912, Gatschet 1890, Miller 1874, Steel 1890, 1907, and manuscript sources.) * Clark, Ella E. 1963. "Indian Geology". ''Pacific Discovery'' 16(5):2-9. (Discussion of Klamath myth concerning the origin of Crater Lake.) * Curtin, Jeremiah. 1912. ''Myths of the Modocs''. Little, Brown, Boston. (Extensive narratives, including "Theft of Fire," "Orpheus," and "Loon Woman," collected in 1884 from Koalakaka.) * Curtis, Edward S. 1907–1930. ''The North American Indian''. 20 vols. Plimpton Press, Norwood, Massachusetts. (Three myths collected from Long Wilson, vol. 13, pp. 210–213.) * Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz. 1984. ''American Indian Myths and Legends''. Pantheon Books, New York. (Retelling of narratives from Clark 1952, pp. 85–87, 109–111.) * Frey, Rodney, and Dell Mymes. 1998. "Mythology". In ''Plateau'', edited by Deward E. Walker Jr., pp. 584–600. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Vol. 12. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (Regional context for Modoc-Klamath myths.) * Gatschet, Albert S. 1970. "Mythological Text in the Klamath Language of Southern Oregon," ''American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal'' 1:161-166. * Gatschet, Albert S. 1891. "Oregonian Folk-Lore," ''Journal of American Folklore'' 4:139-143. (Three Modoc tales.) * Kroeber, A. L. 1925. ''Handbook of the Indians of California''. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C. (Brief comparative notes, pp. 321–322.) * Margolin, Malcolm. 1993. ''The Way We Lived: California Indian Stories, Songs, and Reminiscences''. First edition 1981. Heyday Books, Berkeley, California. (A war narrative, pp. 115–116, from Ray 1963.) * Ramsey, Jarold. 1977. ''Coyote Was Going There: Indian Literature of the Oregon Country''. University of Washington Press, Seattle. (11 narratives, pp. 185–213, from Barker 1963, Curtin 1912, Curtis 1907–1930, Gatschet 1890, Spier 1930, and Wood 1929.) * Stern, Theodore. 1956. "Sources of Variability in Klamath Mythology". ''Journal of American Folklore'' 69:1-12, 135–146, 377–386. (Analysis.) * Stern, Theodore. 1963. "Ideal and Expected Behavior as Seen in Klamath Mythology". ''Journal of American Folklore'' 76:21-30. (Analysis.) * Stern, Theodore. 1963. "Klamath Myth Abstracts". ''Journal of American Folklore'' 76:31-42. (Material from various previous collections, including Orpheus and Bear and Fawns.) * Stern, Theodore. 1998. "Klamath and Modoc". In ''Plateau'', edited by Deward E. Walker Jr., pp. 446–466. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Vol. 12. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (Brief overview of mythology, p. 459.) * Thomas, W. Craig. 1984. The Legends of Crater Lake. In: ''Historic Resource Study: Crater Lake National Park, Oregon'', by Linda W. Greene, Appendix E. National Park Service, Denver. (Long, romanticized version of a Klamath myth.) {{Traditional Narratives (California groups) Modoc Traditional narratives (Native California) Oregon folklore