The World of Wetiko : Tales from the Woodland Cree

Card covers, saddled stitched with staples, 43 pages, 8.5x5.5 in - 21x14, B&W illustrations.

Cover corners worn, back cover lightly soiled. Spine bumped at head and heel. Title page and p.5 stamped by previous owner.

Marie Merasty [d.1983?] was a member of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation who lived in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. This slim volume contains Woods Cree stories that Merasty told her grandson, Bill Merasty, about Wetiko (a frightening, dangerous, semi-human cannibal being) and medicine power (a form of warning and protection against dangers such as Wetiko). To compliment Merasty’s stories, the book includes an annotated bibliography of academic works discussing Wetiko, medicine power, and spirit mediums in Indigenous societies. Although the stories come from Merasty, the book is a collaborative effort: Bill Merasty translated his grandmother’s tales, Candace Savage edited the volume, and Cree-Shoshone artist (at the time, director of the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College’s art program) Sarain Stump contributed illustrations.