Animal stories have been handed down through the rich oral traditions of over five hundred distinct American Indian languages and cultures, offering understanding about and guidance to the natural and social worlds. The fiction and poetry gathered in this collection honor these traditions, retelling and reshaping traditional narratives, by recalling their ancient wisdom and renewing their spirit in new contexts.
Through the Eye of the Deer is far more than a wonderful book to read: it is a guidebook to life in the multiple world we really live in. It tells us of the many places the path of the sacred takes us, how to act when we get there, the dangers we will encounter, and how to get home. — Paula Gunn Allen, author of Woman Who Owned the Shadows
Through the Eye of the Deer is a richly textured and powerful interweaving of the voices of senior Native women writers such as Leslie Marmon Silko and Beth Brant with the fresh dynamic voices of their younger sisters such as Carolyn Dunn, Monelle Boyett Holley, and MariJo Moore. I strongly recommend this outstanding anthology to everyone interested in hearing the voices of Native women. — Lee Francis, National Director, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers & Storytellers
I am humbled studying these thoughts of my sisters. Theirs is not a knowledge that changes with the whims of society but a wisdom that will forever move with the contents of the universe. Theirs is not a beauty that will wilt in a moment, but a wa'tu / ah'lo deep into the earth and deep into the universe that will not…This deer field contains food and medicine, understanding and a thought-deliberate power, fingers reaching toward forever. Through the Eye of the Deer is sweet like mountain fruit and powerful like the song that created the rainbow. — Darryl Babe Wilson, author of The Morning the Sun Went Down
