Dine Bahane

This is the most complete version of the Navajo creation story to appear in English since the publication of Washington Matthew's 'Navaho Legends' in 1897. Paul G Zolbrod's new translation attempts to render the power and delicacy of the oral storytelling performance on the page. His use of a poetic English idiom appropriate to the Navajo oral tradition gives us a translation that retains the social and religious significance of the original stories. He has worked with archival materials including transcriptions of early twentieth century Navajo performances and has talked with Navajo elders who helped him to salvage portions of the creation story that might otherwise disappear.