From the time I was very young I was surrounded with the melody of our past. My grand- mother would frequently share her stories with all the children and this special event would most often take place at night just before bed. It has been told that if you want a child to learn something, there are two best times to teach them: one is during meal times and the other is at night when they are sleeping. Mysteries are revealed in dreams and the Native people are strong believers in dreams being a method of telling what is to come. How wonderful it is to think now that my Gramma knew what to share with us and at what time. Timing is an important element in story-telling.

You do not want to bruise and make heavy hearts, but you want to fill an empty space that has been neglected or that has not been given the ancient information to help the person to go on with his or her life, growing with experiences. How encouraging it is to realize that you are not alone in this life and that others have gone on before you with multiple struggles, each one facing hardships and joys with the same amount of humanness or in some cases, like the animals in the legends, without differentiation.

One mythological creature who endures many hardships is the legendary "Beaver Man." Hearing these stories we begin to realize that setting our minds to anything is the first step towards making it possible. Our only task now at hand is to encourage more people to investigate and use our legends to receive the spiritual power they can generate. By doing so I feel that we will be pleasing our ancestors and that they will join us on a spiritual level and assist us in our lives.

For my own purposes I have identified some categories of Indian stories. Of course, all stories have their own truth and none are more important than others.

Classical stories refer to the great legends that have been passed down for thousands of years. They include the story of creation and involve animals who speak and behave like humans and have the ability to transform themselves back and forth. It is interesting to note that these classical stories are similar allover the world in indigenous communities.

Territorial stories have occurred in different parts of the country and have been passed down by the people in that area. It was not uncommon for territorial stories to be found at opposite ends of the Yukon. With this knowledge one is led to believe and understand the travel routes of the people.

Local stories depict a special event associated with a particular place. One of the interesting things to note is that most of the territory had Indian place names that usually translated into stories of what had occurred in that particular area.

Familial stories are precious stories that were passed down in families and sometimes were shared with people other than family members. In an oral culture history was recorded from memory and perhaps the logic behind this continuous repetition of ancient stories is something that is lacking in the fast-moving world of today. This art of listening and attempting to find a deeper understanding of the stories has some prerequisites: desire to listen with your heart as well as your ears-this is an emotional as well as a mental reaction; respect for the storyteller goes without saying. Perhaps to know that the story-teller respects the listener would create the immediate trust required to get the most out of the story; an ability to be patient and wait for the deeper meaning to come to you.

What happens so often in the non-native world is that we want instant explanations and reasons for certain events. We do not give ourselves the time or freedom to let information sink in and let the meditative process of our brains do some work! Every story has many meanings depending on when in your life you hear it. Every listener hears the story with her own ears. Listening to legends increases our power of concentration.