Summary

"Yellow Woman," a short story by Native American writer Leslie Marmon Silko, was first published in 1974.

Yellow Woman is both the title to this story as well as the name of the Pueblo legend that has been handed down through generations of native oral tradition. In the legend, which has a number of variations, a young woman will typically agree to leave her village with a spirit-walker (ka'tsina), forsaking her family and her village to ensure a benefit for the entire community in return, such as a supply of food or other security for the village.

Silko's "Yellow Woman" begins with an unnamed young woman as its narrator. The story is set in the present time, and the young woman is has been lying on the edge of the river that flows past her village. It is evident from the tone...