"All of these stories are so nearly true that you need not be troubled in the least about believing them." So begins author Mary Austin in the preface to her 1904 collection of "fanciful tales for children" of the myths and legends of the first peoples of the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite region. Austin, an amateur naturalist and a keen observer of human influence on the landscape, here regales us with the charming stories of: [ "The Basket Woman" [ "The Stream That Ran Away" [ "The Cheerful Glacier" [ "The Christmas Tree" [ "The Fire Bringer" [ "The White-Barked Pine" [ and others American author MARY HUNTER AUSTIN (1868-1934) wrote numerous novels, poems, plays, and works of criticism, much of it centered on feminist, environmental, and multicultural issues. She is best remembered for her writing on matters concerning Native American rights and the deserts of the American Southwest.