Bayou Lacomb Choctaw Myths and Legends

Last Updated on October 13, 2014 by

All the myths and legends recorded on the following pages 1 are evidently of purely native conception, showing no trace of Euro­pean influence. According to their own statements the greater part of the folklore of the Choctaw is preserved in the form of songs, of which they have (so they say) a great many, adapted to various occasions.

• Creation Myth
• Kwanoka’Sha
• Kashehotapalo
• Okwa Naholo
• Why ‘Possum Has A Large Mouth
• The Hunter Who Became A Deer
• The Hunter And The Alligator
• Hoklonote’she
• The Girl And The Devil
• Skate’ne
• Tashka and Walo

Choctaw Dream Interpretations

The Choctaw bold that it is possible for the “spirit” to leave the body even during life, and by that belief explain dreams thus:

At night when a person is resting and all is quiet the “spirit” steals away from the body and wanders about the country, seeing many people and things, which are known to the individual when be awakes. If, during its wanderings, the spirit meets large animals of any sort, the person will surely suffer misfortune before many days have passed.

Citations:

1. Related to the writer by two women, Pisatuntema (Emma) and Heleema (Louisa), and a man John, at Bayou Lacomb[↩]