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Aboriginal Elders Teachings
Wisdom and Proverbs from North American Elders: archived Elders teachings
presented by Virtual Circle.
Antelope Carrier
How Antelope Carrier Saved the Thunderbirds and Became the Chief of the Winged Creatures, a story from the Arikaras.
Cherokee Stories
A list of Cherokee legends posted by The Cherokees of California, Inc., a 501C-3 non-profit tribal organization incorporated in 1975.
Corn Mother
This page also has many links to other Native American lore.
Creation Story
This story was told to Ella E. Clark by Chewing Black Bones of the
Blackfeet Nation in 1953.
Creation/Migration/Origin Stories
A long list of legends from numerous Native Nation sources.
Creation, Origin, and Migration Stories
Creation stories of the Apache, Cherokee, Diegueno, Hopi, Tlingit, Yokuts, and
Yuchi on Many Circles Library of Folklore and International Stories: a site by Dr. LaMay
Creation Story - Iroquoian
An Iroquoian Story of Creation was compiled by Anataras (Alan Brant) from
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Belleville, Ontario, Canada.
The Giant Bird
A special story given to Llewellyn Clark from "beyond the mists".
Grandmother Spider Steals the Fire
Creation story of the Choctaw People of Tennessee and Mississippi.
The Great Race
This interesting story about an important race in "those early days of the world"
is in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
of Harvard University, Traditions of Native American Running.
The University of Minnesota
Hopi Blue Corn Maiden Kachina
This is actually a site of various artists works. The page has excellent photos and a good description of Blue Corn Maiden.
Hotcâk (Winnebago)
The Encyclopedia of Hotcâk (Winnebago) Mythology
by Richard L. Dieterle of The University of Minnesota. There are enough stories
and information here to keep one occupied for a year.
How the Red Bird Got His Color
Retold by Barbara Shining Woman Warren; posted on the Cherokees of California,
Inc. site.
Indian Prophecies
Here is a talk given by Lee Brown at the 1986 Continental Indigenous Councilheld on the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds, Fairbanks, Alaska. Posted at www.welcomehome.org, which is sometimes very busy.
Kinnikinnik: GIFT OF THE BEAR
This story of how BEAR gifted that "strange, unfurred animal named mankind" with
Bear Berry, also known as Kinnikinnik, was told and written by Grandmother
Keewaykinoway, Woman of the North West Wind.
The Legend of the Cedar Tree
(as told by Jim Fox) "if you are TSALAGI Cherokee, you are looking upon your
ancestor." Posted on Pitter's Cherokee Trails.
Legend of the Cherokee Rose
This is the story of the origin of the wild Cherokee Rose that grows along the
route of the Trail of Tears into Oklahoma.
Legend of the Dreamcatcher
This is the Lakota version of the Dreamcatcher legend. Dreamcatchers are very
popular and used today by Native Peoples and non-Indians too.
Legends of the Northern Lights
The aurora borealis has intrigued people from ancient times, and still does today. The Eskimos and Indians of North America have many stories to explain these northern lights.
Legend of the Piasa Bird
As told among the Illini and written by John Russell in 1836, "The Piasa bird (pronounced Pie-a-saw) is said to have flown over the "Great Father of Waters" thousands of moons before the white
man came, when magolonyn and mastodon were still living." This story tells of this creature's demise.
Legend of Uktena
The Cherokee Legend of Uktena, as reported in 1897-1898 by James Moody, who lived with the Cherokee Nation for several years.
Manabozho and the Muskrat
An Ojibwe Legend featured in Canku Ota
(Many Paths),
An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America [archives].
Mikmaq.com - Stories
Approximately 25 traditional legends and stories passed down from Mikmaq ancestors.
The Mystical Midnight Thunderbird
These photographs of the Great Bird sculptured in the night sky, taken during a midnight storm over a beautiful bay on Northern Lake Michigan, will send shivers up your back!
Myths and Legends in Art
This page by Minneapolis Institute of Arts features four Native American pieces: Haida. Chief's Rattle, Lakota Woman's Dress, Navajo Ketoh (Wrist Guard), and a 6th-9th Century A.D. Rattle in the Form of a Ball Player from Mexico. Each one has a link to the Creation Story of that Culture.
Myths and Legends of the Sioux
A collection in the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library: 38 stories collected and published (1916) by Marie L McLaughlin. Her grandmother, Ha-za-ho-ta-win, was a full-blood of the Medawakanton Band of the Sioux Tribe of Indians, and she herself, although only 1/4, was "born and reared in an Indian community, I at an early age acquired a thorough knowledge of the Sioux language."
Native American Stories
These "tales and narratives are from varied sources. Some are legends, some are true American Indian history, and some are just American Indian children's stories from long ago. Most are well over 50 years old and have not been "politically corrected" for today's children, so you may want to read them first before sharing them with your little braves and princesses."
A Navajo Creation Story
The "image" for this story is a beautiful silver and turquoise Ketoh (Wrist Guard)
that emphasizes the Navajo values of order, harmony, and simplicity and evokes
the topography of the Navajo creation story. A Minneapolis Institute of Arts - World Mythology page.
Ojibwe Dreamcatcher
The Ojibwe (Anishinaabe, Chippewa) story of the Dreamcatcher. Many
believe the making and use of dreamcatchers originated with the Ojibwe.
Origin of Disease and Medicine
The source of this story is the Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney.
This copy is on the Cherokee Messenger site.
Origin of Fire
Read this Jicarilla Apache Nation story to learn how Fox stole fire from the Fireflies' village.
Origin of The Pleiades
This story of "The Seven Sisters" comes from the Wyandot nation of Kansas.
The Pocahantas Myth
This page dispels a myth and gives the true version of the Pocahantas
legend, told by her tribe, the Powhatan Renape Nation, Rankokus Indian
Reservation, NJ.
Red Thunder
This link opens a small pop-up window on this site with detailed information on Red Thunder, a novel by David Matheson. Many of the stories are actual oral histories of the Schi'tsu'umsh, known as the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, --- including tales not revealed publicly until now.
Sacred
Mountains
This is the Dine' description of their Mountains: East, South, West, and North, with the meaning of these four directions.
The Sacred Pipe of the T'salagi
How the Sacred Pipe came to The People, as told by a Cherokee elder.
A Sacred Story
An Anishinabe tale told by Tom Hudson from the Honorable words Archive of the
The Ancestor Page. A true story of the People.
Sacred White Buffalo,
American Indian Stories and Poems:
The story of "White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman" is probably the most
well known Native American legend. This page features links to several different tribes and elders Stories of White Buffalo and Buffalo.
Selu (corn mother) and the Deer
An old story (lore) of Selu and her grandsons, and beauty, balance, harmony and
wisdom. There are also many links to other lore on this page.
Starlore of Native America
A collection of Legends relating to the Stars, assembled by Brad Snowder.
Story of a Vision
Written in 1901, this story is located in the Electronic Text Center, University of
Virginia Library.
The Thunderbird Myth
Thunderbird legend as told by the Quillayute, a Chimakoan tribe living along the Quillayute River, a six-mile river on the Olympic Peninsula.
Adapted from Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest by Ella E. Clark. Very interesting.
The Walam Olum
The Walam Olum is an excerpt from The Lenâpé and Their Legends, by Samuel G. Brinton. Brinton's Library of Aboriginal Literature number V. Phildelphia, 1885. This is one of the only indigenous pre-contact written texts available from North America. With pictographs, Delaware and English translation.
Yellowstone Valley and the Great Flood
One of the fifteen legends of the flood, in various parts of the world, recorded by Professor Hap Gilliland of
Eastern Montana College.
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