Legends

I hope you enjoy what you read. I have been collecting these stories and legends for many years. I am honoured to have the ability to share this with you. Please feel free to forward me any legends or myths you may want to share...

Thanks for your time...

 

 

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While Native American culture has struggled to survive through centuries of  displacement and assimilation, the stories and legends passed on from generation to generation refuse to die; this is perhaps due to their common, timeless message of peace and harmony with nature, which is now more relevant with each passing year.

 

Long ago, before the conquistadors, colonists, missionaries, and settlers came to North-America from Europe, there were thousands of tribes, clans, and peoples of various beliefs and customs living in longhouses, teepees, aps, and other dwellings; hunting, fishing, farming and gathering, only taking what was needed, and making the most of every animal killed in the hunt, or plant which had been harvested.

 

While cultures and customs varied, all Native American Indian beliefs were rooted in Animism, meaning that they believed the universe was bound together by the spirits within all natural life, from plants, animals, humans, water, and even the Earth itself.

 

This website is an ever growing resource designed to keep the stories and legends of various aboriginal cultures alive.  Although all of the texts appearing on this site are in the English language, our goal was to present each text in it's earliest translated form, so that the richness of the details would still be present; undiluted from centuries of retellings.

 

We recognize that there are many more stories and legends which do not yet appear on this site, and that there are many other tribes which are not yet represented in our list, but we intend to add more texts in the future, based on suggestions and submissions.  For now, enjoy the ancient lore of the Algonquin, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chinook, Choctaw, Chumash, Comanche, Creek, Hopi, Iroquois, Lakota, Lenape, Mohawk, Navajo, Seneca, Sioux, and others, and share your comments and ideas on our Forum.

 

By keeping Native American culture alive through storytelling, we may learn a thing or two about the world we live in.

... thx indian village

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"Whole Indian Nations have melted away like snowballs in the sun before the white man's advance. They leave scarcely a name of our people except those wrongly recorded by their destroyers. Where are the Delewares? They have been reduced to a mere shadow of their former greatness. We had hoped that the white men would not be willing to travel beyond the mountains. Now that hope is gone. They have passed the mountains, and have settled upon Tsalagi (Cherokee) land. They wish to have that usurpation sanctioned by treaty. When that is gained, the same encroaching spirit will lead them upon other land of the Tsalagi (Cherokees). New cessions will be asked. Finally the whole country, which the Tsalagi (Cherokees) and their fathers have so long occupied, will be demanded, and the remnant of the Ani Yvwiya, The Real People, once so great and formidable, will be compelled to seek refuge in some distant wilderness. There they will be permitted to stay only a short while, until they again behold the advancing banners of the same greedy host. Not being able to point out any further retreat for the miserable Tsalagi (Cherokees), the extinction of the whole race will be proclaimed. Should we not therefore run all risks, and incur all consequences, rather than to submit to further loss of our country? Such treaties may be alright for men who are too old to hunt or fight. As for me, I have my young warriors about me. We will hold our land."
~ Chief Dragging Canoe, Chickamauga Tsalagi (Cherokee) 1775 ~