Choctaw Tales

by Tom Mould

Including stories from the 1700s to today, Choctaw Tales showcases the mythic, the legendary and supernatural, the prophecies and histories, the animal fables and jokes that make up the rich and lively Choctaw storytelling tradition. The stories display intelligence, artistry, and creativity as Choctaw narrators, past and present, express and struggle with beliefs, values, humor, and life experiences. Photographs of the storytellers complement the text. For sixteen tales, the Choctaw-language version appears in addition to the English translation.

Many of these stories, passed down through generations, address the Choctaw sense of isolation and tension as storytellers confront eternal, historical, and personal questions about the world and its inhabitants. Choctaw Tales , the first book to collect these stories, creates a comprehensive gathering of oral traditions from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

Each story brings to life the complex and colorful world of the Choctaw tribe and its legend and lore. The shukha anumpa include tall tales, jokes, and stories of rabbits, turtles, and bears. The stories of the elders are populated by spirits that bring warnings and messages to the people. These tales provide a spectrum of legend and a glimpse of a vibrant, thriving legacy.

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2004

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the storyteller biographies that describe each one's background and perspective. They do a good job of expressing the tapestry of experiences present across tribal identities and storytelling experiences from generation to generation. There are traditional stories, contemporary jokes, and historical stories that are all woven together in snippets to give a multi-faceted view of the culture. What might feel disjointed to a reader is that the stories are recorded and then transcribed, so they are written with verbal pauses in the natural pattern of speech. Those pauses aren't as prevalent in the section of stories written in Choctaw, but the translations of those stories really stick out as they lack the hemming and hawing of regular speech.

As one might expect, there are some funny stories and some goofy ones. What might surprise you is the subtle (and sometimes overt) racism that is present in some of the stories. The South of yesteryear was not exactly an idyllic place with a harmonious gathering of races, so for every Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom there is also a story about spotted people and miscegenation. It's not exactly a nice thing, but it is at least an accurate snapshot of historical thought.

[Bria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book in an effort to fill a void I feel has been left in me, as I grew up detached from every part of my heritage. A part of it is Choctaw, so I wanted to learn the history and culture of that people. I feel like this book definitely met that goal for me. Through the tales, I learned a lot about cultural rituals and daily life both modern and ancient. However, my one qualm was that half the book felt more like a thesis than anything else. It was very informative and helped me interpret the stories more appropriately; however, I felt that part was over long. I wish I would have purchased this in physical form though. The end has several of the stories written in Choctaw, but my Kindle does not render the foreign symbols correctly. So that part of the book is probably completely useless. I do hope to learn Choctaw in one of the tribe sponsored classes in the fall, so I really was planning to use those. But not knowing Choctaw, I didn't foresee that limitation of the Kindle version.

[Courtney Harden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mould, Tom Choctaw Tales



This book is a folklore that contains Choctaw tales and information about the Choctaw storytellers. This is a great book for students grade 4-8 that could be working on history involving Native Americans. This is a great way to learn about another culture through folktales. I can see this being used in the classroom with the After-Reading strategy Retelling (Beers, pg. 152). Students could each take a story out of the book and practice retelling the story as if they were the storyteller and present their chosen story in front of the class. Students can use Retelling rubric from Figure 8.4 (Beers, pg. 156)to rate their classmates. This book is and interesting look in to another culture that is more personal and informal.