Emergence from Nanih Waiya - Choctaw
A very long time ago the first creation of people was in Nanih Waiya and there they were made and there they came forth. The Muscogees (Creeks) first came out of Nanih Waiya, and they dried themselves on Nanih Waiya's earthen rampart, and when they got dry they went to the east. On this side of the Tombigbee, there they rested and as they were smoking tobacco they dropped some fire.
The Cherokees next came out of Nanih Waiya. And they dried themselves on Nanih Waiya's earthen rampart, and when they got dry they went and followed the trail of the elder tribe. And at the place where the Muscogees had stopped and rested, and where they had smoked tobacco, there was fire and the woods were burnt, and the Cherokees could not find the Muscogees' trail, so they got lost and turned aside and went north and there toward the north they settled and made a people.
And the Chickasaws third came out of Nanih Waiya. And they sunned themselves on the earthen rampart, and when they got dry they went and followed the Cherokees' trail. And when they got to where the Cherokees had settled and made a people, they settled and made a people close to the Cherokees.
And the Choctaws fourth and last came out of Nanih Waiya. And they then sunned themselves on the earthen rampart, and when they got dry, they did not go anywhere but settled down in this very land and it is the Choctaws' home.
This Myth was found in "Native American Legends" compiled and edited by George E. Lankford (August House/Little Rock Publishers, 1987, ISBN# 0-87483-039-7)
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories
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