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This is our collection of links to Caddo folktales and traditional stories that can be read online. We have indexed our Native American folklore section by tribe to make them easier to locate; however, variants on the same legend are often told by American Indians from different tribes, especially if those tribes are kinfolk or neighbors to each other. In particular, though these legends come from the Caddo tribe, the traditional stories of related tribes like the Pawnee and Wichita are very similar.
Caddi Ayo (or Ayo-Caddi-Aymay.)
This means "Sky Chief" or "Chief Above" in the Caddo language, and is the Caddo name for the Creator (God.) Sometimes the
Plains Indian term "Great Spirit" is also used. Caddi Ayo is a divine spirit and is not generally personified in Caddo folklore.
Village Boy and Wild Boy.
These mythical twins whose mother was killed by a monster are common to the folklore of many Midwestern and Plains tribes.
In Caddo mythology, the twins (called Coninisí) are associated with thunder and lightning.
Coyote.
Coyote is the trickster figure of the Caddo tribe. As in other Plains Indian mythology, Coyote is sometimes anthropomorphized into
human form and other times depicted in the shape of a coyote (sometimes both within a single story.) Caddo coyote stories range
from light-hearted tales of mischief and buffoonery, to more serious legends about the nature of the world, to ribald jokes.
Caddaja. A sort of man-eating ogre,
similar to the Two-Face and Sharp-Elbow monsters of the northern Plains tribes. In some legends the Caddaja is portrayed as
a horned serpent, more like the Cherokee Uktena.
Lost Elves:
Ghostly little people of Caddo folklore, who steal away people who become lost in the woods.
Traditions of the Caddo:
When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and other Indian Legends:
Caddo Sun Myths:
The Twin Brothers
The Brothers Who Became Lightning And Thunder:
Coyote and the Origin of Death:
How Death Became Eternal:
The Voice, the Flood and the Turtle:
The Buffalo Wife
Buffalo Woman:
Coyote The Hungry:
Why Coyote Stopped Imitating His Friends:
Coyote Imitates His Hosts:
When Coyote Imitated Woodpecker:
The Lazy Boys Who Became The Pleiades:
Sacred Medicine Water:
Hold Up The Sky:
Southeastern Native American Legends:
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