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Native American child
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This is our collection of links to Narragansett folktales and traditional stories that can be read online. We have indexed our Native American legends 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 Narragansetts, the traditional stories of related tribes like the Wampanoag and Mohican tribes are very similar.
Cautantowwit (also spelled
Kautantowit and other ways.) This means "Great Spirit," and is the Narragansett name for
the Creator (God.) In most contexts just Manto (the Spirit) is used. Cautantowwit is a divine spirit with no human form or attributes
(including gender) and is never personified in Narragansett folklore. The name is pronounced
similar to kaw-tan-toh-wit.
Wetucks
(sometimes also called by the Mohegan name, Moshup.)
Wetucks is a giant who is the culture hero of the Narragansett tribe (sometimes referred to as a "transformer" by folklorists.)
Wetucks shares some similarities with other Algonquian heroes such as the Wabanaki
Gluskabe and Anishinabe
Nanabush.
Nikommo
(also spelled Nickommo):
Benevolent little people of the forest, in whose honor the Nikommo feasts are held.
Hobomock
(also spelled Hobbamock or other ways):
The manito (spirit) of death. A destructive, often evil being usually in opposition to
Cautantowwit. After the introduction of Christianity, Narragansett people
frequently identified Hobbomock with the Devil. He was also sometimes known as
Chepi, meaning "ghost."
Thunder Being (Neimpaûog):
Few traditional Narragansett stories about the thunder beings have survived. They seem to have been anthropomorphic sky beings like
the Thunders of the Lenape. Some modern Narragansett storytellers prefer to conceptualize them as Thunderbirds like the Anishinabe
and related tribes do.
Rabbit's Wish For Snow:Nipmuc Creation Story:Cautantowwit:The Foolish Dogs:Four Stages of Life:Legend of the Strawberry:The Happy Hunting Ground:Nikommo and Hobbamock:Spirit of the New England Tribes:Turtle Island: Tales of the Algonquian Nations:
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