Native Languages of the Americas: Shawnee Indian Legends
This is our collection of Shawnee 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 Shawnees, the traditional stories of
related tribes like the Potawatomi and
Lenape tribes are very similar.
Enjoy the stories! If you would like to recommend a Shawnee legend for this page or think one of the ones on here
should be removed, please contact us and let us know.
˜Mishe Moneto (also spelled
Mishemoneto, Mise Manito, Msawe Maneto, and several other ways.)
This means "Great Spirit" in the Shawnee language, and is the Shawnee name for the Creator (God.) Mishe Moneto
is a divine spirit with no human form or attributes (including gender) and is usually not personified in Shawnee folklore.
The name is pronounced similar to mih-sheh-muh-neh-toh.
˜Kokumthena (also known as Kokomthena Paboth'kwe,
Kohkomhthena, and other ways.) Most Algonquian cultures had a Transformer hero in their mythology-- a human-like supernatural being who shaped the world
and helped the people. Kokumthena is somewhat unique in that she is female (the Blackfoot tribe had a couple, Old-Man and Old-Lady, in this
role; all the other Algonquian tribes we know of had male Transformer figures.) In Shawnee legends, Kokumthena is depicted as an old
woman (her name means "our grandmother") and does not take part in any of the heroic or whimsical exploits other Algonquian Transformer heroes
engage in. Kokumthena may originally have been the grandmother of a more typical Algonquian hero like the Anishinabe
Manabozho or the Wabanaki
Glooskap, and risen to greater prominence later in Shawnee history,
since Shawnee legends do not mention her prior to about 1800.
Native American cultures
Shawnee Mythology:
White Hawk 
