Tanchi
Nittak hopaki kash yakohmi tok. Vmmona fehna ka fala hosh oka chito mishtvnnvp o tanchi nihi achvffa ka aiishit yakni ilapa isht vla mvt vlla vlhtakla hosh wanuta awashowvt anta ka ima ma vlla vt tanchi hochifo tok. Mihmvt wanuta ya ahokchi tok oke. Atuk o tanchi yash ot chahvt ia ma, vlla ishahli hash ot peh apashpullichi tok. Mihma vlla yash osh yakmichi hinla ahni kvt allelit lukfi isht ahopochi tok. Atok o tanchi nihi achvffa kash osh waya mvt tanchi ampi tuklo ho isht toba tok. Yvmmak atok pulla ho Chahta intikba tanchi ya ithana tok.
(from “Choctaw Stories” in the Henry S. Halbert Papers)
Published in agreement with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
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Corn
Long ago, this came to pass. In the very beginning, a crow took one corn seed from the other side of the big water, brought it to this land, and gave it to an orphan child who was playing in the yard. The child named it corn. She planted it in the yard. When the corn was high, the child’s elders merely swept it. Then the child, thinking she can do thus, weeded, took dirt, and hilled the corn. When one corn seed grew, it created two ears of corn. Then the Choctaw ancestors learned about corn.
Translated by Sandra M. Grayson