{"id":23985,"date":"2022-10-16T21:26:41","date_gmt":"2022-10-16T21:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/?page_id=23985"},"modified":"2022-10-16T21:29:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T21:29:17","slug":"grandmother-spider-choctaw","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/choctaw-mythology\/grandmother-spider-choctaw\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandmother Spider Choctaw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/choctaw-mythology\/\" role=\"button\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tChoctaw-Chickasaw Mythology<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstpeople.us\/FP-Html-Legends\/GrandmotherSpiderStealstheFire-Choctaw.html\" role=\"button\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWiki<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<strong>Chactas<\/strong> (Where <a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/choctaw-mythology\/\">Choctaws<\/a>) are a Native American tribe native to the southeastern United States (Mississippi, <a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/creek-seminole-mythology\/\">Alabama<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/mythes-et-legendes-muskogeens-2136\/\">Louisiana<\/a>). here is <a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/\">legend<\/a> in English: Grandmother Spider steals the Fire<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cropped-AlphaOmega-e1602613368367.png\" alt=\"Grandmother Spider steals the Fire\" width=\"25\" height=\"25\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseprofile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/choctaw-mythology\/grandmother-spider-choctaw\/#Grandmother-Spider-steals-the-Fire\" >Grandmother Spider steals the Fire<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Grandmother-Spider-steals-the-Fire\"><\/span>Grandmother Spider steals the Fire<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Tea <a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/choctaw-mythology\/\">Choctaw<\/a> People say that when the People first came up out of<br \/>\nthe ground, People were encased in cocoons, their eyes closed, their<br \/>\nlimbs folded tightly to their bodies.<\/p>\n<p>And this was true of all People, the Bird People, the Animal People,<br \/>\nthe Insect People, and the Human People. The Great Spirit took pity<br \/>\non them and sent down someone to unfold their limbs, dry them off,<br \/>\nand open their eyes.<\/p>\n<p>But the opened eyes saw nothing, because the world was dark, no<br \/>\nsun, no moon, not even any stars. All the People moved around by<br \/>\ntouch, and if they found something that didn&rsquo;t eat them first, they<br \/>\nate it raw, for they had no fire to <a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/cook-mythology\/\">chef<\/a> it.<\/p>\n<p>All the People met in a great powwow, with the Animal and Bird<br \/>\nPeople taking the lead, and the Human People hanging back. The Animal<br \/>\nand Bird People decided that lief was not good, but cold and miserable.<br \/>\nA solution must be found! Someone spoke from the dark, &quot;I have<br \/>\nheard that the people in the East have fire.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>This caused a stir of wonder, &quot;What could fire be?&quot; There<br \/>\nwas a general discussion, and it was decided that if, as rumor had<br \/>\nit, fire was warm and gave light, they should have it too. Another<br \/>\nvoice said, &quot;But the people of the East are too greedy to share<br \/>\nwith us,&quot; So it was decided that the Bird and Animal People<br \/>\nshould steal what they needed, the fire!<\/p>\n<p>But, who should have the honor? Grandmother Spider volunteered,<br \/>\n&quot;I can do it! Let me try!&quot; But at the same time, Opossum<br \/>\nbegan to speak. &quot;I, Opossum, am a great chief of the animals.<br \/>\nI will go to the East and since I am a great hunter, I will take<br \/>\nthe fire and hide it in the bushy hair on my tail.&quot; It was<br \/>\nwell know that Opossum had the furriest tail of all the animals,<br \/>\nso he was selected.<\/p>\n<p>When Opossum came to the East, he soon found the beautiful, red<br \/>\nfire, jealously guarded by the people of the East. But Opossum got<br \/>\ncloser and closer until he picked up a small piece of burning wood,<br \/>\nand stuck it in the hair of his tail, which promptly began to smoke,<br \/>\nthen flame. The people of the East said, &quot;Look, that Opossum<br \/>\nhas stolen our fire!&quot;<\/p>\n<p>They took it and put it back where it came from and drove Opossum<br \/>\naway. Poor Opossum! Every bit of hair had burned from his tail,<br \/>\nand to this day, opossums have no hair at all on their tails.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, the powwow had to find a volunteer chief. Grandmother<br \/>\nSpider again said, &quot;Let em go! I can do it!&quot; But this<br \/>\ntime a bird was elected, Buzzard. Buzzard was very proud. &quot;I<br \/>\ncan succeed where Opossum has failed. I will fly to the East on<br \/>\nmy great wings, then hide the stolen fire in the beautiful long<br \/>\nfeathers on my head.&quot; The birds and animals still did not understand<br \/>\nthe nature of fire.<\/p>\n<p>So Buzzard flew to the East on his powerful wings, swooped past<br \/>\nthose defending the fire, picked up a small piece of burning ember,<br \/>\nand hid it in his head feathers. Buzzard&rsquo;s head began to smoke and<br \/>\nflame even faster! The people of the East said, &quot;Look! Buzzard<br \/>\nhas stolen the fire!&quot; And they took it and put it back where<br \/>\nit came from.<\/p>\n<p>Poor Buzzard! His head was now bare of feathers, red and blistered<br \/>\nlooking. And to this day, buzzards have naked heads that are bright<br \/>\nred and blistered.<\/p>\n<p>The powwow now sent Crow to look the situation over, for Crow was<br \/>\nvery clever. Crow at that time was pure white, and had the sweetest<br \/>\nsinging voice of all the birds. But he took so long standing over<br \/>\nthe fire, trying to find the perfect piece to steal that his white<br \/>\nfeathers were smoked black. And he breathed so much smoke that when<br \/>\nhe tried to sing, out came a harsh, &quot;Caw! Caw!&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The Council said, &quot;Opossum has failed. Buzzard and Crow have<br \/>\nfailed. Who shall we send?&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Tiny Grandmother Spider shouted with all her might, &quot;LET ME<br \/>\nTRY IT PLEASE!&quot; Though the council members thought Grandmother<br \/>\nSpider had little chance of success, it was agreed that she should<br \/>\nhave her turn. Grandmother Spider looked then like she looks now,<br \/>\nshe had a small torso suspended by two sets of legs that turned<br \/>\nthe other way. She walked on all of her wonderful legs toward a<br \/>\nstream where she had found clay.<\/p>\n<p>With those legs, she made a tiny clay container and a lid that<br \/>\nfit perfectly with a tiny notch for air n the corner of the lid.<br \/>\nThen she put the container on her back, spun a web all the way to<br \/>\nthe East, and walked tiptoe until she came to the fire. She was<br \/>\nso small, the people from the East took no notice. She took a tiny<br \/>\npiece of fire, put it in the container, and covered it with the<br \/>\nlid. Then she walked back on tiptoe along the web until she came<br \/>\nto the People. Since they couldn&rsquo;t see any fire, they said, &quot;Grandmother<br \/>\nSpider has failed.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Oh no,&quot; she said, &quot;I have the fire!&quot; She lifted<br \/>\nthe pot from her back, and the lid from the pot, and the fire flamed<br \/>\nup into its friend, the air. All the Birds and Animal People began<br \/>\nto decide who would get this wonderful warmth. Bear said, &quot;I&rsquo;ll<br \/>\ntake it!&quot; but then he burned his paws on it and decided fire<br \/>\nwas not for animals, for look what happened to Opossum!<\/p>\n<p>The Birds wanted no part of it, as Buzzard and Crow were still<br \/>\nnursing their wounds. The insects thought it was pretty, but they,<br \/>\ntoo, stayed far away from the fire.<\/p>\n<p>Then a small voice said, &quot;We will take it, if Grandmother<br \/>\nSpider will help.&quot; The timid humans, whom none of the animals<br \/>\nor birds thought much of, were volunteering!<\/p>\n<p>So Grandmother Spider taught the Human People how to feed the fire<br \/>\nsticks and wood to keep it from dying, how to keep the fire safe<br \/>\nin a circle of stone so it couldn&rsquo;t escape and hurt them or their<br \/>\nhomes. While she was at it, she taught the humans about pottery<br \/>\nmade of clay and fire, and about weaving and spinning, at which<br \/>\nGrandmother Spider was an expert.<\/p>\n<p>The Choctaw remember. They made a beautiful design to decorate<br \/>\ntheir homes, a picture of Grandmother Spider, two sets of legs up,<br \/>\ntwo down, with a fire symbol on her back. This is so their children<br \/>\nnever forget to honor Grandmother Spider, Fire Bringer!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mythology Choctaw-Chickasaw Wiki The Chactas (or Choctaws) are a Native American tribe from the southeastern United States (Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana). Here is \u2026 <\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3702,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-23985","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23985"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23989,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23985\/revisions\/23989"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}