The Singing Scoutmaster: Birth of the Choctaw People, The

In the time before time, at the very beginning of the world, there stood a great mound. It rose up from the land, reaching toward the sky. This mound was called Nanih Waiya, the Mother Mound. It was from this sacred place that the Creator shaped the first people of the Earth.

The Creator gathered clay and earth from the mound and molded the shape of the first people. He gave them life and breath, but they were not yet ready to walk the Earth. The Creator placed them inside a long, dark cave within the mound, where they would begin their journey.

One by one, the people crawled through the cave, struggling through the darkness. They moved slowly, feeling their way forward with their hands, yearning for the light. For a long time, they traveled through the winding passage, unsure of where it led. But the Creator had a plan for them, and he guided them along their path.

Finally, after what seemed like an endless journey, the people saw a soft glow ahead. They crawled toward it, and as they emerged from the cave's mouth, they stepped into the daylight for the very first time. They blinked and looked around, awed by the beauty of the world they had entered. This was their new home—the land of the Choctaw people.

The Choctaw looked back at the great mound, Nanih Waiya, and knew it was their place of origin. From that day on, they honored it as the Mother Mound, the place from which they had been born into the light. Nanih Waiya stood as a reminder of their creation, a symbol of the journey from darkness to light, from the depths of the earth to the wide-open world above.

And so, the Choctaw people spread out across the land, carrying with them the memory of the sacred mound and their emergence from the cave. They knew that they were made by the Creator's hands and guided by his wisdom, and they honored Nanih Waiya as the heart of their people, the place where their story began.