Browse Category

American Folktales

At OldFolktales.com, we celebrate the rich oral traditions of countries across North, Central, South America, and the Caribbean, sharing timeless tales that continue to inspire generations. We feature folktales from: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. These stories include:. Native American legends. Caribbean trickster tales. Amazonian myths. Southern ghost stories. Moral tales and colonial-era fables

Rainbow Crow soars through the starry sky with a burning stick in his beak, his brilliant feathers blackening as he brings fire to a frozen world. A Lenape folktale illustration of courage, sacrifice, and the origin of warmth.

Why the Crow Turned Black: A Native American Story of Sacrifice and Fire

by Stella Ajayi

August 4, 2025

American Folktales

Long ago, the world was covered in thick white snow. The trees were bare, the rivers frozen, and the animals shivered with cold. This was the First Winter, and it had never happened before. All the creatures gathered to talk, their breath rising in the icy air like smoke. They needed warmth fire but no animal had ever seen it.

Sky Woman stands on Turtle’s back, forming the land from sacred mud brought by Muskrat. Surrounded by animals and ocean, this parchment-style illustration honors the Indigenous creation story of Turtle Island with reverent detail and earth-toned beauty.

American Folktales

The Great Turtle Island: An Ojibwe Creation Tale of Humility

This Native American tradition folktale teaches timeless truths about humility, courage, and respect for nature. Long ago, before there were trees or rivers or birds in the sky, the world was water. Endless water, stretching in all directions, with no land in sight. The animals of the air flew tirelessly